The Phoenix Suns and the Indiana Pacers are playing on Thursday night and the two teams come in playing well, with the Pacers leading the east and the Suns hanging around in the west and the matchup will be on before the TNT doubleheader and streaming online from the NBA.com League Pass and the game will be live at 7 pm from Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The Pacers come into the game after a nice win against the Los Angeles Lakers and they have been the most impressive team in the NBA this season, leading the eastern conference for nearly the entire year. The Miami Heat are two time defending champions and three time east conference champs and the Pacers now appear to be the biggest threat to continuing that streak. The Pacers feel that home court advantage is huge in the playoffs and that they would have won last season if they had it in the conference finals with the Miami Heat and now they are motivated to continue playing this well and they have been fantastic at home and it will be tough for the Suns to win there without Eric Bledsoe in the lineup.
The Pacers are deep and talented up front with Roy Hibbert and David West as well as Luis Scola and the team has a budding superstar in Paul George and he will be the focal point of the offense on Thursday night. George has been excellent this season and Lance Stephenson has been stepping up for the second year in a row and he has been developing into a great player and he could end up cashing in when his contract is up. Stephenson led the team with 14 boards and six assists against the Lakers and after playing against the Suns the Pacers have the Brooklyn Nets at home and that is where Stephenson is from and he will be motivated to play well against them.
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Paul George is leading the team in scoring this season with over 23 points per game and while the offense is ranked 20th and scoring less than 100 points per game, the defense has been stellar and they rank first in the NBA with just 90 points allowed per game and that will be a huge factor to see if they can make it to the finals this season. The team is fierce on the boards with Hibbert and West and they rank sixth in the NBA in rebounding and the biggest hole for the team is at point guard, although George Hill has been very solid this season for Frank Vogel and he will continue to start unless the team pulls off a trade.
The Pacers are 21-1 at home this season and that makes it extremely hard for a west coast team to come in an win, but with the way the Suns are playing this season, they could do it. The team is coming off of a nice win over the Bucks that saw Goran Dragic lead the team with 30 points and six assists, while rookie Alex Len grabbed 10 boards and they come in second in the Pacific division and they are 27-18 on the year and are playing better than expected. The team is ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring and 20th in defense and the game on Thursday will be tough.