It's gut check time for Indiana when they travel to Toronto on Friday night. The Pacers are currently tied with Miami for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, and they're only one game ahead of Chicago after the Bulls took down Cleveland on Thursday. As for the Raptors, they're still looking to potentially take the top seed in the playoffs. They're three games away from Boston with seven games left on their schedule. Tipoff for this contest is set for 7:00 PM Eastern time and it can be seen on NBA League Pass, FSN Indiana, and Sportsnet One in Canada.
Pacers (37-38, 3rd Central)
Indiana continues to struggle, losing five of their last seven games. The defense let them down with a very disappointing one-point loss to Minnesota and followed that up one night later with a 110-97 beating from Memphis on the road. These matchups won't be getting any easier for the Pacers -- they'll be facing Toronto two times in the next five days, and a meeting at Cleveland is in the middle of that.
Shooting guard Lance Stephenson (6.6 ppg) has rejoined with Indiana after playing in just six games with New Orleans and Minnesota this season. He was released after dealing with lingering ankle injuries. He's listed as out for this contest, but that's because of a coach's decision.
Raptors (45-30, 2nd Atlantic)
Toronto has fared a little better as of late with six straight victories before falling to Charlotte 110-106 last time out. Their defense allowed the Hornets to fire at will from downtown -- giving up 16 3-pointers would be an easy demise for any squad. It was uncharacteristic for a team that has given up just 33.6 percent shooting from 3-point range in their past five games.
Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan (27.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg) led the way with 22 points in the team's last meeting with the Pacers. He's been averaging 32.8 points in the Raptors' last five games and has shown no signs of slowing down.
Toronto is a 5.5-point favorite at home and the total O/U is set at 204 points. Indiana is 0-6 against the spread in their last six games on the road.
