The Indiana Pacers will be the road team when they play Game 1 of their best of seven Eastern conference playoff series against the Miami Heat in a pro basketball game on Wednesday night. Game 1 between the Pacers and Heat will tip off from Miami at 8:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by TNT.
The NBA odds from game one of this playoff series has the home team Miami Heat favored by -8 points with an over under line of 183 ½ points. There has been no line movement in this NBA game since the odds were released a few hours ago.
The Pacers and Heat met three times this season with each team winning and covering the point spread on their home court. Each victory was by double digits. Two games were won by the Pacers and played at Indiana and one victory by Miami in this series came in their home game. They met in last year’s Eastern conference semifinals series with the Heat winning in six games. The Pacers went up 2-1 in the series and Miami win the next three games by eight points or greater to advance to the next round.
Indiana opened up the playoffs by defeating the Atlanta Hawks in six games. They drew the New York Knicks in the second round and beat the Knicks in six games. Indiana is coming off the 106-99 home victory on Saturday against the New York Knicks as a -5 ½ point betting favorite in the series clincher. The game ended over 179 ½ points. It was a tie game after three quarters then Miami went on a late run in the fourth quarter for the win as they outscored the Knicks by a 25-18 margin in the final stanza for the victory. The Pacers shot 50.7% from the floor and made 4 of 15 three pointers. They got to the free throw line 46 times and missed 12 shots. Indiana dominated the glass in their series with the Knicks and in game six the Pacers pulled down seven more rebounds. They held New York to 40% shooting with 13 of 30 three pointers. Lance Stephenson led Indiana with 25 points and ten rebounds as he made 9 of his 13 shots. Paul George chipped in with 23 points and five boards on 9 of 15 shooting from the field. The Pacers got a huge game from their five starters who scored 98 of their 106 points. The bad news for Indiana is their bench is extremely week. The Pacers are the best defensive team in basketball as they rank number one in the NBA in both defensive field goal and three point shooting. On offense they make just 43.6% of their shots ranking 26th of 30 NBA teams. Indiana is a bottom third offense in the league in all three key categories.
