Indiana Pacers vs Atlanta Hawks: Sabonis is on fire, but Atlanta will try to cool him down

Indiana aren’t having the brightest season, you have to admit that, and Atlanta are on the rise. But that still doesn’t change the fact that a home game for the Pacers always brings the hope of winning.

Indiana have always been a tough team, not exactly star-struck. But at the moment, not even that definition fits Rick Carlisle’s team. Nine wins and fourteen losses and tenth place in the East, which is stronger and more competitive than ever this season. If they want to make the playoffs, Indiana will need to come out on top now. In their last five games, the Pacers have won twice. But their last two games have been losses, despite an impressive 25 rebound performance from Sabonis against Minnesota and 16 points and 25 points from Brogdon.

Indiana’s roster is fairly diverse. Certainly, the return of Myles Turner and T.J. Warren will strengthen the team both defensively and offensively. But the trio of Brogdon, Levert, and Sabonis is also a serious enough force to contend for wins without it.

Indiana have played ten games at home this season, winning six of them. In their last four games, the Pacers have split wins and losses in half. So we’ll see which way the scales tip after this home game.

You couldn’t be more specific. Before the loss to New York in the last game, the Hawks were on a seven-game winning streak. Trae Young remains one of the brightest young players in this league. But how the loss of Bogdan Bogdanovic will affect him, we’ll see tonight. Yes, he’s not the team’s brightest scorer or even second on the list. But his constant threat from the perimeter provided plenty of room for Young’s decisions and assists.

Atlanta are sixth in the league in scoring offence (110.4 points per game), but their defense leaves much to be desired, ranking only twentieth. Of course, we can say that the Hawks are building their game from offense, with John Collins and Clint Capela ranked second and third on the team in scoring, having that kind of pressure in the paint, plus a long-range player in Trae Young, is something to be happy about. Here’s just one question, if Young is really hard to hold on to, then Collins and Capela could well be off their game, and that’s where the issue of Bogdanovic’s involvement comes up again.

I think Nate McMillan knows his team’s strengths and weaknesses, and the fact that Atlanta have lost 8 of 11 away games hangs over the team as well. But you have to learn to win away, too, especially if you’re going to make the playoffs.

An important point in this meeting will be Atlanta’s frankly weak play away, plus the loss of Bogdanovic. Yes, Young and company can start strongly enough, but whether they will be strong enough to play the whole game is very doubtful.

• Handicap 1 (-2) for 1.95;
• W1 and Total Under (216.5) for 3.40;
• Atlanta Hawks/ Indiana Pacers for 6.50.