76ers at Pacers
The Indiana Pacers made it through a six-game stretch against teams currently in the top eight of their respective conferences with a 3-3 record and will take a step down in competition to host the NBA-worst Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. The Pacers dropped back-to-back home games to the Toronto Raptors and Oklahoma City Thunder over the weekend and sit in seventh place in the East.
Indiana managed home wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics along with a victory at Dallas in the last six contests, but the back-to-back losses kept the team from joining a four-way battle for the No. 3 spot in the conference. “We’ve got to win these games,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters about an upcoming stretch that features three straight games against teams with losing records. “Teams we’re playing don’t have great records but we have to take care of business.” The 76ers were very helpful in nudging the Celtics out of a slump on Sunday, falling 120-105 at home in their fifth straight loss. Philadelphia is surrendering an average of 117.2 points during its latest slide.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TCN (Philadelphia), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE 76ERS (9-61): Philadelphia is still searching for that elusive 10th win as it tries to manufacture some momentum to take into the offseason. This campaign - and the several previous seasons - have been about developing young players, but it was veteran forward Carl Landry doing most of the work on Sunday. The 32-year-old Purdue product turned back the clock with a season-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting against the Celtics.
ABOUT THE PACERS (36-33): Indiana star Paul George nearly pulled out a win over Oklahoma City by himself with 45 points on Saturday. “He was great in all areas,” Vogel told reporters of George. “I don’ think he forced much. When he got hot, we kept going to him.” George was just 7-of-24 from the field in a 101-94 loss to the Raptors on Thursday but went 14-of-29 on Saturday and was more aggressive, getting himself to the free-throw line 15 times in the 115-111 setback.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pacers PG Ty Lawson (ankle) sat out his fourth straight game on Saturday and has played a total of five minutes since being picked up by the team earlier this month.
2. 76ers C/F Nerlens Noel is 7-of-23 from the field in the last two games.
3. George scored 34 points in a 112-85 victory at Philadelphia on Nov. 18 in the lone previous meeting this season.