The Pacers enter tonight with a record even at .500, 10-10. The Pacers have somewhat underwhelmed since their 6th game exit in the the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami heat and their gentleman's sweep of the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2011-2012 playoffs. The Pacers were 14-6 last year this far into the season, winning games against teams such as the Bulls, Lakers, and Celtics. So the Indian Pacers have a ways to go to reach the heights they reached last year as a team.
The Pacers do have a lot of youth to them at this point in the year, with still being a team that is trying to find their identity and their chemistry as team. Once Danny Granger returns from injury, it will be interesting to see how this team functions and integrates him back into the lineup.
The Thunder come into tonight on a blazing hot streak of wins, winning their 7 last games, 15 of their last 17, and . The Thunder have really played up to their potential as of late, showing the NBA how good they still are even after the loss of James Harden in October to Houston. Kevin Durant has seemed to finally settle into a scoring rhythm this year, scoring 35+ in 4 of the last 9 games for the Thunder.
Russell Westbrook has continued his improved clip of assists this year, registering 8+ assists in each of the Thunder's last 7 seven wins. Russell has also down fairly well keeping up with the Durant in terms of scoring,registering 25+ in the last two games in wins against Los Angeles and Brooklyn.
Tonight's game should be interesting, with a rolling Thunder team who might be resting on their laurels as of late and a Pacers team who has stayed close in games against several teams in loses, such the 92-89 loss to the Nuggets and a 104-97 loss to the Spurs. This is more than definitely a trap game for the Thunder, who has a tendency to drop a game here and there with the simple fact that they have won so much. However, I think the Thunder are going to play a solid game here, with a big crowd for a Sunday afternoon game cheering for them all they way there.
Prediction: 107-92 Thunder. I am going to go with the hope that the Thunder can keep their streak of 10 straight games with 100+ points going for an 11th game.
Now onto the stats.
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