If there’s one word to describe the Indiana Pacers’ season so far, it would be this: weird. Fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, Indiana is 18-18, in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, and two of its top three big men suffered torn Achilles tendons.
To complicate things further for the Pacers, point guard Tyrese Haliburton, a two-time All-Star, has been extremely inconsistent. He played at an MVP-caliber level in the first half of the 2023-24 season, got injured, looked like a shell of himself upon his return, barely got off the bench at the Olympics, and has had a forgettable 2024-25 campaign so far.
Still, Indiana tends to win when Haliburton plays well. Overall, he’s averaging 18.3 points and 8.8 assists per game on 44-35-84 shooting splits, but those increase to 23.2 and 10.1 in the Pacers’ wins and decrease to 13.4 and 7.5 in their losses. Tonight, Indiana will travel to the Big Apple to take on the Brooklyn Nets at 7:30 p.m. ET.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Indiana is a 10-point favorite and the point total is set to 223. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around Haliburton.
Best Tyrese Haliburton Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Tyrese Haliburton 20+ Points (+105)
Haliburton’s scoring output in his last four games: 31, 12, 33, 27. The Pacers won all three of the games in which he was an impactful offensive player, including an upset win on the road in Boston. In Indiana’s only loss across that stretch, he shot horribly (three-for-13) in a home defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks, who have the league’s 10th-best defensive rating.
He should have an opportunity to keep his hot form going against the Nets, who have the league’s sixth-worst defensive rating, allowing 116.1 points per 100 possessions. Although Brooklyn has only allowed 113.5 points per game to opponents, the 15th-most in the league, most of it has to do with the fact that the Nets’ offense plays at the league’s slowest pace. Indiana plays at the league’s seventh-fastest and should ratchet up the number of possessions, giving Haliburton plenty of chances to score. It helps that one of Brooklyn’s better defenders, Cam Johnson, is out, and another, Ben Simmons, is questionable, leaving recently-acquired D’Angelo Russell — hardly a defensive stalwart — to handle the Haliburton assignment.
Tyrese Haliburton O8.5 Assists (-120)
I also back Haliburton, one of the league’s most gifted passers, to be dishing out plenty of dimes on Monday night.
The Nets have struggled against teams who thrive on ball movement, giving up 27.1 assists per game, the ninth-most in basketball, and only the Golden State Warriors make more passes per game than Indiana’s 325.5. The Pacers have a mostly healthy lineup tonight, with no players sidelined with short-term injuries. Haliburton’s co-star, two-time All-Star forward Pascal Siakam, has quietly had the most efficient shooting season of his career, and he should be able to keep it going against a Brooklyn team that fails to get within six feet of the shooter on 22.9% of three-point attempts, the sixth-highest rate in the league.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook, lines and odds subject to change.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
