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Best meets worst as Pacers host Bucks

Feb 27, 2014 - 3:03 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - It's the NBA's best versus the NBA's worst on Thursday night as the Indiana Pacers welcome the Milwaukee Bucks to Banker's Life Fieldhouse.

The Pacers own the league's best record at 43-13, while the Bucks have been a disaster this season, possessing the worst mark at 11-45. Indiana has the best home record at 27-3, while Milwaukee is just 5-22 as the visitor, second-worst in the league behind only the Orlando Magic.

The Pacers have won two straight overall, including a road victory over these same Bucks on Saturday. Indiana knocked off the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday thanks to a new face.

Evan Turner made his Pacers debut after a trade deadline deal brought him over from Philadelphia and he chipped in 13 points off the bench in the victory.

"He knows how to make the right basketball play. He's not out there forcing action," Indiana head coach Frank Vogel said of Turner.

Paul George netted 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists, and Indiana used a dominant second half to hand the Lakers a 118-98 drubbing.

George Hill scored 14 points, David West added 11 with 12 rebounds and Lance Stephenson donated 13 points and nine boards for Indiana, which outscored the Lakers in the second half by a 61-44 margin to earn a rare sweep of the season series, the Pacers' first since the 1991-92 campaign.

The Bucks snapped a two-game losing streak, highlighted by the 10-point loss to the Pacers in Milwaukee, with a 130-110 road win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.

O.J. Mayo led seven Bucks in double figures with 25 points behind 7-of-9 shooting from behind the arc as Milwaukee was up by as many as 30 points.

Ersan Ilyasova scored 20 points, Ramon Sessions donated 16 and Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton had 15 apiece in the rare rout. Only two of Milwaukee's previous wins were by double digits.

"I just take them any time, any way we can get them, whether we're at home or on the road," Bucks head coach Larry Drew said of the win.

The road win was Milwaukee's first of 2014 and ended a 10-game losing streak outside of Brew City. The 130 points was a season-high by 13.

The Pacers are 2-0 against the Bucks this season and have won four straight over their Central Division rivals. Milwaukee has lost five in a row and 14 of 17 games at Indiana.