The set-up: The 27-45 Philadelphia 76ers will be in Indiana on Sunday to take on the 36-36 Pacers. The Pacers are 7th in the East, just one game back of the Hawks and Bucks (who are tied for 5th) but Indiana is also just one game ahead of the 8th-place heat. The Pacers lost 125-117 at home Denver on Friday, their second straight loss. It also ended a streak of 15 straight games in which the Pacers had alternated wins and losses. As for Philadelphia, it improved to 1-2 on its current five-game road trip with a 117-107 win Friday at Chicago.

Philadelphia: The 76ers sidelined rookie Joel Embiid (knee) until the summer but fellow rookie Dario Saric has made his own late-run at ROY honors. He shot 12-of-19 with a pair of three-pointers and added 10 rebounds against Chicago, upping his season stats to 12.8 & 6.3. Another rookie, the 6-9 Shawn Long (7.1 & 3.9), set a career high with 18 points in 19 minutes. The 76ers have all sorts of injuries but continue to play hard.

Indiana: The Pacers have lost two straight and are 7-14 in their last 21. Indiana is in the midst of a tight playoff race in the Eastern Conference, leading the Miami Heat by one game for the No. 8 seed and find themselves just 2 1/2 games clear of ninth-place Chicago and Detroit. Indiana has lost three of its last four games, allowing at least 100 points in all four of those contests.

The pick: The Pacers are 25-11 SU at home but only 19-16-1 ATS. It's difficult to trust them laying points, and note that the Sixers, with all their injury woes, come in 17-4 ATS their last 21 games. The 76ers will play hard here against the Pacers and will force the Pacers to score if they want to win. I look for this game to easily fly over the total. Make the Over an 8* play.