Indiana Pacers vs Toronto Raptors Prediction

Without the aid of six-time All-Star guard Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors avenged their frustrating comeback defeat by Miami in style overnight. They were 101-81 winners during the second instalment of their series against Erik Spoelstra's men, with both sides missing key players.

Norman Powell scored 23 points, OG Anunoby had 21 while Pascal Siakam recorded a double-double too. How will they fare away to Indiana, in the first of a two-game series after the Pacers' overtime win over Orlando last time out?

Read my basketball preview, for the best betting odds ahead of this compelling H2H matchup.

Indiana Pacers vs Toronto Raptors Preview

Pascal Siakam (groin) played through the pain and finished with a credible statline: 15 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes.

They certainly avenged their 111-102 defeat from Wednesday night and never trailed in the second instalment of this series, which earned praise from head coach Nick Nurse post-game:

"This was pretty much night and day, we were definitely flying around on D. It's a two-game scenario in that we learned a lesson - in the NBA, if you come out and don't play, you're going to get beat."

Kendrick Nunn led Miami with 22 points, five assists and three steals, and total minutes (39) from the bench, but the team wilted from three-point range (22.6%) while combining for an eyewatering 19 turnovers.

Powell started in Lowry (toe infection), who Nurse revealed afterwards is hopeful of a swift return and could feature on Sunday evening.

Turnovers were problematic for them too (22), despite shooting 46% overall and recording more than double (17-of-40) their visitors' three-point buckets.

After successive defeats against the Clippers and Mavericks, Indiana (9-6) made it hard for themselves before ultimately outlasting the Magic overnight.

Malcolm Brogdon's decisive three-pointer, with 2.8 seconds left, proved key after Evan Fournier's own deep range pull-up three bounced off the rim at the buzzer to end the game, a 120-118 final scoreline.

Indiana Pacers vs Toronto Raptors Betting Tips

ESPN's Basketball Power Index gives the Raptors a slight advantage (57.9%), and it's hard not to agree with them - having comfortably beaten Miami to exact immediate revenge after squandering a promising lead against them during their previous game.

Fred VanVleet leads them in scoring (18.9) and is second in assists (6.5) so far this term but despite struggling with his shot last time out (4-of-14, 1-of-6 3 PM, 13 pts) - they still won!

Myles Turner (hand) returned and rebounded away from another double-double (22 pts, 9 rebs, three blocks) for Indiana last night, but cramp stopped him continuing in overtime.

It'll be interesting to see how they fare when defending home court to finish the week against last year's Eastern Conference champions. It's a difficult one to call, all things considered, but if Lowry returns and Siakam continues playing through his groin issue, I see Toronto edging this.