Charlotte @ Indiana preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 5, 2019 ) Indiana 120, Charlotte 122

The Indiana Pacers are winners of 10 of their last 13 games and are climbing up the standings in the Eastern Conference as they get set for a three-game homestand. The Pacers will try to push their current winning streak to three in a row when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.

Indiana is thriving behind a balanced attack and had seven players score in double figures in Friday's 110-100 victory at Atlanta - something that is becoming a regular occurrence. "That’s just kind of who we have been all year," reserve forward Doug McDermott, who scored 16 points off the bench on Friday, told reporters. "Nobody cares who is scoring, we are all just about winning this year, and if we can all push our personal stats to the side, we can go a long way. That has been our mindset all year, and we just have to keep that same attitude moving forward." The Hornets are starting to go on their own surge with wins in three straight and are showing off their effort on both ends of the court. "Probably one of our best defensive performances of the season," Charlotte coach James Borrego told reporters after Friday's 83-73 triumph at Chicago. "That's what got us this game. It was an ugly game offensively. I thought we got pretty good looks, but we won this thing with our defense. We held the Bulls to the lowest total in the NBA this season, I think. We're trending the right way defensively."

TV: 5 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Charlotte), FS Indiana

ABOUT THE HORNETS (12-16): Charlotte found an offensive star in second-year point guard Devonte' Graham, who leads the team in scoring at an average of 19.9 points and went for a career-high 40 at Brooklyn on Wednesday, and found one on defense Friday in rookie forward P.J. Washington. The 21-year-old Kentucky product added 10 rebounds and three blocks to his 13 points and is averaging 1.4 blocks this month - up from 0.8 in November. "Personally, I just tried to be aggressive on the glass," Washington told reporters. "Credit my teammates. We all did a great job rebounding and playing together on both ends."

ABOUT THE PACERS (17-9): Indiana is still waiting for All-Star guard Victor Oladipo (knee) to make his season debut but is finding new stars on a nightly basis, with point guard Malcolm Brogdon and forward Domantas Sabonis stepping up consistently. Brogdon leads the team in scoring (19.5 points) and assists (7.7) but points to the reserves when explaining Friday's win. "Stops defensively allowed us to get out in transition and get easy buckets," Brogdon told reporters. "Guys like Aaron (Holiday), T.J. (McConnell), and Doug (McDermott) came off the bench and were huge for us. It was just a well-rounded game for us. We came out sluggish in the third but other than that, we had good defensive quarters."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Sabonis enters play on Saturday tied for second in the NBA with 21 double-doubles.

2. Hornets PF Marvin Williams (knee) and SG Nicolas Batum (hand) are both day-to-day.

3. Charlotte earned a 122-120 overtime win over Indiana at home on Nov. 5 behind 35 points from Graham.

PREDICTION: Pacers 106, Hornets 98