Pacers at Hornets
The Indiana Pacers are winners of three straight games -- a stretch that includes a 105-96 triumph over the Charlotte Hornets. The Pacers will try to find a similar result on the road when they visit Charlotte for a brief one-game road trip on Friday.
Indiana got 25 points from Victor Oladipo in that win over Charlotte on Monday but he was held to 13 in a 105-101 victory over Memphis on Wednesday -- his lowest scoring total in over a month -- as the Pacers survived a scare. "We had to grind it out and figure out a way to win this game," Indiana coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "I thought we started to get a little tougher on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively we made shots, made plays when we needed to, but we just have to do a better job of controlling the boards and rebounding the ball." The Hornets bounced back from their loss at Indiana by rolling over the Atlanta Hawks 123-110 on Wednesday. Charlotte managed to score 100 or more points twice in its last five games, both times against the lowly Hawks.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, FS Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE PACERS (29-23): Oladipo got some scoring support on Wednesday from shooting guard Bojan Bogdanovic, who scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and came through on the defensive end down the stretch in the victory after going scoreless while missing all three of his shot attempts against the Hornets. "He did a great job, man, especially down the stretch," Oladipo told reporters of Bogdanovic. "(His fourth-quarter steal) was a huge play for us. Getting the rebound at the end of the game was huge for us. Stepping up and making all those free throws was huge, too. The way he shot the ball today was huge for us, as well." Bogdanovic collected three of Indiana's 16 steals in the victory.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (21-29): Charlotte is at its best when Kemba Walker is shooting with efficiency, and he set a career high with nine 3-pointers in 13 attempts en route to 38 points in Wednesday's win. Walker joined Golden State's Stephen Curry and Portland's Damian Lillard as the only players to make at least nine 3-pointers in a game this season. "It was great. I needed it I think," Walker told reporters. "I've been struggling all year shooting the three and in these last couple games I've been shooting it well. Tonight, I was aggressive, and they went down for me. To make nine threes and be in the company of (Curry and Lillard), that's pretty big time."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. McMillan will miss the game due to personal reasons.
2. Hornets C Dwight Howard is enjoying a string of 10 straight double-doubles.
3. Indiana's last win at Charlotte came on Feb. 8, 2015.