Pacers, Bulls clash at Conseco Fieldhouse

Basketball Betting Lines

02/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A Chicago Bulls squad that's struggled on the road for much of this season will try to turn around its historic lack of success at Indianapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse in tonight's Central Division clash with the Indiana Pacers.

Chicago is just 9-17 as the visitor thus far in 2009-10 and has dropped its last two tests away from home, although the club did string together five straight road wins from January 22-29. The Bulls have been worse when traveling to Indiana over the years, earning just three victories in its last 22 tries as the guest in this series.

Since Conseco Fieldhouse opened in 1999, Chicago has gone just 3-17 in road games against the Pacers, including defeats in both meetings between the teams held in Indianapolis last season.

The Bulls did deal Indiana a 104-95 setback in the Windy City back on December 29, though, and halted a three-game losing streak with Saturday's 95-91 home triumph over Miami.

"It was a big win," said forward Luol Deng, who led Chicago with 25 points. "Every time you have a losing streak you just want to put an end to it."

Chicago prevailed over the Heat by getting to the free throw line and hitting those shots. The Bulls had a season-high 35 attempts from the charity stripe and converted 28 of them.

Deng went 9-of-11 from the foul line and Derrick Rose, who scored 24 points in the win, made 6-of-8 free-throw shots.

John Salmons chipped in 15 points for Chicago and Brad Miller notched 13 points, eight rebounds and five steals to help off offset the absence of fellow bigs Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. Noah is expected to remain sidelined until after the All-Star break with plantar fasciitis in his foot, while Thomas was suspended by the Bulls for Saturday's contest for conduct detrimental to the team.

Thomas, averaging 8.5 points and 6.2 rebounds in a reserve role this season, is expected to play tonight.

Indiana had posted back-to-back home wins over Toronto and Detroit to begin February, but couldn't keep up the momentum in Saturday's trip to rival Milwaukee. The Pacers dropped a 93-81 decision to the Bucks after being outrebounded by a 43-33 margin and committing 19 turnovers that led to 25 points by their opponent.

"They hurt us on the boards," remarked Pacers center Roy Hibbert. "That has to be my responsibility to keep the big guys off the offensive glass."

Hibbert collected just four rebounds in addition to scoring 10 points, while leading scorer Danny Granger managed 14 points -- eight under his season average -- on 5-of-14 shooting. T.J. Ford topped the Pacers with 20 points off the bench.

Ford saw the majority of minutes at point guard with regular starter Earl Watson missing a second straight game due to a personal matter. The well- traveled veteran will likely be back in the lineup for this evening's matchup, however.

Indiana has also played its last two tilts without reserve guard Luther Head, who remains day-to-day with a viral infection.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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