The Pacers snapped a three-game win streak against the Raptors on Monday night. It was a classic case of back-to-back blues, with shooting percentages in the toilet. Case in point, Tyrese Haliburton shot 18% from the floor and finished with nine points in over 30 minutes of action.

That's not to discount the effort Toronto made in shutting down the Pacers All-Star. But in Rick Carlisle's view, it just came down to Tyrese having an off-night. On the bright side, Bennedict Mathurin had a very productive and efficient game. He scored a career high 34 points on 11 of 15 from the floor, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. His coach heaped praise on his performance after the game:

"As the game went on and we were struggling, Mathurin's shot-making in the second half, particularly in the third quarter, held us in the game... We got down 12 and he singlehandedly kept us in the game. He was making some hellacious and really heroic type shots."

Tonight the team faces off with the NBA's preeminent road warriors, the New Orleans Pelicans. They are on a three-game road win streak and have won six of their past seven as visitors. They took down the Knicks last night, which hopefully means they will have tired legs in Indy tonight.

Trey Murphy III ✳️ (someone I desperately wanted the Pacers to take in the draft) was a revelation for the Pelicans against the Knicks. Moved into the starting unit with CJ McCollum out, he poured in 26 points by the way of six three pointers and 16 fourth-quarter points. According to Willie Green, when Murphy plays like that, the game becomes easy for the rest of the team.

"It's devastating to our opponents when Trey is making shots... His shot-making ability opens the floor for the rest of the team. They have to burn timeouts. They have to figure out how to guard him... You can't load up on Zion and Brandon as much. Then I love what he's doing. He's shot-faking, driving and swinging to teammates."

Injuries

Nevertheless, the Pacers may not have to face any of those guys tonight. All of New Orleans' big names are listed as questionable as of the time of writing.

For the Pacers, Doug McDermott is out and Nesmith is questionable to return.

How to Watch

The NBA flexed this game into its national TV schedule (I'm sure they'll be thrilled with all the injury designations on the Pelicans roster). Therefore you can watch on ESPN tonight.

Tipoff is at 7:30 PM ET.

TV: ESPN, Bally Sports Indiana, NBA League Pass

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

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I may have written Troy Murphy instead of Trey Murphy on my first draft of this article.

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