The Indiana Pacers have been a bit streaky this season, but they’re on an upward swing as they journey west to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. Indiana has won six of its last seven games though all of those games—save for the one loss—were at home. Can the Pacers continue their winning ways on the road? They’ve got a nice matchup to help them do just that on Friday.
This war on the floor will go down Friday, January 20, 2017, at 10:30 p.m. ET at the Staples Center. The game will be televised live on ESPN.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Friday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Six wins in seven games is a nice streak, but the Pacers have now dropped back-to-back games ATS heading into Tuesday night.
Indiana is over .500 straight up now with its latest run, but remain well under .500 ATS at just 17-23 and are 2-7 ATS in their last nine road games.
The Lakers, for as bad as they are overall, have been marginally better than the Pacers have ATS, going 19-25-1 ATS this season. That said, they’ve been worse of late, dropping four straight ATS and going 8-17 ATS in their last 25 games.
In addition, the offense has seemingly completely disappeared for the Lakers. Los Angeles has struggled defensively all season, but had been an average offensive team more often than not, but they’ve failed to score more than 97-points in four straight games.
Player to Watch
Really, there are two players to watch, both with the Lakers: D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle.
Of course, those are always the two to keep an eye on for Los Angeles. The youngsters are part of the core that the Lakers are trying build around. Two of the first round picks for the team in the last few years—along with Larry Nance Jr. who is out with a knee injury and Brandon Ingram who is improving, but still finding his way in his rookie campaign.
Statistically, Russell and Randle rank second and fifth on the team in scoring with 15.1 and 13.4 PPG respectively while Russell is the leader in assists and Randle tops the charts in rebounds.
Over the Lakers’ most recent four game slide, both players have struggles. Russell did score 20 in the loss against the Pistons with seven rebounds, but had just three assists. In the three games prior, Russell combined for 23 points and 14 assists. Randle, on the other hand, scored 22 in the loss to San Antonio, but combined for just 12 points in the other three games, scoring just two in the loss to Detroit.
For Los Angeles to have a chance, they need these two players playing well and that’s not been the case over the last few games.
Last Meeting
It was early in the season when these two teams last met as the Pacers topped Los Angeles in Indiana, 115-108.
Paul George stole the show in that game, scoring 30-points and shooting 12-for-12 from the free throw line. He also shot 8-for-16 from the floor, including sinking a pair of buckets from three-point range.
For the Lakers, Russell shot just 3-for-10 while Randle nabbed just nine points, though he did record 10 rebounds in the game. The Lakers’ leading scorer, however, was Louis Williams with 19 points off the bench. Williams was the leading scorer off the bench again in the Lakers’ last game on Sunday with 26 points.
In the end, Indiana outshot Los Angeles, particularly on the outside as the Lakers’ couldn’t defend Indiana successfully. While we are much further along in the season, little has changed for Los Angeles. This is still a team with a number of players—like Williams—who could go off on any given day, but plenty of youth and questions.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The Pacers have plenty of questions, particularly on the defensive end of the court, but the Lakers’ offense has dried up with Randle and Russell each struggling.
Look for Los Angeles to get back into triple-digits in scoring, but for as much of a regression as we’ve seen defensively from Indiana, the Lakers’ defense is still even worse while the Pacers have a strong enough offense to take advantage.
The Lakers remain one of the NBA’s worst teams for a reason and while they’ve accumulated some interesting young talent of late, there’s not enough veteran leadership, or skill, to utilize that talent. The Lakers are as inconsistent as they come and that shows up in games as much as it does from game to game. For instance, this team snapped a 116 minute streak without holding a lead on Sunday and eventually amassed a 14-point lead, but that lead was gone even before halftime.
The defense for the Lakers is bad. They’re dead last in defensive efficiency and that’s what’ll do them in on Friday.
NBA Odds: Indiana 109, Lakers 103
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