The New York Knicks can’t score, defend and share the basketball. They better improve in all of those areas if they want a fighting chance when they visit the best team in the league, the Indiana Pacers, which are coming off their first loss of the 2013-14 NBA regular season.

Playing in the tail end of a back-to-back, the odds are stacked against a Knicks team who suffered a close 92-86 loss at Detroit Tuesday and are currently in a three-game losing streak. The Pacers perfect run ended at nine after they got blown to pieces by the Chicago Bulls, 110-94, on Saturday.

The Knicks' struggles this season can be owed to a lot of things. New York only scores 94.3 points per game despite having Carmelo Anthony, who is 4th in the NBA in scoring at 25.8 PPG. With the injury to starting center Tyson Chandler, the Knicks are now 29th in the league in rebounding with just 38.8 RPG. They are also one of the worst in assists (19.3 APG – 23rd) and are so-so on defense (99.7 OPPG – 16th).

Indiana, despite the loss to the Bulls, is still the best defensive team in the league, allowing only 86.3 PPG. That defense wasn’t present in their last game though as they allowed the Bulls to shoot over 50 per cent from the field and 57.9 per cent from behind the arc.

They key guys for the Pacers struggled on offense as well. Paul George missed 11-of-14 shots from the field for just 12 points and David West missed 10-of-16 shots for 13 points.

The last time these teams met was in the Eastern Conference semifinals in the 2013 NBA Playoffs. The Pacers took the series in six games.

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Betting Against the Spread (ATS)
 Betting Line: New York Knicks (+5.5) vs. Indiana Pacers (O/U: 188.0)

Indiana Pacers Trends
- Pacers are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games vs. teams with losing records at home
- Pacers are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games
- Pacers are 5-2 ATS in their 7 games vs. East teams

New York Knicks Trends
- Knicks are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games at home
- Knicks are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games
- Knicks are 5-1 in their last 6 games vs. the Pacers in New York

Prediction: Indiana Pacers 100, New York Knicks 96. Surprise surprises, the lowly Knicks are actually competitive in this game. Not enough to get the W but enough to cover the spread.