IND @ Blazers Game Preview (12/2/14):
Them: 7-11, 4th in NBA Central Division
Our Last game: W @ DEN 107-93, 12/2/14.
ESPN said:
LaMarcus Aldridge scored a season-high 39 points and set up the winning basket on a pass inside to Robin Lopez with 1.3 seconds left, helping the Portland Trail Blazers rally for a 105-103 win over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.
"He carried us, not only with his jump shot, but then late going to the post, getting to the free throw line," coach Terry Stotts told the team's official website. "He was good all night."
Aldridge also had 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double in six games. Lillard scored 17 points, and Wesley Matthews added 15.
Aldridge has totaled 65 points and 26 rebounds while shooting 27 of 47 (57.4 percent) in his last two games.
Their Last game: L @ PHX, 116-99
ESPN said:
IND dropped their third straight away from home Tuesday, allowing a season-high point total and 12-of-25 shooting from beyond the arc in a 116-99 loss at Phoenix.
"I think we had a couple of stints where we didn't invest the energy," said guard C.J. Miles after scoring a season-high 17.
The Pacers allowed 38 fast-break points, while Phoenix scored 24 off their season high-tying 19 turnovers. The Suns' starters also outscored their Indiana counterparts by an eye-opening 86-42.
"That's something we've got to look at," said coach Frank Vogel, whose starters are averaging just 55.9 points.
Changes to their roster: It’s hard to know where the Pacers will end up this season, but we can at least say this with a fair amount of certainty: no team loses its two best players and gets better. Having lost Lance Stephenson to free agency and Paul George to a freak leg injury, Indiana will start the season without 40 percent of its starting lineup, and what remains doesn’t exactly elicit a ton of confidence for a return to the postseason. The mercurial Roy Hibbert is now the team’s best player, but his inconsistency is pretty well-documented. George Hill, David West and a cast of so-so bench players won’t be enough to survive what looks to be an absolutely barbaric Central Division this year. The Pacers have been a feel-good story for a few years now, an easy group of guys to like, but they probably won’t even make the playoffs this year.
The Pacers are hard-capped at $80.8 million after using their $5.3 million Mid-Level Exception on C.J. Miles and Damjam Rudez. Indiana used their Bi-Annual Exception last season on C.J. Watson, so it isn’t available this season – although the team gained a $5.3 million Disabled Player Exception for Paul George (expiring 3/10/15). The bigger issue for the Pacers is avoiding the luxury tax altogether. With Scola, the team’s payroll is already at $73.3 million — $3.5 million under the tax threshold. Indiana also has a $4.3 million trade exception for Danny Granger (expiring 2/20/15) but that may too go unused with the tax in mind.
Injury Updates: CJ McCollum, Out (finger). Will Barton (day-to-day)
Paul George
2014-08-01 right leg surgery is out indefinitely
George Hill
2014-10-27 bruised left knee/torn ligament in quadricep is out indefinitely
Matchups:
PG: Damian Lillard v. Donald Sloan. Yes. Donald Sloan (11.3ppg, 5.0rpg, 4.2apg)
SG: Wesley Matthews v. Rodney Stuckey (12.4ppg, 2.4rpg, 2.3apg)
SF: Nic Batum v. Solomon Hill (11.4ppg, 5.3rpg)
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge v. David West (14.0ppg, 6.0rpg)
C: Robin Lopez v. Roy Hibbert (13.2ppg, 8.0rpg)
Give-a-Rip (City) Factor—a.k.a. why you should watch: To see if Nic gets another 13 assists. To see how many jumpers they'll let LMA take. To see how often Dame goes to the hole against Hibbert. To see Kaman up against Hibbert. To see if David West gets swung at. To get a sour home MEM taste out of our collective mouths.
Current Power Rankings:
RipCityTwo (PtldPlatypus): (27) The only 2 guard on their roster is Rodney Stuckey. And that's probably their fifth biggest problem.
ESPN: (18) Frank Vogel has what's left of his squad playing so hard that, with David West back on the floor, Cleveland can legitimately classify its home win over Indy as a quality W. How many teams can claim road wins in Miami, Chicago and Dallas -- all without West or Paul George -- like these Pacers can?
Covers.com (21) The Pacers have played a lot better lately in winning five of their last seven, including one as 14-point dogs in Dallas on Tuesday.
NBA.com (19) Pace: 93.1 (27), OffRtg: 98.9 (25), DefRtg: 102.6 (11), NetRtg: -3.7 (20)
The Pacers have remained a top-two defensive rebounding team without David West, Paul George and Lance Stephenson, who totaled 17.2 defensive boards per game last season. Roy Hibbert (plus-8.8 percent) and Ian Mahinmi (plus-9.2 percent) have had the league's two biggest increases in defensive rebounding percentage. West is back to help out.
Link to Grandpa Blaze's Prediction Game
Link to MediocreMan's Over/Under game
Links to other team’s site(s):
http://www.nba.com/pacers/ Pacers’ NBA page
NBA.com game preview
Final Thoughts: The game has the potential to be U-G-L-Y. The Pacers offense is "balanced" in that everyone is basically about the same level of non-awesome. You may have heard of most of their starters, but good on you if you'd bet your life on it. Donald Sloan, for instance, has about as many NBA minutes in 3 years (for ATL, NOH and CLE) as Meyers Leonard has in his 3. West has shown the ability to give
LMA fits in the past (LMA is 8-10 against him, with a 18/8 line against West's 19/7. I think Dame and Nic bust out of the slump, get a few threes, LMA cools off a bit with West checking him to a "normal" 20/8-type game, and we just overpower them at home.
Blazers 104
IND 93
- VS –
BLAZERS' GAME NOTES 
