Utah vs Indiana: The Pacers won’t have the strength to put up a fight against the Jazz

Indiana have a tough away back-to-back against top teams in the Western Conference. After a game in Denver that ended against the Pacers, Rick Carlisle’s team travels to Salt Lake City. Can the Pacers beat the local Jazz? We’ll pick a few options to bet on at once.

Quin Snyder’s team won the previous game. On the home court, the Jazz were stronger than Atlanta 110:98. Utah defeated the Hawks a week ago after a successful start to their road trip to the East. They couldn’t keep it up, though, losing not only to the strong Miami Heat (115-118) but also to the weak Orlando Magic (107-110).

However, the poor stretch didn’t have much of an impact on the Jazz’s standing in the standings. With an 8-3 mark, the team sits in second place in the West, behind the rapidly returning Golden State Warriors. That’s unlikely to change for Utah in the future. Quin Snyder already proved last season that his new system is effective over the long haul. The next step is to learn how to vary the basketball for the playoff series.

There’s almost no doubt that Rick Carlisle is in the Pacers for good and long. The team has tremendous potential and the coach, who won a league title as early as the Dallas Mavericks, appears to be the one capable of unlocking it.

The relationship between Carlisle and the Pacers is getting off to a poor start. The team under the new coach has only four wins in 12 games. It’s clear, though, that the Pacers’ results aren’t that important right now. In addition, the situation is improving with each game. Including their previous loss to Denver (98-101), Indiana have won 3 games in 5 meetings before their encounter with Utah. Moreover, the Pacers defeated not the weakest Sacramento, San Antonio, and New York Knicks.

Rick Carlisle’s Indiana is taking its first steps, so we can’t speak of any stability for the Pacers just yet. Beating today’s Utah on their home court is already a daunting task, and even in their 13th game under the guidance of the new fundamentalist, and on the day after their road trip to Denver, it is unlikely that they will be able to do so at all.

We predict that the Pacers will not cope with the circumstances and will lose.

• Handicap 1 (-8.5) for 1.68;
• Handicap 1 (-8.5) for 1.60;
• Utah to win all quarters for 6.00.