Bobcats at Pacers
THE STORY: There wasn't anything pretty about Indiana's win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, but you certainly won't hear the Pacers complaining. Fresh off its best defensive effort of the young season, Indiana will look to make it two wins in as many nights as it hosts the struggling Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday. The Pacers shot just 40.5 percent from the field against Boston, but that was more than good enough as they cruised to an 87-74 road victory. The Indiana defense was magnificent in the first half, holding Boston to just 25 points. As has been the case for most of the season, the Pacers relied on a balanced scoring attack to subdue Boston - six players scored in double figures, led by Danny Granger's 15 points. The Bobcats are coming off a 102-96 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night. Charlotte failed to take advantage of a Hawks team that had played a triple-overtime marathon against the Miami Heat a night earlier.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Indiana, NBA TV
ABOUT THE BOBCATS (2-5): Charlotte has managed to keep the last two games respectable following three one-sided losses to Orlando, Miami and Cleveland. The Bobcats earned a surprise eight-point win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday and had a chance to pull out a victory against the Hawks, only to see Boris Diaw miss a turnaround jumper as time expired in the fourth quarter. Friday marks the only home date in a six-game stretch for the Bobcats.
ABOUT THE PACERS (5-2): Indiana's January schedule offers a good-news, bad-news proposition. On one hand, the team will play just three back-to-backs in the entire month - Saturday's game marking the first. Yet that's about the only part of the schedule that benefits the Pacers, who will play 11 of 16 January games away from Indiana. That stretch includes the cream of the NBA crop, with games in Chicago, Orlando, Los Angeles and a second game in Boston.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Indiana has won six straight head-to-head encounters dating back to the 2009-10 season, scoring at least 100 points in five of them - and 99 in the other.
2. Pacers forward David West has yet to score more than 14 points in a game this season. The offseason acquisition has averaged 16.4 points for his career.
3. Diaw has hit a 3-pointer in six of seven games. He came into the year just a 33.8-percent shooter from long range, but is 10-for-22 so far this season.