Clippers at Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are losers of five of the last six, with the lone win in that span coming over the struggling Phoenix Suns, but a stretch of home games has the team’s spirits up. The Pacers will kick off a four-game homestand when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.
Indiana surrendered an average of 113.3 points during its just-completed four-game road trip and was honest in its assessment of the defense. "Terrible," forward Lavoy Allen told the Indianapolis Star. "We barely won that one. Phoenix came back. It wasn’t really a good trip. I think we gave up way too many points. Our defense wasn’t that good.” The Clippers had their own issues on the defensive end in a 112-94 loss at the Toronto Raptors, though the struggles of the second unit were more troublesome. The bench was outscored 51-27 while key rotation players Jamal Crawford (minus-33) and Austin Rivers (minus-28) failed to keep pace.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (28-16): Los Angeles has dropped three of its last five games since ripping off a 10-game winning streak and needs more from the bench as it continues a five-game road trip. “I think our bench was thinking about scoring instead of defending,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers told reporters. “It happens a lot. You come into the game and you have a lead and you think you're going to add to the lead instead of understanding the way we got the lead was because we were getting stops.” That bench gained a body in veteran forward Jeff Ayres, who was added over the weekend with the team still missing Blake Griffin (quad), who could be out weeks longer after an incident with a team equipment staffer reportedly left him with a right hand injury on Monday.
ABOUT THE PACERS (23-21): Indiana finished up a stretch of nine of 11 on the road with a 108-97 loss at Sacramento on Saturday and is ready to get back home. "We've got to be happy that again, we're going back home," forward Paul George told reporters. "We've got the talent, we feel like, in this locker room to go on a great run. It just starts with one win.” George put up 34 points in the loss to the Kings after failing to reach 20 in any of the previous three contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Indiana C Ian Mahinmi (ankle) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
2. Griffin was traveling with the Clippers but was sent home after the team incident.
3. George scored 31 points in a 103-91 win at Los Angeles on Dec. 2.