Pacers at Hornets
THE STORY: The Indiana Pacers attempt to move closer to sealing a playoff spot when they visit the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday. The Pacers have won three straight games and lead the Charlotte Bobcats by two games with five contests remaining in the quest for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff position. Indiana has rebounded from a tough stretch which placed its playoff hopes in trouble by winning eight of 12 games over the past three weeks. New Orleans is in a three-way battle with Portland and Memphis for the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds in the Western Conference. The Houston Rockets are still looming but time is running out on Houston catching New Orleans or the other two teams.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSIN.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (43-33): After a six-game stretch in which Chris Paul was a potent scorer with five outings of 22 or more points, he’s gone cold the last three games. Paul has shot just 30.3 percent (10 of 33) and averaged 8.7 points as New Orleans has lost two of its past three games. Paul had just five points on 2-of-8 shooting in Friday’s 93-81 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Paul has averaged 11.3 assists during the three games. Carl Landry had a team-high 19 points in the loss to Memphis. Marco Belinelli added 14 points. The game against Indiana is the first of a three-game homestand that includes games against Houston and Phoenix.
ABOUT THE PACERS (35-42): Indiana all but eliminated Milwaukee from the playoff race with an 89-88 victory over the Bucks on Friday. Danny Granger scored 17 points and Roy Hibbert had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Point guard Darren Collison is shooting 75.9 percent (22 of 29) during Indiana’s three-game winning streak while averaging 16 points and 1.7 steals. Collison was 17 for 20 shooting in back-to-back victories over Boston and Detroit. The Pacers return home for games against Washington, Atlanta and New York Knicks after playing the Hornets. Indiana’s only remaining road game is the season finale at Orlando on April 13.
WHO'S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Hibbert is averaging 17.7 points and shooting 62.9 percent over the last three games. Landry is averaging 20.8 points in four starts since David West suffered a season-ending knee injury. Indiana guard Mike Dunleavy is just 4 of 13 shooting in two games since returning from a broken thumb that sidelined him for five weeks. New Orleans guard Willie Green is shooting just 36.4 percent over the last three outings.
KEY STATISTIC: Indiana’s 89 points against Milwaukee was its fewest in a victory all season. The Pacers hadn’t won when scoring less than 100 since a 95-86 victory over Washington on Dec. 31.
SEASON SERIES: Indiana edged New Orleans 94-93 in Indianapolis on Dec. 20 when Dunleavy tipped in a Granger miss at the buzzer.
KEY INJURIES: INDIANA: None. NEW ORLEANS: F David West (knee).
LAST WORD: “We are a step closer and we control our own destiny. We’re playing pretty well right now but we still have a lot of work to do to hopefully get into the playoffs. We were able to stop a run and pull off this victory. We are close to locking our goal but we are not there yet.” – Granger after Friday’s victory moved the Pacers closer to clinching a playoff spot.