It has not been a good season for the Indiana Pacers straight up or against the online gambling point spread.
The Pacers have seen enough of the poor play and they fired head coach Jim O’Brien on Sunday. The Pacers could get a win on Monday night against the NBA odds at Internet gambling companies as they host the Toronto Raptors.
Interim Coach
The Pacers will go with assistant coach Frank Vogel on an interim basis. He has a really good chance to win on Monday night since the Raptors are a bad basketball team and because Indiana is at home. The Pacers have lost seven of their last eight straight up and five of those eight against the odds at Internet gambling companies and are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. At 17-27 they are really no threat to make the playoffs.
Pacers Share Responsibility
Team president Larry Bird had nothing but good things to say about O’Brien even though he fired him. He basically just said that a change was needed. The Pacers have missed the playoffs in each of the last three years and are looking like they will miss out again this year. The Pacers were 121-169 under O’Brien. There are rumors that the Pacers would like to get Mike Brown who was coach of the Cavaliers last year before being let go.
Young Team
The Pacers have some young talent including leading scorer Danny Granger. The problem for Indiana is they also have some players who really should be coming off the bench instead of starting. Mike Dunleavy is a player who just takes up a roster spot for millions of dollars. He is not a quality NBA player. Darren Collison might have a future at the point but it probably better coming oft the bench. Roy Hibbert is a very young center who needs a lot more work. Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts should just be role players but in Indiana they see a lot of minutes. Brandon Rush and A.J. Price could possibly do something in the future but right now both are still young and inexperienced.
This Week’s Games
The Pacers are solid favorites on Monday in online gambling NBA odds at Sbg global as they host Toronto. The Pacers have a very winnable game on Wednesday at Cleveland and they should be competitive at home against Portland on Sunday and next week at New Jersey.