7:05 pm
December 7

Pacers @ Magic

Who will WIN this matchup?

Indiana Pacers (14-10)

@ Orlando Magic (12-13)

 

Current odds:

Indiana Pacers: (+125)

Orlando Magic: (-145)

 

• The line for this game is Orlando by 2.5 points.

• The Indiana Pacers are keeping their heads above water while they wait out Victor Oladipo’s knee injury, even if it doesn’t always look good. They will try to look the part and pick up a second straight win when they visit the Orlando Magic on Friday. Darren Collison led four players in double figures with 23 points as Indiana survived 18 turnovers and a 43-point first half in a 96-90 win over Chicago at home Tuesday night. “It was a pretty murky, muddy kind of game,” center Myles Turner told reporters after his team improved to 4-4 since Oladipo was sidelined. “It wasn’t a pretty win, but wins are hard to come by in this league and we got it done.”

•  The Magic returned from a solid 3-3 road trip to take the streaking Denver Nuggets to overtime before falling 124-117 on Wednesday. Orlando hit a season-high 20 3-pointers — six by Evan Fournier — while dipping to 6-7 at home.

• Turner finished Tuesday’s win with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots while Domantas Sabonis fell a point shy of an 11th double-double. Tyreke Evans has started all eight games in place of Oladipo but has struggled at times, scoring 9.4 points on 31.3 percent shooting in that role after producing 11.2 on 40 percent in 15 games off the bench. “He’s had some turnovers, some missed shots lately, (but) we’re not going to go away from him,” coach Nate McMillan told the media of Evans. “Off the bench, he was doing some good things for us. Hopefully he’ll find his rhythm and start knocking down some of those shots.”

• Fournier finished with 26 points in a solid return home after a difficult road trip in which he shot 33.8 percent and recorded four single-digit scoring efforts. He took four of his team’s season-low eight free throws while fouling out and then receiving a second technical, part of a frustrating night for a team that feels it deserves more respect. “It’s terrible, man, and that’s why it’s frustrating,” Fournier told reporters after the Nuggets attempted 37 free throws. “We’re a team that never complains and we never get the calls. Then we start to say something and then we get the technicals. What is that?”

• Indiana has won seven straight meetings overall between the two teams and also seven in a row at Orlando.

• Magic C Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 15 rebounds against Denver while making at least 50 percent of his shots for the 11th straight time.

• Collison is averaging 12.4 points, 8.2 assists and three steals over his last five games and is 5-for-7 from 3-point range over the last two.

5/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
Orlando Magic