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Merril’s Blazers at Pacers Picks

December 10, 2009

Sports Betting at the Sportsbook

Steve Merril has long been known as one of the best NBA handicappers in the business and his recent 55-31 (64%) over his last 84 with NBA picks continues to help him make his name in this business.  Simply put, there are few out there who can take down the books on a nightly basis like Merril can, and he’ll continue to pound away at the NBA point spreads for the rest of the season, making profits for his clients along the way.  Last night he picked apart the line on the total for the Portland at Indiana game, so let’s see why he went with the OVER:

Portland has been hit hard by the injury bug this season.  The Trail Blazers have already lost Greg Oden for the season and are missing forwards Travis Outlaw and Nicolas Batum.  And now guard Rudy Fernandez has been lost for about a month.  And in their first game in New York without these guys on the court, the Blazers’ offense struggled mightily.  They scored just 84 points while hitting just 1-8 from three-point land.  But with a game under their belt, Portland’s offense should be much better tonight, especially facing a weak Indiana defense.

The Pacers allow 102 points per game on 44.5% shooting from the field and 36.1% from three-point land.  Over their last five games, they’ve allowed 107 points per game on 45.8% shooting from the field and 38.9% from three-point land.  So they are not in good current form, and neither is Portland’s defense.  The Blazers have allowed 101 points per game on 50.4% shooting from the field and 43.8% from three-point land over their last five games.

Indiana just lost their best player, Danny Granger, for 4 to 6 weeks due to plantar fascia.  Even without Granger on the court, the Pacers only know how to play on way, fast.  “I don’t think 97 points is going to make it with our basketball team,” head coach Jim O’Brien said.  “It might work if we had a different group of players. We are individually not good enough to slow it down and play paint by numbers.”  And the players will also be able to play more open now and not count on Granger so much.  “Hopefully it emphasizes we need to get back to our offensive ways again,” said Mike Dunleavy.  “Running, pushing the ball and moving; not relying on one guy standing.  Maybe we’ll get a positive out of it.”

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Filed Under Merril, Predictions