The Big Dog needed some time alone to process yesterday’s result, as the Dallas Mavericks halted their five-game skid and snapped the Hornets’ seven-game winning streak, in Charlotte. Remarkably, the Hornets would come all the way back from 19 down at halftime, to take a two-point lead in the final quarter… but it would all fall apart down the stretch and the Mavericks would run out 107-96 winners. With that result and the pattern of the game going dramatically against almost every recent trend, all we can do is focus on today’s “Play of the Day” and hope that form lines hold true.
Boston Celtics @ Indiana Pacers
After starting the season as a top five defensive unit, the Boston Celtics have seen their major strength become the offensive end, as the campaign has gone on. Being without their best two-way player for the next fortnight is going to have an impact on both sides of the ball, especially as the man he would have been assigned to guard happens to be a top ten scorer. With Jae Crowder out after suffering a high ankle sprain, the job of marking Pacers star Paul George will likely be given to Evan Turner, which would mean inserting Turner into the starting lineup and potentially disrupting the Celtics’ second unit, which owns the tenth best net rating in the NBA, when playing with starter Avery Bradley. If Turner remains in his usual role, George could cause a match-up nightmare in the starting five. The news only gets worse for Boston when you consider that he’s also coming off a rare bad night, in a blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks. PG13 tied a season-low with just seven points on 3 of 15 shooting, in just 25 minutes of the 104-75 loss. It was just the third time in 18 games that George had been held below 20 points and just the fourth time this season he had logged less than 30 minutes in a game. The Big Dog is backing the Pacers, lead by their three-time All-Star, to bounce back from the debacle against the Hawks and score a solid win at home.
Selection
Indiana Pacers -2.5 @ $1.95 (William Hill)
Tools
Results Spreadsheet
