Indiana @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 20, 2017 ) Portland 114, Indiana 96

The Indiana Pacers are at the midpoint of a five-game road trip and have a chance to clinch a winning excursion when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. The Pacers began the trip by drubbing Phoenix and Utah by a combined 38 points and are winners of three straight and five of the last six contests.

Indiana held the opposition under 100 points in each of its last five victories and managed to keep up the pressure while playing on back-to-back nights to begin the road trip. "We talked about continuing to play like we did the last couple games," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan told reporters after Monday's 109-94 win over the Jazz. "Defensively, our pressure has been better. Offensively, we've been moving the ball, (our) execution has been better." The Trail Blazers dropped three straight on the road before returning home and picking up a 118-111 victory over the Suns on Tuesday, hanging on to win the game after nearly squandering a 27-point lead. "It’s a shame that the five or six minutes in the fourth quarter kind of put a damper on what was a really good game for us," Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters. "We did a lot of good things. Offensively, we shared the ball, set good screens. Defensively, in the second and third quarter, we were very good. Disappointed I had to put basically the starters back in the game, but they held on to it."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, NBCS Northwest (Portland)

ABOUT THE PACERS (24-20): Indiana's recent run coincides with the return of shooting guard Victor Oladipo, who sat out four losses with a right knee injury before returning on Jan. 6. Oladipo needed only 16 shots to score 28 points on Monday and handed out six of the team's 26 assists. "We're a better team when everybody's scoring and everybody's contributing," Oladipo told reporters. "We're hard to guard when we're moving the ball like that and playing together."

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (23-21): Portland is experimenting with a three-guard lineup that includes reserve point guard Shabazz Napier, who continues to force his way into a bigger role. Napier delivered 11 points and six assists in 20 minutes off the bench and is sharing the court at times with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. “It’s been really good for us," Stotts told reporters of the three-guard look. "In some ways, it’s difficult to get to it but when they made their run in the first quarter, we went to it in the first quarter and it was good. We had a lead in the third quarter, so I was trying to kind of preserve (Napier's) minutes, otherwise I probably would have gone to it in the third quarter as well."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pacers C Domantas Sabonis is averaging 12.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in four games while starting in place of C Myles Turner (elbow).

2. Lillard is averaging 26 points on 50.7 percent shooting over the last four contests.

3. Portland earned a 114-96 win at Indiana on Oct. 20 behind 28 points from McCollum.

PREDICTION: Pacers 109, Trail Blazers 99