Indiana at Atlanta

Atlanta was drubbed in both games to open this series on the road. They lost the pair of games by a combined 32 points and came no closer than 15. They gave up 59 first half points to the Pacers in game two and 58 in game one. They know they have to defend here and, coming home with their backs to the wall, should have them ready to do it. The Pacers have not been nearly as good on the road, especially vs. the teams that made the playoffs. They have had 19 road games on the season vs. this year's playoff field and have averaged just 87.9 ppg. Atlanta will be focused early in this one and, with the Pacers struggling to score on the road, they should have early success doing so. The Atlanta offense has not sniffed the century mark in their last six games vs. teams in the playoffs, so expect this one to be low scoring early as each tries to put their stamp on this game. Play the first half UNDER the total.