The Indiana Pacers have suffered some particularly devastating losses of late. Sure, they're a very solid yet unspectacular 3-2 SU and ATS in their last five games heading into the new week, but we can only imagine what could've been had they been able to close out games. The up and coming Boston Celtics might be the next ones to figure out how to give the Pacers problems down the stretch.
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SCHEDULING
We'll talk about the problems the Pacers have had closing out games once again in just a moment, but the fact that this is the second game of a back-to-back for them makes a fourth quarter collapse seem all the more possible for live bettors.
Indiana is a dreadful team on no rest, going 2-5 ATS in its seven such examples this year. The Pacers have failed to beat the spread by 7.3 points per game without a day off to prep for the next foe.
Boston is also playing the second game of a back-to-back though, and that could be problematic as well. The Celtics though, are a much more palatable 4-4 ATS when playing back-to-backs, and they've actually beaten the spread by an average of 2.2 points per game, a fact that live bettors must like.
INJURIES
Both of these teams are actually completely clear from the injury bug. Marcus Smart is back playing regular minutes off the bench after a knee injury kept him out for several games around the holidays, and that was Boston's biggest worry heading into the new calendar year.
KEY MATCHUP
The Celtics have lost three games in a row, and the common thread in each is not being able to contend with power forwards who can both throw their body around and stretch the floor. Zach Randolph had 25 points and 13 boards against the C's on Sunday, while both Stanley Johnson and Pau Gasol prior to that each put forth double-doubles as well.
Enter: Paul George.
George has been a monster this year, averaging 24.2 points and 7.6 boards per game, and it's really good to see him back in the fold after missing the entirety of last season. George has come up flat in these last three games, shooting just 38 percent from the field in those efforts and averaging 17.7 points per game, but he has the potential to be a matchup nightmare for the Celtics.
If he gets going, live bettors need to watch out.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
Of course, the real problem we have here for the Pacers is their lack of ability to finish games of late. Since December 30, the stats say that Indiana has only been outscored by a total of two points in the fourth quarter, but digging deeper than that shows real problems down the stretch.
Live bettors of the Pacers have been crippled in the final few minutes of so many of those games.
Indiana was up 88-76 against Houston with five minutes to play on Sunday and had a 93-90 lead with the ball and under a minute to go. The game was lost in overtime 107-103. Prior to that, the Pacers watched an 88-78 lead with two minutes to play slip away against the Magic, only to be saved at the foul line in the dying seconds. Indiana was up 91-88 with under a minute left against Miami and lost in overtime, and it squandered an 89-81 lead against Chicago in the late stages as well.
Boston isn't the best fourth quarter team in the world, but live bettors have to be aware of this trend. If the Pacers are leading late, know that no lead is safe, particularly on the road here in Boston.
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Click here, and deposit at BookMaker now! The matchup between the Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics will come off the board at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at the TD Garden. Catch the action live nationally on ESPN.
