Posted on
3/25/2008 12:51:57 PM
NBA Basketball Betting - New Orleans Hornets vs. Indiana Pacers
By D.S Williamson
New Orleans Hornets (- 7) vs. Indiana Pacers (+ 7)
Tip-off: 7:05 pm est.
The Hornets lead the Western Conference. Coach Byron Scott really has this team peaking at the right time. They are a balanced, tough defensive team, there’s talk of point-guard Chris Paul winning the MVP, and they’ve gone 8 and 2 against the BetUS spread in their last 10 games. All of these things point to a deep run in the playoffs.
The Pacers have handled adversity well this year. The loss of Jermaine O’Neal ended their chances of competing in the East. Then their president, Donnie Walsh, decided to step down just the other day. Through all of that, the Pacers have found a way to win 29 games this season. Not bad considering everything they’ve gone through. In their past 10 games they are an okay 5-4-1 against the BetUS spread. Here are more trends.
The New Orleans Hornets are 5 and 1 against the spread in their last 6 overall games.
The Indiana Pacers are 4 and 0 against the spread in their last 4 overall games.
The Over is 4-0-1 in the New Orleans Hornets last 5 games versus a team from the Eastern Conference.
The Under is 15-1-1 in the Indiana Pacers last 17 games versus a team with a winning straight-up record.
The BetUS over/under looks awfully tough to hit in this game. The line is 210. As the trends above indicate, this could be an under game. Or, it could be an over game.
Let’s save ourselves the stress and concentrate on the BetUS against the spread line. The Hornets have been on fire lately, but so have the Pacers. Every game means something to New Orleans and they have proven how focused they are by winning their last three games not only straight-up but against the BetUS spread. This includes an absolutely fantastic win versus the Boston Celtics at home just three days ago.
The problem for New Orleans is that this is the first game in what promises to be a long and difficult road trip. After this game the Hornets travel to Cleveland to take on King James and the Cavs. Then, they go to Boston where the Celtics will be looking for revenge. After that they play the Raptors in Toronto and travel down south to Orlando to take on Dwight Howard and the Magic.
Did I write trouble for the Hornets? Yes, this road trip could pose problems to mighty New Orleans, but this game tonight against the Pacers shouldn’t pose any problems at all.
The Hornets will lose two, maybe three, of their games on this road trip, but one of them won’t be tonight. I expect the Hornets to come out firing. They want to start their East Coast trip on a good note. That means beating the Pacers by double-digits.
The BetUS NBA Betting line is New Orleans Hornets – 7 against the spread on the road versus the Indiana Pacers.
I like the Hornets to cover tonight.
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