NBA Picks: Indiana Pacers at Philadelphia 76ers
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Philadelphia 76ers will try and win their third straight at home, when they host the Indiana Pacers, who have lost nine straight games on the road. Philadelphia fell 112-109 in overtime at Detroit on Saturday, while the Pacers lost their third straight overall with a 108-93 loss at Atlanta. This will be the third time these two teams have met, with the home team winning each game so far. Our NBA spreads for tonight’s game has the 76ers favored by 5-points over the Pacers with the total sitting at 194.
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The 76ers are hoping that Andrew Iguodala will be able to return from injury tonight to face the Pacers. Iguodala has missed the last seven games with a sore Achilles tendon. Philadelphia is just 3-4 without Iguodala, but they have been playing pretty well despite missing their third best scorer.
Philadelphia has really picked up their scoring lately, as they have topped 100 six of their last seven games, and it will be interesting to see if the addition of Iguodala slows down their rhythm. Iguodala was averaging 14.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists on the season.
Jrue Holiday has continued to improve as the season goes along. Holiday’s scoring average has got better each month, and is averaging 18.2 points and 8.8 assists in his last five games.
Elton Brand isn’t quite scoring like he use to, but he is still averaging close to a double-double with 14.9 points and 8.8 rebounds. Brand had 25 points and 12 rebounds in a 101-75 win at home over the Pacers.
The Pacers haven’t won on the road since winning back to back games at Los Angeles and Sacramento at the end of November. Indiana is allowing just over 99 points a game away from home, and are scoring just over 92 a game.
In the Pacers last game against the Hawks, Danny Granger led the way just 16 points. Darren Collison added 13 points and Tyler Hansbrough chipped in 10 points in 23 minutes.
Indiana really needs to get Granger going offensively. Granger leads the Pacers at 20.8 points a game, but his scoring has dropped each month this season. Granger is averaging just 18.7 in January, and until he starts becoming a consistent scoring threat it is going to be hard for Indiana to win games, especially on the road.
I think you have to take Philadelphia -5 in this one. The Pacers are just 5-11 on the road this season, and more times than not when they lose on the road its by more than five points. Philadelphia is 12-4 ATS at home this season!
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