The Pacers play the Knicks for the first time this season.
The Indiana Pacers (15-14) are back home at the Fieldhouse for a Sunday evening matchup with the New York Knicks (16-13).
The Knicks arrive rolling of late after sweeping a pair of games over the Bulls in Chicago. Those wins were five and six of the Knicks current winning streak which has pushed them past .500 and bumped them up to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, passing several teams along the way, including the Pacers.
The offseason acquisition of point guard Jalen Brunson has started paying off as he has settled into his role as a lead guard while averaging over 20 points per game. Julius Randle (22.4 ppg) and RJ Barrett (19.2 ppg) are playing the best ball of their career on a consistent level which has given the Knicks a solid trio of players to lean on as they continue to develop a reliable playing rotation, very similar to the situation the Pacers face.
The Pacers enter the game coming off some solid play of late, as well. However, they don’t have the results to show after a late fade against Cleveland on Friday ended in a loss. The Pacers are as healthy as they have been all season with Chris Duarte expected to return to the active roster after faring well in a pair of rehab games with the Fort Wayen Mad Ants. Duarte adds another wing player to the mix that is more of a shooting guard/small forward player to go along with Buddy Hield, Bennedtict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard (who is a PG/SG).
DraftKings Odds: Pacers -1, O/U 227.5 (latest DraftKings odds here)
When: 5:00 p.m. ET
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
TV: Bally Sports Indiana/Bally Sports + app
Radio: 93.5 FM/107.5 FM
Projected Starting Lineups:
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Buddy Hield, Jalen Smith, Myles Turner
Knicks: Quentin Grimes, Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson
IND: Kendall Brown – out (right tibia stress reaction), Daniel Theis – out (right knee surgery)
NYK: Obi Toppin – out (right fibula head non-displaced fracture)
Please share your thoughts and observations on the game in the comments.