NBA Monday night and we will see the Indiana Pacers travel to the Lone Star State to take on the San Antonio Spurs. The game is scheduled for an 8:35 pm start time and it will be televised live on Fox Sports Indiana and Fox Sports Southwest (San Antonio). Currently the odds have San Antonio favored by 8.5 points with the total sitting at 195.5 points for the contest. Check out Sportsbook Spy to find out what side the Public is taking on all of today's games.
Free Analysis: The Pacers come to San Antonio after some very hard-fought nights lately. On Friday, the Pacers fell to the Charlotte Bobcats, 90-89, in Charlotte, then needed two overtimes to dispatch the Sacramento Kings in their home-opener, 106-98. Indiana remains without the services of Danny Granger, who has averaged 23.4 points in his last five matchups with San Antonio. With a sore left knee keeping their perennial scoring leader out indefinitely, the Pacers have relied on their defense. They're giving up 92.0 points per game on 36.3 percent shooting after allowing 94.4 in 2011-12 and 100.9 in 2010-11. Despite taking Saturday's game into double overtime, Sacramento failed to reach the century mark against Indiana in a 106-98 defeat. A 67-47 rebounding advantage aided the Pacers in their home opener, as did David West's 18 points and 18 boards. Paul George added 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds to help his team bounce back from Friday's 90-89 loss at Charlotte. That defeat followed a 90-88 win over Toronto on Wednesday, when George Hill hit a tiebreaking shot with two seconds left. Indiana has held each of its first three opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field.
The San Antonio Spurs have never started an NBA season with four consecutive victories. The Spurs look for that first 4-0 start on Monday when they host the Indiana Pacers, a team they have beaten nine straight times. San Antonio came from behind in the final minute to win its season opener, got a buzzer-beating game-winner from Tony Parker in its second game and needed a fourth-quarter recovery after blowing a 19-point lead Saturday against Utah. The Jazz outscored the Spurs 35-17 in the third quarter to tie that game at 79 before San Antonio salvaged a 110-100 victory. Veteran guard Manu Ginobili (back) played for the first time this season in Saturday’s victory over the Utah Jazz and tallied eight points in 15-plus minutes off the bench. There is no need to rush Ginobili back into the starting lineup with Danny Green playing so well. Green scored 21 points against the Jazz, hitting 8-of-9 field-goal attempts and connecting on all three 3-pointers. Green is averaging 14.3 points and shooting 58.6 percent. Ginobili's presence in this game could make a difference, especially since he's averaged 20.8 points on 53.8 percent shooting and made 19 of 42 (45.2 percent) from 3-point range in his last eight games against the Pacers.
Free Pick: I'm going to look to the Under in this one: I know the Spurs have been running a bit more, but they are going up against a slower paced Indiana team that has played excellent defense thus far, holding all 3 of their opponents to below 40% shooting. The Pacers are once again without Granger so they must rely on their defense. Indiana has averaged just 95 ppg and needed double OT to hit 106 points vs a bad Kings defense in their last game. The Spurs defense has been solid allowing 93 ppg and they always play good defense at home. Their offense is putting up 98.3 ppg, but that is down about 7 points from last year. This game should be all about defense and a slower pace.
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