Pacers at Clippers
The Indiana Pacers were beginning to feel good about themselves with strong defensive play in back-to-back wins but came crashing down hard in the opener of a five-game road trip on Wednesday at Portland. The Pacers try to bounce back while facing a daunting back-to-back set, beginning with a visit to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Indiana heads right back up the coast to visit Golden State on Monday and needs to adjust the defense again after allowing the Trail Blazers to shoot 54.3 percent from the field in a 131-109 setback. The Pacers enjoyed their best performance of the season at home against the Clippers in a 91-70 win last Sunday despite missing star forward Paul George but looked like a different team at Portland. "The month of November is basically teams trying to feel each other out and get the chemistry and establish themselves," Indiana coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "We're in that same boat and we have to start to ... show improvement. Night in and night out." The loss at Indiana was the middle of a three-game slide for Los Angeles, which picked its level of play back up with impressive wins at Cleveland and at New Orleans to wrap up a six-game road trip.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FSN Indiana, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE PACERS (9-10): George, who sat out six of the last seven games while resting his ankle injury, could return on Sunday depending on how he makes it through practice on Saturday and the pregame warmups. George's return would likely mean the end of a starting role for Glenn Robinson III, though he certainly carved himself a bigger role in the rotation. Robinson is averaging 17.3 points on 19-of-29 shooting, including 7-of-11 from 3-point range, in the last three games.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (16-5): Los Angeles slogged through three games before getting up for the defending champion Cavaliers in a 113-94 triumph on Thursday. Instead of enduring a letdown on the second night of a back-to-back, the Clippers rebounded from a slow start and ran away with a 114-96 win. "At the end of a road trip, it can go one or two ways," power forward Blake Griffin told reporters. "You can kind of be like, 'All right, let's go finish this out on a good note and get home and get this over with.' Or you can completely lose focus and come in and not play the way you want. I thought we did the first."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pacers SF C.J. Miles (knee) missed the last seven games and is questionable for Sunday.
2. Clippers SG Jamal Crawford snapped a string of eight straight games shooting under 50 percent from the floor with a 9-of-15 effort on Friday.
3. Indiana earned a 103-91 win in its visit to Los Angeles last season.