Pacers vs Cavaliers Best Bets: Odds, Pick, Prediction Tonight

Here's everything you need to know about Pacers vs Cavaliers on Friday, April 12  — our expert prediction and betting picks for today's game.

The Pacers will travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavs on Friday night. Can Cleveland defend its home court, or will Indiana leapfrog the Cavs in the Eastern Conference standings?

Let's dig into the odds and make a Pacers vs. Cavs prediction and pick.

This is a massive game considering these teams are only one game apart from each other in the standings. The Pacers do actually own the tiebreaker on the Cavs, and with a win here they could jump Cleveland and potentially move up to the 4- or 5-seed.

Indiana has been in good form of late, winning three straight games behind its elite offense. It dominated this Cleveland defense in each of its wins over the Cavs this season, posting 125 and 121 points in those victories back in the first few weeks of the seasons.

But these teams have come a long way and have certainly changed since then. The biggest difference between the early-season Pacers and the current version of the Pacers is their low 3-point attempt rate. Indiana started off the season ranking in the top five in 3-point attempt rate, but since the Pascal Siakam trade, it ranks in the bottom five in 3-point attempt rate.

That may become an issue against this Cavs defense that ranks second in rim FG% allowed but 21st in 3-point percentage allowed. Cleveland's interior defense is much better than its perimeter defense, and the Cavs have been most susceptible to teams that can shoot the 3.

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The Cavs should be super engaged here since they don’t want to drop this one and risk being the 6-seed. This should be a good matchup for their offense, as the Pacers have been a weak defense all season long, ranking 24th in adjusted defensive rating, according to dunksandthrees.com.

Indiana is extremely susceptible at the point of attack considering Tyrese Haliburton is arguably one of the league's weakest defenders. I don’t think the Pacers have the defensive personnel to keep the ball in front of them in this one, and I fully expect Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland to have a field day against these Pacers guards.

The Pacers have been allowing rim attempts at the highest rate (37.7%) all season long, so look for the Cavs to dominate the paint as well. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley should be able to eat off lobs from Garland and Mitchell all night long.

This is a Cavs spot for me and I’m honestly stunned to see this line sitting at -3. I think this line should be closer to -5.5 or -6 with both teams fully healthy, but I guess the books are weighing Cleveland's recent performance heavily. I don’t put much too stock into its road trip struggles and I expect to see a fully focused 48-minute effort from this team as they try to remain inside the top four seeds.

Picks: Cavaliers -3 (Play to -4.5)

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