Pacers Have Top Seed in East as NBA Playoffs Begin
The Indiana Pacers could be the team to make you a lot of money.
So after their loss last week against the Miami Heat had them out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference with just two games to play, many people were ready to schedule a funeral for the Indiana Pacers title dreams. But then a funny thing happened. First the Heat got spanked by the Atlanta Hawks to crack the door open and then the next day they knocked off the tough Oklahoma City Thunder. All that was left for the Pacers then was to close out the lowly Orlando Magic on Wednesday or have the Heat lose another game. Both happened. In fact, the Heat lost two more as they rested their starters.
So what does this mean going into the playoffs? If one is a Heat fan, they could argue that the Heat didn’t care much about getting the home court, as they were resting starters still having a shot at it. They can argue this means the Heat does not feel like they need home court in a Game Seven against the Pacers since they did not fight too hard to keep the top seed once they had it.
Pacers fans could argue that this is huge for their team as they looked to be in trouble, yet rallied to get home court back in the end. Since they beat Miami both times they played at home, this is huge for them. At the very least it means Game Seven will not be on the road where they have had a very tough time against the Heat dating back to last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.
Fans of the Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets are all saying it makes no difference because the Heat and Pacers are not going to play each other anyway. They could be right about that. The Nets and Bulls have played very well in the second half of the season and could give either of these teams a lot of trouble in a seven game series.
BetOnline has odds for tomorrow’s Eastern Conference NBA Playoff Games:
Atlanta at Indiana– Hawks are +7.5 -110 and Pacers are -7.5 -110 ATS. Moneyline is Atlanta +300 and Indy -360. O/U is 186 with over and under both -110. We are going to go with Indiana -7.5 -110 and the over -110. Atlanta is really awful on the road.
Brooklyn at Toronto– The Nets are +2.5 -110 and the Raptors are -2.5 -110 ATS. Moneyline is Brooklyn +120 and Toronto -140. O/U is 194 with over and under both -110. We are going to go with the Nets +120 in an upset and take the under -110.
They also have the odds on Saturday’s Eastern Conference games:
Charlotte at Miami- Charlotte is +9.5 -110 and the Heat is -9.5 -110 ATS. Moneyline is Charlotte 475 and Miami -605. O/U is 189.5 with over and under both -110. We are going to take the Bobcats +9.5 and the under -110. We also like the Heat -605 to win the game.
Washington at Chicago– The Wizards are +4.5 -110 and the Bulls are -4.5 -110 ATS. Moneyline is Washington +170 and Chicago -195. O/U is 181 with over and under both -110. We like the Bulls -195 and the under -110 in this one. If you are going to play the spread, we would likely lean toward the Wizards +4.5.
