Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers – NBA, Saturday, October 23rd, 2021

The Heat and Pacers are set to face off this Saturday for the first of two games on NBA TV. The Pacers started their season off against the Hornets, falling short by one point in a high scoring affair. The Heat on the other hand, started their season against the reigning NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks.

These two Eastern Conference teams are both intending on making the playoffs this season, so it could be a close game.

Let’s break down the matchup and place our bets on the NBA’s best betting websites.

The Heat open as favorites for this matchup following their impressive win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. They have a new look lineup and are looking to be a dangerous threat to the Eastern Conference this year. People forget that they were in the NBA Finals with the Lakers in the bubble season, and they have some solid new additions.

The Pacers also have a number of solid players as well, but are missing two key pieces. Caris LeVert and T.J Warren are still out and they make the Pacers a better team when they are healthy.

Bam Adebayo will face off with Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner in this one, which is going to be the most important matchup of this game. Bam can help slow down Sabonis, who is a big part of their offense in Indianapolis.

Butler is not always going to score the most points or have the prettiest stat line, but he is one of the best basketball players in the league.

Surrounding Butler is a cast of solid players in Miami including Adebayo, Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, and Duncan Robinson. They will also hope to get Victor Oladipo back to full health soon, because he is yet another very solid player that can help them make the playoffs and go far.

Here is how the top three scorers fared for the Heat in their dominating win over the Bucks a few days ago.

• Tyler Herro – 27 Points
• Jimmy Butler – 21 Points
• Bam Adebayo – 20 Points

The Pacers are a heavy offensive team with very little defensive support outside of Myles Turner. That means the Heat can shut down their top guy in Sabonis and capitalize on the offensive side as well.

This Pacers team shouldn’t go down too easily. In fact, they can win this game themselves. They have a handful of solid players themselves outside of Sabonis. Malcolm Brogdon is a very solid guard and could be among one of the most underrated players in the NBA. He is going to need another performance like his game against the Hornets (28 points, 11 assists) to beat the Heat in this one. Kyle Lowry is not known to be a defensive superstar, leaving the Heat vulnerable defensively against Brogdon.

Sabonis and Brogdon can have a good game no matter how good the defenders are, it’s just a matter if they can get routine stops defensively. Rookie Chris Duarte also had a great debut with 27 points in their near loss to Charlotte.

When the Pacers play, the over is seemingly a good bet a lot of the time. Last season, the Pacers scored and average of 115.3 points per game, while they allowed the same exact amount on defense too.

If this was another average game for the Pacers, the total would be north of 230 already. Throw in the fact that the Heat have some nice additional pieces, they could provide enough points to hit the over here.

The under could be a possibility here because of a couple of things. To start, the Heat defenders could shut down the Pacers top guys like Brogdon and Sabonis. The Pacers have some inconsistent scorers in their offense behind those two, so they could struggle.

The Heat are also inconsistent on the offensive end as well. Butler can score 40, or he can score 6. Adebayo isn’t a known scorer, and Lowry is more of a pass first player. If the Heat use up their energy on the defensive end, their offensive game might not be as sharp.

I am going to take the Heat in this one. The Pacers are going to be without Caris LeVert and T.J Warren for this game and they are a much stronger team when those two get healthy.

The Heat dominated the Bucks and proved to be a tough competitor for this season because most of their lineup is healthy. They should be able to beat the Pacers in this game despite being on the road.

I would also feel pretty solid about the over bet here as well considering how many Pacers games are high scoring.