Celtics, Pacers put winning streaks on the line

Basketball Betting Lines

02/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics aim for their fourth straight win this evening, when they pay a visit to the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Boston will try to work on its 17-5 road record tonight after handing the San Antonio Spurs a 98-90 loss at TD Banknorth Garden on Sunday. Paul Pierce poured in 35 points to lead the way and Ray Allen added 19 points for the Celtics, who are a perfect 16-0 against the Western Conference this season.

Rajon Rondo chipped in five points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 12 assists in a winning effort. Boston continued to play without star center Kevin Garnett, who is still sidelined with an abdominal injury. Garnett has missed seven games in a row and the team is 5-2 without him in the lineup. The former MVP of the league is out indefinitely.

After the Atlantic Division-leading Celtics visit the Pacers, they will return home to host New York before embarking on a five-game swing out west against Denver, Golden State, Phoenix, Portland and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Indiana, meanwhile, has posted back-to-back wins since a seven-game losing streak, and recorded a 101-93 victory over the Trail Blazers on Saturday in the opener of a brief two-game homestand.

Danny Granger scored 29 points and Travis Diener added 15 points and nine assists for the Pacers, who beat Portland for the ninth straight time. Troy Murphy tallied 13 points and eight rebounds, while Mike Dunleavy ended with 11 points in a winning cause.

The win ended a five-game slide at home for the Pacers, who are 10-14 as the host in 2007-08. On the injury front for Indiana, Dunleavy (knee) is listed as questionable for Tuesday's game against Boston.

Tuesday's game between Boston and Indiana is the second of three matchups this season. Boston, which posted a 101-86 win on November 13 at Conseco Fieldhouse, has won six of the last 10 meetings with the Pacers.

Despite the latest win in Indiana, the Celtics have lost 17 of 22 and 29 of its last 35 contests as the visitor in this series.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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