Oklahoma City (41-26) at Indiana (43-25)
When: Thursday, March 14th, 2019
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse,
Indianapolis, Indiana
Time: 7:05 ET | TV: FS Oklahoma,
FS Indiana
Opening Odds: Oklahoma City -2/222
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers have not met on the court in 15 months and will take care of their two-game season series over the next two weeks beginning on Thursday night in Indianapolis. Former Pacer Paul George makes his second return to the city where he was a four-time All-Star in seven seasons before being traded in the summer of 2017. His first go around didn’t not go well as he was booed loudly and scored just 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting despite his Thunder winning 100-95. George leads the Thunder in scoring (28.1) and had 25 points in last night’s 108-96 home win over the Brooklyn Nets to move Oklahoma City back into a third-place tie with the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference standings. The Pacers are tied with Philadelphia for third in the East, but have dropped five of their last eight games including a blowout loss to the 76ers before rebounding with a 103-98 home win over the New York Knicks. Indiana has failed to cover the spread in six of those last eight games, but are 20-15 against the number at home this season, while the Thunder are 19-17 ATS away from home. Oklahoma City took both meetings last season after Indiana did the same in 2016-17.
George had his left shoulder wrapped in ice after last night’s 9-for-18 performance against Brooklyn, but it would take a lot for him to miss this encounter with his old team. Superstar point guard Russell Westbrook notched another triple-double with 31 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists on Wednesday for his 26th of the season. Westbrook has topped 30 points in four of his last six games, while averaging 30.5 points during that span. The Thunder get just one day off before hosting the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
Power forward Domantas Sabonis is slowly working his way back from an ankle injury and he’s struggled in two games since a five-game absence. The former Gonzaga star is just 5-of-19 shooting in 37 minutes of action in the last two contests, but still leads the Pacers in shooting at 59.8 percent. Small forward Bojan Bogdanovic stepped up and scored 24 points against the Knicks and has 20 or more in 13 of the past 18 games. Center Myles Turner was 5-of-15 shooting on Tuesday and has made less than 50 percent of his shots in nine straight games – shooting 34.7 percent in that span.
It’s tough to play back-to-back nights in different cities and the Thunder are just 4-6 ATS with zero days rest and have covered just two of their last 10 games overall. Indiana is 8-2 straight-up in their last 10 home games and this is basically a pickem game. I’ll take the Pacers here.
Pick: Pacers -1
Thunder are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. NBA Central.
Thunder are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 vs. Eastern Conference.
Thunder are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 Thursday games.
Thunder are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games.
Thunder are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
Thunder are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games playing on 0 days rest.
Thunder are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games overall.
Pacers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 vs. Western Conference.
Pacers are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games.
Pacers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
Pacers are 0-7 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Pacers are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games playing on 1 days rest.
Over is 4-1 in Thunder last 5 vs. Eastern Conference.
Under is 4-1 in Thunder last 5 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Under is 7-2 in Thunder last 9 overall.
Under is 22-9 in Thunder last 31 vs. NBA Central.
Under is 47-21 in Thunder last 68 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
Under is 42-19 in Thunder last 61 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Under is 24-11 in Thunder last 35 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
Under is 4-0 in Pacers last 4 overall.
Under is 8-3 in Pacers last 11 vs. NBA Northwest.
Under is 21-8 in Pacers last 29 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Under is 20-8 in Pacers last 28 games playing on 1 days rest.
Under is 35-16 in Pacers last 51 home games.
Thunder are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
Over is 12-3 in the last 15 meetings in Indiana.
Over is 21-8 in the last 29 meetings.
Road team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
