Wizards vs Pacers Prediction
Indiana Pacers (0-0) vs Washington Wizards (0-0)
Game Info: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 7:00 pm (Gainbridge Fieldhouse)
Betting Odds: Indiana Pacers -7.5 -- Over/Under: 225.5
The Washington Wizards invade the Gainbridge Fieldhouse to battle the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night in NBA action.
Washington Wizards Betting Preview
The Washington Wizards look to be going into rebuild mode this season as they traded away their best players in Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis for the erratic Jordan Poole and role players like Danilo Gallinari, Tyus Jones and Mike Muscala. The Washington Wizards might have their eyes on improving on last season's 35-47 overall record, but with young players like Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole carrying the offense, I think this will be a down year for them. The Wizards haven't had a winning season since 2017-18 when Beal, John Wall and Otto Porter Jr. were running the show, so this is ptoentially six straight losing seasons.
Indiana Pacers Betting Preview
Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers are coming into this season with almost an identical squad, except for the acquisition of Bruce Brown from the Denver Nuggets. The Indiana Pacers had to deal with injuries to key players for a majority of last season, but they are expecting big things out of the duo of Bennedict Mathurin and Tyrese Haliburton, who are finally healthy this time out. I don't think we're going to see this squad make a deep run this season, but the future is bright, and I think the Indiana Pacers can win 40 games this season.
Peter's Pick
The Wizards struggled to score points last season, so the acquisition of Poole should provide the much-needed spark to the offense, but there will certainly be some growing pains early on. Interestingly, the Pacers finished with an identical season record to the Washington Wizards, but there is a lot more to like about these Pacers who are set for a bounce-back season, now that they are healthy. It's not surprising that the Pacers have opened as strong favorites at home, but this just seems like too many free points for a season opener. I like the Pacers to get the win, but with the line so hefty, I'll side with the Wizards to hang around and earn the cover.
The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.
