Wizards at Pacers
Lengthy streaks have been hard to come by for the Indiana Pacers this season, but they hope to build another on the winning end when they host the Washington Wizards on Monday. The Pacers have yet to win or lose more than two in a row and they managed to stop their latest two-game skid with Saturday's 105-90 victory at Detroit.
Paul George scored 26 points and has reached the 20-point plateau in seven of his last eight games for Indiana, which became the first team in 13 tries to score more than 100 at the Pistons' home this season. "It was a good road win," coach Nate McMillan told reporters after his team salvaged the finale of a three-game road trip. "Under the conditions, we dropped two games and we didn't look good in those two. You didn't want to go home swept. A good recovery by our guys." The Wizards come in feeling pretty good about themselves, too, having won five of six and rallying late to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday by a 117-110 margin. Bradley Beal continued his high-scoring ways with 41 points, one shy of matching his career high set less than a month ago.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (12-14): Beal shot 13-of-23 on Sunday while making six of his 10 3-point tries to bump his percentages in those two categories to 46.2 and 41.6, both of which would be career highs. Forward Markieff Morris missed the opener of the team's three-game homestand Wednesday night with a foot injury, played 18 minutes Friday against Detroit and then showed he was all the way back with 23 points in 33 minutes versus the Clippers. Washington is averaging 116 points during its three-game winning streak but it is just 1-4 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
ABOUT THE PACERS (14-14): George and his teammates were pleased with the relatively high-scoring effort against one of the league's top defensive units, but they know that holding the Pistons to 38.1 percent shooting was a better indicator of their success. "We've got to be a consistent and well-coached defensive team," George told reporters. "It's the consistency that we have to match every night." Rodney Stuckey (hamstring) is expected to miss his third straight game while fellow guard Monta Ellis (groin) has been ruled out and will be absent for the fifth consecutive contest.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The home team won each of the three meetings last season.
2. Wizards F Kelly Oubre is in the league's concussion protocol and missed Sunday's game.
3. Pacers PG Jeff Teague is averaging 20 points, nine assists and 7.5 rebounds in the last two games.