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Harrington, Pacers face lowly Hawks

Jan 9, 2007 - 2:40 PM Atlanta (10-21) at Indiana (18-16) 7:00 pm EST

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Al Harrington is trying to prove that he can take the Indiana Pacers to the next level.

Winners of five of their last eight games, the Pacers will look to climb up the Central Division standings against the struggling Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

After star center Jermaine O'Neal said the team was nothing but average and hinted that he would be happy elsewhere if things didn't improve, the Pacers responded with a 100-93 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday.

However, it wasn't O'Neal that led the charge. It was his fellow frontcourt mate, Harrington, who scored 27 points in Saturday's win. Harrington is averaging 25.5 points in his last two contests.

In its last contest against the Hawks on December 22, Indiana snapped a four-game skid with a 100-90 win.

The Pacers should be able to build on that win vs. Atlanta, which has lost eight of its last nine contests.

The Hawks have just three wins in their last 15 games. They snapped an eight-game losing streak with an 86-74 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.