After what seemed like two weeks of rock fights, the Pacers have another winnable game on the schedule tonight. They take on the struggling Trail Blazers, losers of nine out of their last ten games and possessors of the worst offense in the league. Even if Indy didn't have a host of on-court advantages over Portland, it has a schedule advantage. The Trail Blazers are on the second night of a back-to-back after losing in Milwaukee yesterday.

So how do the teams matchup? The Pacers' league leading offense should score at will against Portland's slightly below average defense. Conversely, Portland's terrible offense should have a bit of a reprieve against Indy's last place defense.

Portland plays at a relatively slow pace, coming in at 24th in the league. Tonight might give Pacers fans acid flashbacks of our style of play during the Malcolm Brogdon years. Not only are the Trail Blazers poor in transition, they end up taking as many mid-range jump shots as they do threes. The Pacers should be able to deploy the default game plan tonight: run the opponents off of the arc on defense and run them into the ground on offense.

On the bright side, Scoot Henderson is back in action and had one of the best games of his short career last night. We should see a healthy dose of him and Shaedon Sharpe, which on paper is one of the more electrifying young back courts in the league. As long they don't do too well, it would be fun to see them go off.

Injuries

Aaron Nesmith is back so the Pacers are fully healthy once again.

How to Watch

Tipoff is at 7:00 PM ET.

TV: Bally Sports Indiana, NBA League Pass

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

See ya in the comments!

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