Clippers @ Indiana Preview

NBA Thursday on TNT’s marquee games pits two division leaders against each other as the Indiana Pacers play host to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Both these teams have been dominate as of late.  The Pacers have won 10 of their last 12 games.  They have been simply offensively dominating teams.  On their last five games they have won by an average of 24 points.  The Pacers will be looking for their season-best sixth straight win against the Clippers.

The Clippers have won six of their last seven games and have also been offensively dominating opponents.  They have won their last handful of games by 17 points on average.

The Clippers could have an edge, though, as the Pacer will be without their starting big man, Roy Hibbert, who was suspended for a game due to his part in a skirmish with David Lee when the Pacers took on the Golden State Warriors.

Hibbert has been averaging 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots a game.  Stats that the Pacers will definitely miss.  This is going to open up the paint even more for the dominate Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, who did not need any extra excuses to drive to the baskets.  The absence of Hibbert is just going to make things easier for them.

Over the last six games, Griffin has average 20 points a game, shooting 62.2 percent shooting.  Jordan has shot for 64.5 percent.

The Pacers will need to hope for a bigger game for their one time point leader Danny Granger.  This will be his third game back since returning from a knee injury that kept him out all season.  Granger has been struggling to regain his footing since his return.

The point spread for this game favors the Pacers by -1 according to Bovada.  The game starts at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.