Pelicans-Pacers Preview

By MATT BECKER

(AP) -- New Orleans' Anthony Davis addressed the talk of potentially winning league MVP honors following another sensational performance.

He could have trouble building his case for the league's top award Tuesday night when the Pelicans visit a defensive-minded Indiana Pacers team that has a history of frustrating 21-year-old forward.

After finishing with a season-low seven points on 3-of-14 shooting in Saturday's 114-88 home loss to Portland, Davis bounced back with 38 points on 16-of-22 shooting in Sunday's 101-99 win at Oklahoma City. It was the third 30-point effort in four games for Davis, who ranks third in scoring with an average of 24.7 and first in blocked shots per game at 2.9.

"As far as MVP, I'm not even worried about that," Davis said. "It's too early in the season to get involved in that conversation. Personally, I think so. But even to hear my name talked about that, it's a blessing, it's an honor. I've been putting in a lot of work all season. I wanted to come out this season and be aggressive."

This will be Davis' first matchup of season against the Pacers after they limited him to 30 points on 12-of-32 shooting (37.5 percent) in handing New Orleans (14-13) a pair of losses in 2013-14. Davis' career 37.0 shooting percentage versus Indiana is his worst against any team he's faced more than twice.

Although the Pacers (9-19) are struggling offensively without Paul George, they are still one of the league's top defense teams, holding opponents to an average of 96.5 points and 39.3 in the paint. Roy Hibbert, David West and company have also managed to frustrate other high-scoring big men in Blake Griffin (17 points, 7-of-17 shooting), Pau Gasol (12 points, 4 of 15), Chris Bosh (9 points, 3 of 13) and LaMarcus Aldridge (19, 8 of 23), though, Griffin scored 31 in last week's rematch.

Indiana's offense may get a boost with the possible return of point guard George Hill, who was injured in the preseason and has not played yet this year.

Hill, who averaged 10.3 points and ranked second on the team with 95 3-pointers last season, has been practicing for the past week and is trying to get his conditioning back.

The Pacers shot a season-best 50.0 percent in Sunday's 100-96 victory over Minnesota one night after shooting a season-low 30.7 percent in a 76-73 loss in Denver. C.J. Miles had 28 points as Indiana won for second time in four contests following a season-high eight-game skid.

"You get that taste and then start to remember why we do the things we do every day, why we run the system, why we try to play and get the win," Miles said. "We've still got to believe in that stuff because as competitors we want to win every game, make everybody play, want to make every shot and you get impatient."

West made 7 of 9 shots after missing 14 of 22 against the Nuggets. He could be in for another tough night against Davis after totaling 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting (36.8 percent) in two matchups last season. The same may be true for Hibbert, who combined for 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting.

The Pacers, however, still swept the season series to push their win streak over the Pelicans to six since a 108-96 loss on April 3, 2011. This is Indiana's longest active win streak against an opponent.