With goals of climbing up the West standings, the Golden State Warriors look to sweep the season series vs. the Indiana Pacers.

Catch the game tomorrow at 10:00 AM, Manila time.

AWAY: Indiana Pacers (39-31, 18-16 AWAY)

Projected starting five:

  • Tyrese Haliburton
  • Ben Mathurin
  • Pascal Siakam
  • Obi Toppin
  • Myles Turner

The Pacers enter as winners in four of their last six games, where they are averaging 117.8 points per game while allowing 108.5 on the other end.

As always, offense is Indy’s strength. With all that talent and a very fitting scheme, the team still ranks number one in scoring and a close third in offensive rating. Led by double-double machine (points and assists) and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (20.4 PPG, 11.2 APG), the offensively sound squad has plenty of capable scorers, including longtime Pacer Myles Turner (17.8 PPG, 1.8 BPG), newcomer Pascal Siakam (20.7 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 4.1 APG), shooter Aaron Nesmith, and athletic tweener forward Obi Toppin.

We ought to see a more defensively focused team as they were whooped the last time they met the Warriors, 131-109. It’s a tough expectation, though, considering Indy is 28th in points allowed per game and 25th and defensive rating.

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HOME: Golden State Warriors (36-32, 18-18 HOME)

Projected starting five:

  • Stephen Curry
  • Brandin Podziemski
  • Klay Thompson
  • Draymond Green
  • Trayce Jackson-Davis

The Warriors are up-and-down… again. They are only 3-4 over their last seven games, scoring 117.6 PPG while giving up 116.9 in that span.

What’s encouraging, however, is they are coming off a 137-116 trouncing of the Memphis Grizzlies. It was a nice all-around performance as Steph Curry didn’t need to go crazy just to earn a close win. In fact, in such a cruising victory, he only finished with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting in 25 minutes of action. 

In the W, Jonathan Kuminga (26 pts) and Andrew Wiggins (22 pts, 10 rebs) were the guys to step up, Klay Thompson came off the second unit for 23 points, Chris Paul followed suit with a double-double of 14 points and 12 dimes, and Draymond Green posted 10 points and 14 boards.

That said, though, note that Curry dropped 42 points with 11 three-pointers in his last face-off with the Pacers defense. He might be in that mode again on Saturday.

PREDICTIONS:

Handicap: The Warriors (-4.5) cover the spread.

Over/Under: The total goes over 237.5

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