The Hornets have lost five of their last seven, dropping them to tenth place in the Western Conference, three games behind the Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Tonight should bring some welcome relief as the 18-25 Indiana Pacers are in town, one of just two sub-500 teams the Hornets will face in the next couple weeks. The Pacers are just 6-20 on the road this season, 0-6 against Southwest division teams, and are currently on a three-game losing streak. They lost at home to the Bulls on Tuesday and the Spurs on Wednesday. Danny Granger put up 50 points in those two games combined. Troy Murphy has been a beast on the boards for the Pacers recently (13.4rpg this month), but they are not a strong rebounding team overall.

The Hornets played in Indianapolis on January 16, holding Granger to 12 points and getting strong contributions from Paul, West and Okafor in a 101-96 win. Pivot Roy Hibbert led the Pacers with a career-high 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Both the Hornets and Pacers stood pat as the trade deadline passed yesterday, though Indy were pretty close to getting a deal done with the Bobcats. Injury-wise, Darius Songaila will sit this one out due to that ankle sprain he suffered on Wednesday against the Jazz, while the Pacers’ Jeff Foster is out for the season after undergoing back surgery.

Game tips at 7 Central. I’ll be chatting it up throughout on ESPN.com’s Daily Dime live; drop by with questions and comments.

Numbers:

Pace: Pacers 99.8 (2nd), Hornets 94.6 (18th)
Offensive Efficiency: Pacers 99.1 (27th), Hornets 104.6 (13th)
Defensive Efficiency: Pacers 103.9 (15th), Hornets 105.4 (18th)

Linkage:

• Journals: Holding Out Hope That Next Year Will be Different? I Wouldn’t Bet on it.
• Rival bloggers: Eight Points, Nine Seconds (THN) | Indy Cornrows | Pacers Insider

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today’s banner featuring Chris Paul. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz’s designs in our Wallpapers vault.)