Pacers vs. Hornets prediction and odds for Monday, March 20 (Fade Pacers with Haliburton out)

The Indiana Pacers are just 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference, but the injury bug has hit them at the wrong time.

All-Star Tyrese Haliburton is out for Monday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, who have dropped four straight games heading into this matchup.

The Pacers are set as slight favorites on the road in this game, just the seventh time all season they’ve been road favorites. They’ve gone 3-3 ATS in the previous six matchups.

Charlotte has struggled as a home underdog all season long (9-17 ATS), but the team could have some value with Haliburton out for this game and Bennedict Mathurin listed as questionable.

Here are the latest odds and my best bet for this matchup:

Pacers vs. Hornets odds, spread and total

Pacers vs. Hornets prediction and pick

The Hornets have been terrible this season, especially on offense (30th in offensive rating), but I can’t trust the Pacers with Haliburton out of the lineup.

In the 17 games that the All-Star guard has missed Indiana is just 4-13 this season. While the Pacers did recently beat the Milwaukee Bucks without Haliburton, I don’t expect that to start becoming the norm.

The team’s offensive rating drops a whole point with Haliburton sidelined, and that should help the struggling Hornets offense keep pace.

Charlotte has been awful as a home underdog, but this is such a short spread that I don’t mind taking a shot on the Hornets to win outright as underdogs.

If Indiana doesn’t have Mathurin as well in this game, the team is going to be starving for offense on Monday.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.