Teams battling for playoff positioning in their respective conferences meet in a key NBA matchup when the Houston Rockets face the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night. Houston is coming off a 137-128 loss at Oklahoma City Monday, while Indiana defeated the Chicago Bulls 127-112 Sunday. The Rockets (37-24), who are the fifth seed in the Western Conference, are 17-13 on the road this season. The Pacers (34-25), who are the fifth seed in the East, are 18-9 on their home floor. Bennedict Mathurin (wrist) is doubtful for Indiana, while Fred VanVleet (ankle) is out for Houston.

Tipoff from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is set for 7 p.m. ET.  The Rockets won the season's first matchup 130-113 at Houston on Nov. 20, which ended a nine-game win streak for Indiana in the head-to-head series. The Pacers are 3.5-point favorites in the latest Rockets vs. Pacers odds from SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 231, an increase from opening at 228.5. Indiana is at -164 on the money line (risk $164 to win $100), while Houston is at +138 (risk $100 to win $138). Before making any Rockets vs. Pacers picks, check out the NBA predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters Week 20 of the 2024-25 NBA season on a sizzling 147-107 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $4,000. It's also an outstanding 18-10 (64%) on top-rated spread picks this season. Anyone following could have seen HUGE returns!

The model has simulated Rockets vs. Pacers 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in almost 60% of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.

So who wins Rockets vs. Pacers? And which side of the spread hits almost 60% of the time? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its NBA picks!