The Minnesota Timberwolves’ chances of making the playoffs for a second straight season aren’t great because they have the second-toughest schedule remaining in the NBA. They also are NBA odds underdogs Thursday in the second of a back-to-back at Indiana. It’s also the second of a B2B for the Indiana Pacers.
How to Bet Timberwolves vs Pacers NBA Week 20 Odds & Game Info
McMillan says the #Pacers can’t blame tonight’s loss on the absences of Sabonis and Evans: “The guys that are in uniform have got to play. We’ve been dealing with this all season long. Injuries — that’s not an excuse.” pic.twitter.com/v2vAawvoYW
— FOX Sports Indiana (@FSIndiana) 28 de febrero de 2019
- When: Thursday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
- TV: NBA League Pass
- Live Stream: NBA League Pass
- Radio: Tunein.com
- NBA Week 20 Odds: Indiana Pacers -4.5 (Total 221)
Season Series
A win Thursday would give Minnesota its first season sweep over Indiana since the 2006-07 season. The Pacers saw a four-game road winning streak at Minnesota come to an end on Oct. 22 as the Timberwolves earned their first home win in the series since Feb. 19, 2014, by a score of 101-91.Jimmy Butler (now in Philly) had 20 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, while rookie guard Josh Okogie scored 12 points off the bench. Okogie played more because Andrew Wiggins exited in the first quarter due to a right quad contusion and did not return. Victor Oladipo and Bojan Bogdanovic had 20 points for Indiana. Oladipo is now out for the season.
Why Bet on Minnesota?
The Wolves remain without probably their best defensive player in small forward Robert Covington, who came over with Dario Saric in the Jimmy Butler deal. Covington hasn’t played since Dec. 31 due to a bone bruise in his knee, but a recent tweet from his personal account suggested that he’s close: Covington tweeted out the word “soon” on Monday with three exclamation points and a flexing arm. On Wednesday, he was headed to Iowa to get in a practice with Minnesota’s G-League team. Probably won’t play Thursday but perhaps by the weekend.
The Wolves have won 25 of 48 starts since the Nov. 12 trade that brought Covington, Šarić and Jerryd Bayless from Philadelphia. In those 3.5 months, Minnesota is 12th in Offensive Rating (111.3), 15th in Defensive Rating (109.2) and 11th in Net Rating (+2.1). The team has been better in the fourth quarter lately. Minnesota is permitting only 24.4 points (44.3%) in the 4th quarters of its last 22 games (going 12-10), compared with 31.0 points (52.0%) in the previous 13 (4-9).
Minnesota is being carried right now by All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, who had his second 30-point/20-rebound game of the season earlier this week. For the month of February, Towns is averaging 27.5 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game with shooting splits of 63.3/55.0/83.3 for the season, Minnesota ranks 4th in offensive reb pct (.255), 14th in total rebound pct (.503) and 26th in defensive rebound pct (.751).
The Wolves probably won’t have point guard Jeff Teague on Thursday. He has been in and out of the lineup with a sore knee. Derrick Rose and Tyus Jones would pick up more minutes as usual.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 112.38
- Field Goal Percentage: 45.33
- Three-Point Percentage: 35.24
- Free Throw Percentage: 79.00
- Total Rebounds: 45.02
Defense
- Total Score: 112.52
- Field Goal Percentage: 46.15
- Three-Point Percentage: 37.01
- Free Throw Percentage: 77.30
- Total Rebounds: 45.30
Why Bet on Indiana?
The Pacers will be without a key player in vastly improved big man Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis rolled his ankle late in Monday’s game and needed to be assisted to the locker room, and he was dealing with a lot of swelling on Tuesday. He’s expected out at least a few games. Prior to the injury, Sabonis was going off with 23 points, seven rebounds, one assist and one block in 26 minutes.
Sabonis is shooting 61.0 percent from the field this season, which ranks fifth in the NBA. He also is averaging 9.3 rebounds per game, which ranks first among all players in the NBA who have started fewer than half of their team’s games, and 18th overall in the league. He leads all bench players in the NBA in double-doubles as 21 of his 24 this season have come off the bench. Kyle O’Quinn will see more time while Sabonis is out.
Indiana is 26-1 when scoring 110 or more points and 22-1 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Conversely, the Pacers are 4-10 when they score fewer than 100 points and 0-5 when they shoot under 40 percent from the floor.
The Pacers have won 11 games by 20 or more points this season, six of which have been by at least 25 points at home. Indiana has also posted four wins by margins of 30 or more points for the first time since the 1993-94 season.
Indiana has recorded at least 30 assists in 15 games this season (13-2 record). Indiana ranks seventh in the NBA with 26.1 assists per game, an improvement of 3.9 assists per game from last season. The Pacers have not averaged more than 25 assists per game since the 1993-94 season (25.1).
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 108.48
- Field Goal Percentage: 47.88
- Three-Point Percentage: 37.37
- Free Throw Percentage: 75.56
- Total Rebounds: 43.34
Defense
- Total Score: 103.45
- Field Goal Percentage: 44.76
- Three-Point Percentage: 35.61
- Free Throw Percentage: 75.06
- Total Rebounds: 42.90
Timberwolves vs Pacers NBA Week 20 Betting Trends
- Over is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings in Indiana
- Road team is 8-1 ATS in the last 9 meetings
- Minnesota is 6-3 ATS in its last 9 games on the road
- Minnesota is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games on the road
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Minnesota’s last 6 games on the road
- Indiana is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home
- Indiana is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Indiana’s last 5 games at home
Expert NBA Betting Prediction
Minnesota Timberwolves 104 – Indiana Pacers 111
