The Indiana Pacers will host the Los Angeles Lakers in Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon. It’s time to continue our NBA odds series and make a Lakers-Pacers prediction and pick.
Here’s how sportsbooks have set the Lakers-Pacers odds.
NBA Odds: Lakers-Pacers Odds
Los Angeles Lakers -7 (-110)
Indiana Pacers +7 (-110)
Over Points (-110)
Under Points (-110)
Why The Lakers Could Cover The Spread
The Lakers have bounced back this week with wins over multiple playoff-bound teams, the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks. LeBron James has been very cautious in his return to action, but Anthony Davis has been able to carry the workload with his elite teammate still out of the lineup this past week.
The Lakers are seeing Davis slowly but surely improve. Davis scored 42 points in the win over the Suns, 36 in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers days earlier. Davis is still being bothered by nagging injuries — he didn't play on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets — but the Lake Show is getting a glimpse of what he can do before the playoffs begin.
Regardless of what happens relative to the Blazers in the battle for the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference, the Lakers and coach Frank Vogel know they need to play well and develop good habits before the playoffs start, whether in the play-in round or the first round.
With Los Angeles having to play a back-to-back this weekend and face the Pelicans in New Orleans on Sunday, this Lakers Pacers game — after two days of rest — is the weekend game in which Vogel might push his team and get a higher-energy performance out of his players. The New Orleans game is simply not going to be a game in which Vogel cracks the whip. Against the Pacers, we might see a more invested Lakers team because of the added rest.
Why The Pacers Could Cover The Spread
The Lakers might be able to rise out of the play-in round, but they don't control their fate; the Blazers do, and Portland's game against Denver — for the right to escape the play-in — isn't until Sunday evening. The Pacers, on the other hand, know that if they win two games this weekend and the Charlotte Hornets lose either to the New York Knicks or Washington Wizards over the weekend, Indiana will move from ninth to eighth in the East.
You are aware that the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors are playing for eighth place in the West on Sunday. That means the winner will have to win only one game in the play-in round to make the first round of the playoffs. The loser of Grizz-Dubs will have to play and win two play-in games to make the 16-team first round bracket. The Pacers are competing for that same prize this weekend: being in a position to make the first round with only one win, not two.
Given that the Hornets have a good chance of losing to the Knicks in New York — in a game which will take place during this Lakers-Indiana contest — the Pacers know that a 2-0 weekend will likely lift them into eighth place, which is a significant goal. Indiana will be fired up to play its best ball on Saturday afternoon.
Also noteworthy if you are thinking about picking the Pacers: The Lakers do not play very often at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
Final Lakers-Pacers Prediction & Pick
The Lakers can put themselves in a position to avoid the play-in round, but they know that they won't rise to the No. 6 position in the West unless the Blazers lose to the Nuggets Sunday night. It is simply not a situation in which L.A. — given all of its injuries — is going to fully spill the tank. The Pacers, on the other hand, have a lot to play for in the battle with the Hornets and can play their way out of the No. 9 spot and into the No. 8 spot. With the seventh-place Boston Celtics missing Jaylen Brown, Indiana knows it has a real chance to make the first round if it can win its last two games.
The Lakers are obviously a better team, but the Pacers might be the more motivated one.
FINAL LAKERS PACERS PICK: Pacers – (-110)
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