Surging Hornets Look to Avoid Third Loss This Season to Struggling Pacers

The Hornets (28-31) finish up a three-game road trip on Thursday, this time heading to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers (15-44). This will be the third of four meetings between the teams this season, with the Pacers having won both of the prior meetings.

Fresh off the heels of a 32-point routing of the Bulls on Tuesday, the Hornets appear to have recaptured the red-hot offense seen before the All-Star break. With starters Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabaté back in the lineup after serving four-game suspensions, the team picked right back up where they left off by making 51.6% of their 95 shots and 43.9% of the 57 three-pointers attempted.

Brandon Miller’s 23 points led the team in scoring, chipping in five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block in the process. Leading the team in scoring has become a regular occurrence for the third-year wing as his game has jumped to the next level. Out of the four Hornets (Miller, Ball, Knueppel, Bridges) that are scoring at least 18 ppg, Miller’s 20.6 ppg leads the team.

The Hornets now own an offensive rating of 120.2 over the 26 games played in 2026 — the top mark in the NBA. Only the Warriors have had a higher percentage of their points come from three-pointers over that time, and no team has shot better than the 39.0% from the Hornets.

The Pacers enter the matchup losers of four consecutive games since the All-Star break, continuing along a path that has led the team to the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

The catalyst for this path was the Achilles injury sustained by star point guard Tyrese Haliburton in last season’s playoffs. Without the team’s primary facilitator and scorer on the court, the Pacers have seen their offensive rating drop from a 115.4 that was top-10 in the NBA last season, all the way to a 108.7 that is dead-last this season.

With Haliburton on the shelf, the team has turned to Pascal Siakam as the team’s leading force. The tenth-year forward out of New Mexico State leads the team in scoring with 23.9 points per game, and adds in 6.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game on 48.3/37.3/68.2 shooting splits.

Key Matchup - Perimeter Execution

Despite the overall struggles for the Pacers this season, one area the team has succeeded in is defending three-pointers above the break. No team has allowed a lower percentage than the 32.9% that opposing teams shoot against the Pacers in that area.

On the other side of things, you have a Hornets team that has attempted the fourth-most threes from above the break in the NBA, converting a seventh-best 35.7% of those shots.

In spite of the Hornets' massive successes from downtown this season, the Pacers have been able to hamper the Hornets' shooting efforts in both of the prior meetings this season. If the Hornets are to improve on these past games, they will need to adjust their gameplan to take into account this specific strength of their opponent.

INJURY REPORT

Hornets: OUT Liam McNeely (Ankle)

Pacers: OUT Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles) , Johnny Furphy (Torn ACL), Ivica Zubac (Ankle), Aaron Nesmith (Ankle); QUESTIONABLE Pascal Siakam (Wrist), Andrew Nembhard (Back), Obi Toppin (Foot)

Projected Starting Lineups

Position	Charlotte Hornets	Indiana Pacers
Point Guard	LaMelo Ball	Andrew Nembhard
Shooting Guard	Brandon Miller	Kam Jones
Small Forward	Kon Knueppel	Ben Sheppard
Power Forward	Miles Bridges	Jarace Walker
Center	Moussa Diabat	Jay Huff