Splash Teams

This week we’re taking a look at the high flying Nets against the battling Pacers as we see an intriguing battle to unfold between two teams that might just meet in the playoffs! Both teams have had come conflicting fortunes on the injury front in recent times and both teams have had some results befitting those fortunes, so the battle is likely to be even closer than what it would ordinarily shape up to be on paper!

The Pacers:

The Pacers have been without CJ McCollum for most of the year which has been a massive blow. He’s a great player in any normal season, too, but in this engine he is a 2k god as shown by his stats and nominations for POTW ever since he returned to the line up. Luka is #1 in the NLL rankings, and CJ is already #6, and the Pacers couldn’t have got him back at a better time as they sit lower in the playoffs seeds and want to make a surge toward the top 4 again by the end of the season. Ibaka will miss this week, and Poirier has been on the outer for a week or so now too, but the Pacers should be able to rally behind the potent guard and elite scoring combo to overcome their size issues, despite the level of opponent.

The Nets:

The Nets have finally put it all together like Wiz and the roster of elite names has threatened to do for the past couple of years. Steph Curry has been the guy that has righted the ship and is taking them to the promise land. Of course, Steph is prone to resting out some games and this week he is copping another of those weeks which is a frustration for the Nets while they’d be happy to maintain the health of their #1 man for the playoff battles that will definitely be ensuing this year. They have LeVert back, and Fox can cover to an extent, though no one can obviously match a 50ppg type player. This week they have also made the move to cut salary and wave goodbye to Steven Adams so the middle man is looking different too as they put more faith in Sabonis and bring Boban further into the fold.

The Match-Ups:

C: Jalen Smith  Vs  Domantas Sabonis

Smith has been thrust into the starting line up and it’s been a boon for the young man averaging 10/8/2/1/2 as a starter and using his size and speed to really get himself into the game and help the team out. He’s earned some ROTW nominations and even won the award last week in dong so. This week he faces Sabonis who is a top big man in the league. He’s started all games he’s played, but has played them all at PF with Steven Adams in town. Adams is gone now and Sabonis might be better suited to C anyway as he was only going for 9/11/2/1 at PF. He’s going to be a handful for the rookie, but this will probably be closer than you’d think.

PF: Robert Covington  Vs  Thaddeus Young

Covington is the glue in Indiana and it shows in his stat line of 7/6/2/1/1 while shooting 48/41/100. He’s not going to set anything on fire, but he’s going to rebound and play good defence. He comes up against the Nets brand new glue guy of their own in Thad Young (projected) who as a starter for the Bulls has averaged 13/7/1/1/1 and he’s going t play a very similar role to Covington you’d tink which will cancel each other out.

SF: Gordon Hayward  Vs  Khris Middleton

Hayward has been much better at SG this year than SF, but CJ is back and there’s no way he’s unseating CJ. As a SF he’s averaging 19/5/3/1 and shooting a nice and efficient 48/53/98, so it’s not like we’re talking a drop off a cliff. Hayward has rebuilt himself this year and maybe he’s even worth the coin? The Pacers have been most fortunate he’s been healthy mostly. This match up is an allstar level match up, with Khris Middleton being the opposite to Hayward, and playing better at SF. He’s averaged 24/3/4/1 on a scorching 53/67/98 at SF and man is this one going to be a shoot out. Can Hayward hope to lower those shooting numbers of Khris? Cause he’s going to get all he can eat and that spells a lot on those splits.

SG: CJ McCollum  Vs  Caris LeVert

CJ is back and he’s averaging, wait for it, 39 points per game through his two returned weeks. Yeah, you read that right. Tell me the Pacers haven’t missed that! He’s doing it on 53/49/91 shooting and pitching in 4 boards and 4 assists a game to boot. This engine is everything he could have hoped for and he’s going to be a major player for the Pacers down the stretch. Coincidentally, LeVert has only returned for the past 2 weeks too and while it’s not CJ numbers, adding in 18/3/4/1/1 on 47/48/100 is a real shot in the arm for any team, particularly while Curry misses a couple of weeks. LeVert is playing like he has a new lease on life and he kind of does as the trade physical saved his life.

PG: Luka Doncic  Vs  DeAaron Fox

Luka is #1 on the season and with averages of 33/9/12/1/1 you can see why. The man is out Lebroning Lebron. Euro Lebron! With a jumpshot, and he’s playing at an insane level. Where would the Pacers be without Luka? Not in the playoff conversation, that’s for sure. Fox has started all year at PG allowing Steph to play off ball, and 17/3/8/2/1 is the fruit of his labour. He’s been the perfect side kick to whoever is the main guy on the night and he’s right up there in assists too, like Luka. Can he slow down the Luka train though?

Bench V Bench:

Wayne Ellington, Dwight Powell, Justin Jackson, Etwaun Moore, Nicolo Melli
Vs
Nemanja Bjelica, Boban Marjanovic, Troy Brown, Jevon Carter, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot

The benches here are good, veteran players and really stabilise both sides. The size is clearly to the Nets but the spark is probably to the Pacers. It’s an interesting bench match up for sure!

Head to Head Prediction:

With Curry out, and Adams’ anchor no longer in town, I think I have to give this edge to the Pacers with CJ back and torching teams to all sorts of tunes. With Curry, it’s a different ball game, literally.

Pacers by 8.

It’s a shoot out. And what is the XFactor in a shoot out? Making shots. The Nets seem to make their 3s at a higher clip and that will need to continue for them to get over the line. The XFactor simply put, is, to win the team is going to have to shoot the lights out more than the other team. Go figure, ey?