This Wednesday, the (23-22) Indiana Pacers will travel to Oklahoma City, OK to take on the (21-23) Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff will be at 8:00 PM EST inside the Paycom Center. This will be the first meeting between these two teams this regular season, as I am expecting them to battle in this one.
The Pacers are entering this game after falling to the Milwaukee Bucks, 132-119. They struggled on the defensive end of the court, as they will have to get more stops in this one if they want to take down the Thunder on the road.
The OKC Thunder are coming into this one after defeating the Brooklyn Nets, 112-102. They performed great on the defensive end of the court, as they made it extremely difficult for the Nets to consistently score. They will have to repeat that performance if they want to stay hot at home.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Indiana Pacers are currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, as they trail the Boston Celtics by nine games. On offense, they are scoring 115.5 points per game and they have shot 46% from the field. This is the 10th most points scored per contest and the 23rd-highest team shooting percentage. According to dunksandthrees.com, the Pacers have an adjusted offensive rating of 113.8, which is the 15th-highest adjusted offensive rating in the NBA. Buddy Hield has stepped up since Tyrese Haliburton went out, as he is scoring 18 points per game on 45% shooting from the field. Indiana has also shown that they can score from anywhere on the offensive end of the court. They are shooting 36.5% from deep, which is the 11th-highest three-point shooting percentage in the league. The Pacers have also taken care of business at the charity stripe, as they are shooting 80.4% from the line. This is the sixth-highest free throw shooting percentage, as they can't miss out on these free points and expect to win these games.
On the defensive end of the court, the Pacers are allowing 116.3 points per game and they are allowing their opponents to shoot 46.8% from the floor. This is the 22nd most points surrendered per contest and the 10th-lowest shooting percentage allowed. According to dunksandthrees.com, the Pacers have the 23rd-lowest adjusted defensive rating in the NBA. Indiana has continued to contest shots near the rim, but their perimeter defense has lacked. They are allowing their opponents to shoot 37% from behind the arc, which is the 28th-lowest three-point shooting percentage surrendered in the league. The Indiana Pacers are also grabbing 42.2 rebounds per game, which is the 22nd most. They have to crash the defensive glass if they want to keep the Thunder from scoring second-chance points.
Injury Report: Tyrese Haliburton PG (Knee), Kendall Brown SG (Leg), and Daniel Theis PF (Knee) are out.
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