Indiana @ New Orleans preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 7, 2018 ) Indiana 0, New Orleans 0

The Indiana Pacers make a recently added trip to the Crescent City on Wednesday as they face the New Orleans Pelicans to make up a contest that was postponed last month. The game scheduled for Feb. 7 in New Orleans had to be scrapped due to a leaky roof in the Smoothie King Center.

The make-up game interrupts what was slated to be a three-game homestand for the Pacers and leaves them with seven road contests in a 10-game span. "We're tired, of course," Indiana point guard Darren Collison told reporters. "But everybody in the NBA is tired right now. So there's really no excuse. We've got to go out there and perform." New Orleans has it even worse, as this is the middle contest of a string of three games in as many days and part of a stretch during which it plays five times in six nights. "It's not some impossible thing," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. "I don't want to make a big deal out of it, and we'll be able to manage it and play and do the best we can with it."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, FS New Orleans

ABOUT THE PACERS (41-30): Second-year center Myles Turner (ankle) returned from a one-game absence to post 21 points and seven rebounds in Monday's 110-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. After the contest, an upset Turner said his big performance was prompted by an unidentified teammate calling him soft, and he replied "Not you" when All-Star Victor Oladipo requested a name. "It's a mental adjustment that he had to make," Collison told reporters about Turner after Tuesday's practice. "It had nothing to do with his physical skills. He's going to be a very good player for a long time. Once he changed that mentality, he's going to be just fine."

ABOUT THE PELICANS (41-30): All-Star Anthony Davis scored 37 points on 15-of-21 shooting in Tuesday's 115-105 win over Dallas to help the Pelicans move three games clear of ninth-place Denver in the Western Conference playoff chase. New Orleans is tied with San Antonio for fifth in the tightly packed race and could use a bit of a cushion as it has a tough closing slate that includes games against Houston, Portland, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Golden State and the Spurs. Jrue Holiday (illness) missed his first game of the season on Tuesday, and the hope is that the club's second-leading scorer (19.1 points) will be able to play against Indiana.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Pacers have won 12 of the last 15 meetings, but the Pelicans posted a 117-112 victory on Nov. 7 behind 37 points from Davis.

2. New Orleans F Cheick Diallo recorded 10 points and 14 rebounds versus Dallas for his third double-double of the season.

3. Indiana PF Domantas Sabonis (ankle) will miss his fourth consecutive game.

PREDICTION: Pelicans 109, Pacers 105