Indiana @ Charlotte preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 2, 2018 ) Indiana 126, Charlotte 133

The Indiana Pacers look to be settling into the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference after dropping a 92-73 decision to the top-seeded Toronto Raptors on Friday in a rare off night offensively. The Pacers will try to rebuild some momentum with the playoffs approaching when they visit the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday in the final road game of the regular season.

Indiana, which hosts Charlotte in the season finale on Tuesday, set season lows for points, made field goals (29) and field-goal percentage (29.9) in Friday's setback while playing the second night of a back-to-back after topping defending champion Golden State at home on Thursday. "Looking at the schedule, we knew this was going to be a challenge and we thought we would give our guys a shot and see how the guys would play," Pacers coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "Toronto did exactly what we expected; coming out front, push the tempo. We played an emotional game last night, and coming on a back-to-back, they pressured us, they pushed the tempo and we just didn't have any legs." The East postseason is beginning to come into focus, and it looks like Indiana could begin by visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. The Hornets snapped a four-game slide on Friday by blasting the Orlando Magic 137-100.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, FS Southeast (Charlotte)

ABOUT THE PACERS (47-33): Indiana is ready to write off Friday's performance as an outlier in an otherwise strong stretch that saw it win six of eight and beat the Warriors twice. "It was just one of those nights where we just couldn't get anything offensively," Pacers All-Star guard Victor Oladipo told reporters. "We were getting open looks but we just couldn't make them. We still played great yesterday and it's a tough place to come and play after playing a team like that yesterday." Indiana did not have a starter score more than five points on Friday and reserve shooting guard Glenn Robinson III led the way with 12 points in 20 minutes.

ABOUT THE HORNETS (35-45): Charlotte is giving expanded minutes to the younger players on the roster and continues to get strong performances from rookie shooting guard Malik Monk. The 20-year-old Kentucky product scored a season-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added a season-best eight assists while going 4-of-6 from 3-point range on Friday. "Malik was really cooking in terms of decision making. Eight assists, one turnover and he easily could have had three or four more assists," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "We shot the ball so well and when you shoot like that, it makes everything else look better, too."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pacers PG Darren Collison went 1-of-7 from the floor on Friday after going a combined 16-of-23 in the previous three contests.

2. Hornets C Willy Hernangomez scored in double figures in each of the last four games and posted a pair of double-doubles in that span.

3. Charlotte earned a 133-126 home win over Indiana on Feb. 2 behind 41 points and nine assists from Kemba Walker.

PREDICTION: Pacers 118, Hornets 109