Follow@cimini

Tonight the Indiana Pacers travel to Washington after narrowly edging the Miami Heat. It may have been a temporary mental lift for the Pacers but they have been a mess since the All-Star break. Gone is the fluid half court offense they use to have. Also they haven’t had the big time defensive edge against teams like they did pre-All Star break.

The line on this game tonight favored Indiana by two points and is now sitting at just 1.5. Line analysis sometimes serves you best when looking for proper spread plays. Tonight follow the line movement and play the Wizards at home.

Indiana is prone to lapses at the end of the first and early portions of the second quarter. That has been caused by poor play from the second unit. Once the first unit returns to the floor they seem to lack the same energy and focus they initially had. Look for Washington to feed off of that and build a comfortable lead going into halftime.

Second halves are always shaky in the NBA but Washington should be able to hang on and pull off the overall victory.