Pacers’ Defense Looks To Hold Off Blazers’ Offense

Slam Dunk contest competitor and All-Star Paul George leads the Pacers into action Friday.

The league’s stingiest defense meets its highest scoring offense Friday as the Indiana Pacers host the Portland Trail Blazers.

Tip-off at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

Indiana (38-10, 23-2 home) has climbed to the NBA’s best winning percentage thanks to its tough-to-beat defense.

Allowing just 90.2 points per game, the Pacers have been a hard nut to crack, leaving plenty of prolific offenses scratching their heads. That nut has been even harder to crack in Indianapolis.

The Pacers remain the league’s best team at home, although last Thursday’s home loss to the Phoenix Suns ensured that the 1986 Boston Celtics can rest peacefully knowing their 40-1 home record won’t be matched again for another year.

NBA.com columnist Sekou Smith aptly described the Pacers as going “from hunter to hunted” on his Hang Time blog this week, an explanation that would offer a degree of understanding as to why the Pacers lost to the Suns twice in a little more than a week.

From this point forward, the Pacers will be getting every team’s best shot.

Frank Vogel’s team rebounded from that loss to Phoenix first by signing Andrew Bynum and then by rattling off three straight wins, including an 89-85 victory against the Atlanta Hawks on the road this past Tuesday.

Now the Pacers will look to continue their good run of form by putting the halters on a two-game losing streak against the Blazers.

As Indiana has used defense to build success this season, so has Portland (35-14, 16-9 road) used offense to pile on the wins.

The Blazers are averaging a league-best 107.7 points per game, having breached the 100-point mark in 37 of 49 games this season.

One such instance came when the Blazers last met the Pacers, on December 2. Portland defeated Indiana 106-102 at the Moda Center, despite a 43-point onslaught from Paul George and a double-double from Roy Hibbert (16pts, 14rebs).

The Blazers got big performances of their own in that game, with LaMarcus Aldridge tallying 28 points and 10 boards while Damian Lillard added 26 points. The All-Star pairing will hope for a similar result on Friday.

That game marked just one of 10 games (from 48) this season in which the Pacers have allowed 100 or more points.

While offense has been the engine that has driven the Blazers this season, things haven’t been quite as well-oiled of late. Terry Stotts’ side has failed to breach the 100-point mark in four of its last five contests, posting a 1-3 record in the process. With the Blazers taking to the floor against such a miserly defense on Friday, doing so again could prove very costly.

Still, Portland will enter the game with confidence. The Blazers are a perfect 7-0 against Central Division opponents this season, while the Pacers are just 2-3 against teams from the Northwest Division.

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Indiana Pacers odds for 02/07/2014

With an impeccable home record, Indiana opened as the favorite heading into this one.

Portland has won seven of the last 10 meetings between the two sides all told, but it’s been a very different story in Indianapolis. The Pacers have won eight of their last 10 meetings with the Blazers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The spread opened at 6 in favor of the Pacers.

Indiana (31-17-0 ATS) has pillaged the spread this season, and is 17-8-0 ATS when playing at home.

Portland (26-23-0 ATS) has fared better against the spread on the road (14-11-0 ATS) than at home (12-12-0 ATS).

The Pacers are 26-15-0 ATS as the favorite while the Blazers are 9-4-0 ATS as the underdog.

Indiana has failed to cover the spread in its last two meetings with Portland, but is 8-2-0 ATS in the last 10 games played between the sides in Indianapolis.

The over/under opened at 198.

With its solid defense, Indiana (19-28-1) has favored the under while the high-scoring offense of Portland (30-18-1) has seen the Blazers favor the over.

However, the total has gone under in five of the last seven meetings between the two clubs, and four of the last six they’ve played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Damian Lillard will be a busy man during All-Star Weekend.

As an aside, Friday’s game will play out as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the Slam Dunk competition at the 2014 NBA All-Star Game later this month. It was announced Thursday night that Indiana’s Paul George and Portland’s Damian Lillard are to feature in the marquee event at All-Star Saturday.

Lillard will also feature in the Rising Stars Challenge and the 3-point contest, becoming the first NBA player to appear in three events on All-Star Saturday.

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