Clippers at Pacers
THE STORY:
The Indiana Pacers’ latest slide has the team on the brink of falling
into the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference. Losers of six of the last
eight games, the Pacers have struggled against fellow playoff-worthy
clubs. The Los Angeles Clippers are a playoff-worthy team from the West
and have perked up recently thanks to some late-game heroics from Chris
Paul. The Clippers have won two straight and three of four.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Prime Ticket (Clippers), FS Indiana (Pacers)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (26-18):
Los Angeles has not been the same team since Chauncey Billups went down
with a season-ending injury Feb. 6. In the 22 games since, the Clippers
have posted an 11-11 mark while averaging 95.2 points. They put up 99.4
points and a 15-7 mark in the previous 22 contests. But Paul has taken
over of late to keep Los Angeles from slipping further. The All-Star
guard scored 12 points in the final 2:42 to spark a 95-91 win over the
Houston Rockets on Saturday and scored nine of his 19 points in overtime
Sunday while handing out 15 assists in an 87-83 victory over Detroit.
ABOUT THE PACERS (25-18): Indiana
has one victory - a 111-94 triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers - in its
last nine games against teams holding winning records. The Pacers have
dropped six of their last eight games, all against potential Eastern
Conference playoff opponents, and are struggling on the defensive end.
They allowed 108.5 points in dropping back-to-back games to the
eighth-place New York Knicks over the weekend and have surrendered at
least 100 points in four of their last five setbacks. Indiana is
one-half game up on the sixth-place Atlanta Hawks and two games ahead of
the seventh-place Boston Celtics.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The teams have split the season series in each of the last five campaigns, with the home team taking the last four games.
2. Paul has averaged 19.0 points and 8.8 assists in 10 career games against Indiana.
3. Guard Leandro Barbosa is set to make his Pacers debut Tuesday.