The Pacers are stuck on 23 wins as they visit the Suns.
The Indiana Pacers (23-24) wrap up their road trip on Saturday night when they play the Phoenix Suns (22-24) on no rest after getting dunked off the court in Denver on Friday.
On the bright side, the Pacers are 6-2 in these no rest, back-to-back situations this season, albeit that success included Tyrese Haliburton in the lineup. Still, as the Pacers hunt for the elusive 24th win that will put them over the projected season win total for some very smart bettors, this will be their best chance of late without Hali in the mix.
The Suns are 2-8 in their last 10 games with a bloated injury report that has wreaked havoc on their depth, not to mention keeping their star, Devin Booker out of action. But as we have witnessed numerous times, the opponent lineup is often not the main problem for the Pacers. Instead, the Blue and Gold have take care of what they do which will require improvement on defense, taking care of the ball and hunting the ball down off the glass.
That is the winning effort formula that has been missing during the Pacers current six game losing streak that has pushed their record below .500.
DraftKings Odds: Nuggets -5.5, O/U 229.5 (latest DraftKings odds here)
When: 9:00 p.m. ET
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
TV: Bally Sports Indiana/Bally Sports + app
Radio: 93.5 FM/107.5 FM
Projected Starting Lineups:
Pacers: Andrew Nembhard, Buddy Hield, Aaron Nesmith, Oshae Brissett, Myles Turner
Suns: Damion Lee, Mikal Brdiges, Torrey Craig, Dario Saric, Deandre Ayton
Injuries
IND: Tyrese Haliburton – out (left elbow sprain/left knee bone contusion), Daniel Theis – out (right knee surgery), Kendall Brown – out (tibia stress reaction)
PHX: Chris Paul – questionable (sore right hip), Josh Okogie – questionable (nasal fracture), Devin Booker – out (groin strain), Cameron Johnson – out (knee injury management), Cameron Payne – out (foot sprain), Landry Shamet – out (sore foot), Jae Crowder – not with team
Please share your thoughts and observations on the game in the comments.