The Indiana Pacers had a great month of November, winning 11 of 13 games, proving they are a real threat down the road. The Pacers have lost two in a row since then, but that is not a concern to me. But tonight the Pacers will play the best team in the Western conference and the best team in the league.

The Golden State Warriors are coming to Indianapolis as the only undefeated team in the NBA. The Warriors are perfect 22-0 and have dominated most of the teams they have played. Stephen Curry has been by far the best player in the league and has led his team to an unfathomable start. But, the Pacers will be a road block for the Warriors to get past. We will see two teams going the pace of the Indy 500, back and forth down the floor in a blur.

The Pacers will challenge the Warriors like no other team that they have played because the Pacers have the same type of high octane offense. The Pacers and the Warriors both rank in the top five in scoring in the league as a team. The Warriors being first and the Pacers being fifth. Also, another big factor in the game will be three pointers. Now, all the buzz is about the splash brothers, Curry and Klay Thompson at Golden State, but the Pacers have themselves a pair of brothers also. Paul George and CJ Miles are tearing it up. George and Miles are both shooting over 40% from downtown and are ranked seventh and sixteenth in the NBA. Curry and Thompson are ranked fourth and twenty-fifth. This shows that there are other pairs of players in the NBA that can shoot the ball just as well.

Since both teams are pretty much even at this point, what the game is really going to come down to is the defense. The Pacers have the upperhand in this category. Indiana has only let up 98.2 points per game to the Warriors 100.2 given up. This is not a big difference, but it’s enough that the Pacers are ranked ninth and the Warriors are 15th in the league. But what the Warriors do have is the best point differential in the league. They may let up more points, but they also score more, a lot more.

The Warriors have a plus 14.9 points differential, which is very impressive to say the least. This means that they win by an average of about 15 points per game. The Pacers have the fourth best points differential in the NBA, at 5.1 a game. This means that when these two teams match up, realistically, the Warriors would win by 10 points. That is if both teams play what they have averaged.

The Pacers will have everything they need to have a chance of winning tonight. Home court advantage, a near capacity crowd, blue collar defense, and Paul George’s leadership will have to carry the way to help the Indiana Pacers get past the “all mighty” Golden State Warriors.