The Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics headline the top Eastern Conference matchup tonight, a slate of 10 NBA games. Both teams are .500 or better, and they're both looking to improve in the standings with a win here. You don't want to miss any of the action, and below is the live stream link, TV schedule, betting line, a preview and prediction for their first matchup of 2016.
Game Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
TV Channel: ESPN (TSN 1/3, CSNHD or FSI locally)
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Potential Free Live Stream: Stream2U
Betting Line: -3.5 BOS; 204 O/U
The Pacers and Celtics have both cooled off in the past few weeks, basically breaking even. But these are still two of the East's better playoff contenders, and tonight's game will be an interesting one for sure.
Boston's tough defense would seem to be the deciding factor, but it really just depends upon how great of a night Indiana star Paul George has. Because when he's feeling it, the Pacers are tough to beat.
The only problem there is that George's declined play as of late has been a major reason why the Pacers haven't been winning with much frequency. After a scorching November in which he shot nearly 50 percent from deep and averaged almost 30 points a game, his numbers have fallen. In December, he shot under 40 percent from the field and barely 30 percent from long range and was taking eight shots beyond the arc per game still. That saw his average fall to 21 points per game, and it's only 23 early in the first month of January.
Advantage Celtics, no doubt.
Offensively for the Celtics, it's been much more of a team effort. Their top scorer, Isaiah Thomas, hasn't been his usual self. He's still putting up points, but like George, he's been extraordinarily inefficient from the field, especially from three-point range.
Surprisingly, it was Avery Bradley who was hitting the deep ball well for this team, until we down with an injury, that is. And he's out for tonight's game as well. Jae Crowder and Evan Turner have tried their best to make up for his loss, but neither of those guys are efficient scorers either.
As previously stated, what this game comes down to is who plays the better defense. Quite frankly, the Celtics own the edge there and several Pacers have just been careless with the ball this season. That'll play toward Boston's hand as they get back to over .500 tonight.
Prediction: Celtics 94, Pacers 89
