Pacers look to complete season sweep of Pistons

INDIANAPOLIS -- The playoff race is starting to heat up in the Eastern Conference, and the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons are right in the middle of it. The sixth and seventh seeds in the East will square off and do battle in Indianapolis on Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

After a late comeback win over Atlanta on Sunday, the Pacers (32-31) lost to Charlotte on Monday night.

"I'm not sure why we came out flat," forward Paul George said. "No reason for it. We knew this was going to be a tough game, and we still got off to a slow start."

Indiana is just 3-12 on the second night of a back-to-back. When given at least one day of rest, the squad is 29-19. The Pacers are returning home after going 2-3 on a five-game road trip.

"For whatever reason, we've just not been good on back-to-backs," said Pacers coach Nate McMillan. "We didn't have the effort that was needed."

Indiana has won all three matchups against the Pistons this year, and will try to complete the season sweep on Wednesday. A season series sweep by Indiana has only happened two other times in the history of these franchises.

George has been on fire in his last two games, averaging 35 points and shooting over 60 percent from the field. George has also played very well against the Pistons this season, averaging 26.3 points in the previous three games.

Forward Lavoy Allen missed his second consecutive game on Monday with a sore left knee. He's questionable for Wednesday night.

"I'm listening to Lavoy and our athletic trainer on that," McMillan told the Indianapolis Star. "It's just really day-to-day with his situation. Right now that's how we're playing it."

The Pistons (32-31) are just a game behind the Pacers in the standings, and have won five of their last seven games. Detroit is 10-5 since the beginning of February. The Pistons defeated Chicago 109-95 on Monday night behind Reggie Jackson's huge second half. Jackson scored 24 of his 26 points after halftime.

"Obviously, Reggie had it going," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told the Detroit Free Press. "It would have been crazy to pull him out."

The Pistons own the seventh best rebounding percentage in the NBA, due in large part to Andre Drummond's 13.8 rebounds per game (second in the NBA.) Rebounding has been an issue for the Pacers this season (26th in the league), and Detroit will try to exploit that weakness this time around.

The Pacers own the sixth best 3-point shooting percentage (37.3 percent) in the NBA, while Detroit is near the bottom at 27th best (33.4). Indiana is 21-10 at home, while the Pistons are just 11-20 on the road.

The Pistons have lost four straight games in Indianapolis.