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Pacers try to improve road mark, visit Charlotte

Jan 15, 2013 - 3:37 PM (Sports Network) - The Indiana Pacers have struggled on the road this season and it showed in their opener of a three-game trek. The Pacers look to bounce back Tuesday against the lowly Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena.

The Pacers dropped a 97-86 decision to the streaking Brooklyn Nets in Sunday's opener of the road swing and have lost three in a row as the visitor. David West, who posted a triple-double in Saturday's win over Charlotte, led Indiana with 27 points against the Nets and Paul George ended with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a losing effort.

"We couldn't close the game, especially in the last nine minutes, the way we wanted to," West said. "We had opportunities, but I thought we lost our composure and didn't execute down the stretch."

West is averaging 15.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in his last four games. Gerald Green contributed 15 points for the Pacers, whose four-game winning streak was halted. The Pacers are 8-12 away from home this season as opposed to a 15-3 mark in Indy.

Indiana, which is still a dominant 13-4 in its last 17 games, is in the midst of playing three straight and seven of eight games on the road and will close out the current swing Wednesday at Orlando.

There are three teams in the NBA still looking for double-digit victories and the Bobcats are one of them, joining Cleveland and Washington.

Charlotte just went winless on a three-game road trip, which culminated with Monday's 100-89 loss at Boston. Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo was a thorn in Charlotte's side with 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Hakim Warrick and Ramon Sessions each posted 16 points for the Bobcats, who have lost four in a row and five of the last six games.

Ben Gordon and Kemba Walker scored 12 points apiece in the loss.

"We're a capable team, so you know we're going to have our moments where we play well, we just have got to be more consistent," said Gordon. "That's kind of been the story of consistence this season. We've shown flashes but you know we haven't been able to sustain them for extended periods of time so that's just something we've got to try and continue to get better at as the season goes on."

The Bobcats will play five of their next six games at home, where they have lost 12 in a row and own a 5-14 record. Charlotte's last home win was Nov. 21 versus Toronto. The Bobcats, of course, ended last season's truncated schedule by losing a franchise-worst 14 games in a row at home.

Charlotte and Indiana have split a pair of matchups this season, but the Pacers have won 10 of 11 and 12 of the last 15 meetings.