Spread Savvy Pacers Visit Cleveland Cavaliers

At this point in the NBA basketball betting season, a lot of teams are playing for respect. The risk of “tanking” won’t be as huge of a deal as many would be scared of because the Nets have done horrifically this season and are destined for the best odds to win the number-one pick. One thing about the Pacers’ season is that it wasn’t supposed to be this bad. A team ravaged by injuries continues to get major point-spreads and tonight is no exception as they travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers.

Mike Dunleavy, T.J. Ford, Jeff Foster, Danny Granger and Tyler Hansbrough are all out with injuries. Just in case you don’t know anything about the Pacers, those five players are pretty much the intended starting roster. While straight up wins have been hard to come by for the Pacers, they’re still 5-1 ATS in their past 6 games.

Yet against the Cavs, they’re just 2-8 ATS in their past 10 meetings. With Danny Granger sidelined due to facial lacerations, the hopes of Indiana covering a point spread even this big has almost gone out the window.

Almost.

Wednesday, March 17th --- Quicken Loans Arena --- 7:00pm EST
: Cleveland -14.5 (209)

Don’t be too quick to jump on the Cavaliers in this one. They’ve gone just 10-11 ATS in 21 games where they’ve received double-digit spreads, and they most recently gone just 2-4 ATS in the past 6 games. Yes, some of that can be attributed to the fact that LeBron missed a good portion of those games.

However, you can’t ignore that Cleveland is just 2-4 ATS in their last 6 games at home. As well as they’ve played in their previous matchups with the Pacers, they’ve only faced a double-digit monster betting line once in the past 10 games.

Both teams will be resting a lot of players, especially with Indiana sorely injured. Cleveland played a tough game against Detroit last night and so blowing out another visitor won’t be as big of a priority as just getting the win. While this may seem attractive for Cleveland, the smart bet is on the Pacers.