Atlanta Hawks to face slipping Pacers in Indianapolis

The Atlanta Hawks will look to get a win in their back-to-back when they travel to Indianapolis to play the Indiana Pacers at 7:00 PM ET Thursday night.

After Wednesday night’s tough home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, 85-83, the Atlanta Hawks will want to get a road win in their back-to-back when they take on a declining Indiana Pacers team at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Tipoff is at 7:00 PM ET and the game will air on Fox Sports Southeast.

While Atlanta has lost three of its last four games, the Hawks are still in third place in the Eastern Conference, as the fourth-place Chicago Bulls have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games and only 2.0 games separate the No. 5 through No. 8 seeds in the East.

Indiana had been in the No. 3 to No. 6 range for most of the first half, playing surprisingly well in the new small ball era in Indianapolis. However, the Pacers have struggled away from home (10-15) and have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games, including three straight losses.

More from Atlanta Hawks

The Pacers enter play Thursday night one game above .500 at 23-22 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Only the Brooklyn Nets and the reeling Orlando Magic are playing worse basketball in the East than the Pacers, as Brooklyn is 2-8 in its last 10 games and Orlando has lost seven straight and nine of their last 10.

While the Atlanta Hawks done a strong job in their last seven games defensively, holding opponents to under 100 points in all but their game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, that hasn’t exactly translate to certain Hawks’ victories. Atlanta is 4-3 in their last seven games despite an improving defense.

Though Kyle Korver seems to have found his sweet stroke from three again in Wednesday night’s home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers (4-4 from three), Atlanta will need more than strong jump shooting to beat what is typically a strong defensive in the Indiana Pacers under head coach Frank Vogel.

In their first meeting of the 2015-16 NBA season, the Pacers defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 93-87 exactly a month ago on December 28th in Indianapolis. That was the first win for the Pacers over Atlanta since Game 7 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in Indianapolis.

Next: Kent Bazemore: Atlanta Hawks' 2016 offseason priority?

Though Atlanta has picked an okay time to drop three of four and not lose its grip on the No. 3 seed, the Hawks will need to do better than 83-point effort on Thursday night if they want to beat the Pacers on the road. Look for a strong night from Jeff Teague as he makes another trip home to his native Indianapolis. Let’s Go Hawks!

Home/Atlanta Hawks