NBA Basketball

2026-03-04 - Indiana Pacers at LA Clippers

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Indiana Pacers @ LA Clippers
United States : NBA Basketball
Wednesday 4th March 2026 - Scheduled 10:30pm
3:30am (British Time)

Preview

Every team begins a new season in any of the North American sports with the belief that they can have a big impact when the Playoffs roll around.

For the Indiana Pacers (15-46), the reality back in October was that the team would do very well to come close to achieving the same as 2025 when they won the Eastern Conference and pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder all the way in the NBA Finals before losing Game 7. An injury to Tyrese Haliburton meant a season without their best player, but even the most pessimistic Indiana fan may have hoped to be in a better position than having the second fewest wins in the NBA.

They haven't just been playing without Haliburton, but multiple key contributors have missed time with injury and a short-handed Indiana team will be playing on Wednesday. The likes of Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith are not expected to suit up, while a trade for Ivica Zubac has yet to have any impact with the Pacers looking to rest him up.

That trade was made with the LA Clippers (29-31) who have overcome a slow start and look like they will have to make their way through the Play In Tournament if they are going to play post-season basketball.

Unlike the Pacers, the Clippers do have Bennedict Mathurin suited up having come the other way in the trade that sent Zubac to Indiana.

Another key trade was to secure Darius Garland from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for James Harden and Garland was also on the floor for the first in a Clippers uniform as the team overcame a big deficit to pull away from the Golden State Warriors.

The aim the rest of the way in this regular season has to be on erasing the 1.5 game gap to the Warriors in the Number 8 Seed in the Western Conference and giving themselves two chances to make the First Round of the Playoffs. The Clippers have been a little streaky of late having lost three in a row before winning back to back games, but they do have the edge in this one and should be able to pull away from an Indiana team struggling for consistency without key performers.

You may want to keep an eye out on the team news closer to tip off as Siakam, Nesmith and Nembhard have all been listed as Questionable, which will have an impact on this line if they are all set to go.

Even if they are, the Indiana Pacers cannot expect those players to find their best right out of the gate and this is a Clippers Defensive unit playing with good intensity.

A bigger problem for the Pacers in recent games is that they are allowing opponents to do whatever they want on the Offensive side of the court. The Pacers have allowed those opponents to average 55% from the field in recent games, while also giving up a solid 37% success rate from the three point range.

Second chances have just made it tough for the Pacers and thi si s abig line that the Clippers have every chance of covering.