Pacers at Trail Blazers
The Indiana Pacers attempt to win their third consecutive game without All-Star forward Paul George when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. Making the task even tougher for the Pacers is that they lost each of their last seven visits to Portland.
George is sidelined with an ankle injury but the Pacers recorded back-to-back 21-point victories without him, and aim to build on a superb 91-70 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. "We talked about not taking steps back," Indiana coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "It seemed like this short season we have played some good games and then you can't recognize the team the next game." Portland's offense regularly flourishes but a leaky defense resulted in a stretch of six losses in eight games. The Trail Blazers are 29th (out of 30) in scoring defense at 113.7 points per game while ranking fourth in scoring at 109.7.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Indiana, CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE PACERS (9-9): Indiana is aiming to keep its sudden momentum going in the opener of a five-game road trip that ends Dec. 9 in Dallas. The back-to-back victories without George was encouraging to veterans Jeff Teague and Al Jefferson as the Pacers attempt to claim their first three-game winning streak of the season. "For us to be shorthanded and they had their full team, we go out there and do what we did (Sunday), that shows a lot," Jefferson told reporters. "Like I told my teammates, we showed we can do it now, so we can't take a step back. We've got to keep going."
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (9-10): Portland is allowing 117.4 points over the past eight games, including 137 to Cleveland last Wednesday and Sunday's 130-114 loss to the Houston Rockets. The shaky defensive play is threatening to sabotage the Trail Blazers' season as they scored at least 100 in 17 of 19 games but still reside below .500. "Right now we're not getting it done on the defensive end," standout point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. "I think that's what it comes down to. You look at the Cleveland game, we scored (125) points and we lose. That's a lot of points to score and not win the game."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Trail Blazers won the past four meetings.
2. Portland SG C.J. McCollum has scored 24 or more points in five of the past seven contests.
3. McMillan went 266-269 in seven seasons (2005-12) as Trail Blazers' coach.