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Charlie Grant
Indiana Pacers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: Game 1 Prediction, NBA Playoff Odds
King James tries to end Indy’s season for the fifth time in the last seven years when his fourth-seeded Cavaliers play against the fifth-seeded Pacers in the first round of the 2018 NBA playoffs.
NBA Playoffs Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Pacers were picked by most NBA analysts to miss the postseason after a summer that saw them trade away perennial All-Star Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
But Indiana proved the experts wrong thanks in large part to Oladipo putting all his talents together and building an All-Star season. He’s a shoe-in to win Most Improved Player award and led the Pacers in scoring (23.1 points per game) and the entire league in steals.
Indy finished the campaign 48-34 straight up and 47-35 against the spread with a 32-49-1 over/under record. The Pacers won and covered in three of the four meetings against Cleveland but all those games happened before the Cavaliers overhauled their roster at the trade deadline.
The Cavs finished with the worst ATS record in the Association at 32-49-1 and were an even worse 18-45-1 ATS when giving points. Cleveland did finish the season off by covering the spread in 10 of its last 13 games.
Sports Interaction lists the Cavaliers as -1010 series favourites with the Pacers paying +452 should they pull off the upset.
Indiana Pacers
Oladipo is Indiana’s new star player but there’s plenty of depth behind him. The Pacers boast five other players who average 10 or more points per game including big man Myles Turner and knockdown shooter Bojan Bogdanovic.
Indiana doesn’t shoot a lot of triples but all its players in the rotation are above average jump shooters. The Pacers aren’t a high-tempo team and have played with the second-slowest pace in the Association over the last 15 games of the season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavs are historic for a few different reasons. They’re the worst defensive team to qualify for the playoffs in the last 20 years. This is the lowest-seeded playoff team LeBron James has been on since 2008. He’s trying to win the Eastern Conference and make it to the NBA Finals for an eighth consecutive year.
