Winners of three of their last four contests and two straight, the Indiana Pacers (11-6) spent Monday night thumping the visiting Utah Jazz, 121-94. The Pacers were efficient from both the paint and long range, where they shot 53 and 48 percent, respectively, and were buoyed by a 21-point performance by Bojan Bogdanovic, who added three triples for good measure. But it was Indiana's bench that shone in victory, with Domantis Sabonis coming just shy of a triple-double behind 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, shooting 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-6 from the foul line. Fellow sub Aaron Holiday had 19 points of his own, adding seven boards and going 7-of-10 from field goal range, while Thaddeus Young, Myles Turners and Doug McDermott all finished the match-up with 12 points apiece. Despite their recent run of success, the Pacers have yet to develop a rhythm offensively, as they rank 25th in the NBA in scoring, averaging 105.7 points per contest. Indiana now sits in third place in the Eastern Conference, a game-and-a-half behind the Milwaukee Bucks.

With rumors beginning to circulate on Tuesday that the Charlotte Hornets (8-8) were in the process of courting Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards, the team is no doubt in a hurry to build around a peaking Kemba Walker, who was once again lights-out in a Monday night win over the visiting Boston Celtics, 117-112. Walker followed up a 60-point outing last week with a team-leading 43-point effort on Monday, adding five dimes and four rebounds in a 7-of-13 shooting night from beyond the arc. Walker is now the NBA's leading scorer through 16 games, averaging 29.6 points per contest. Jeremy Lamb was one of only two other Hornets players who recorded double-digits in the game, with 18 points and six rebounds, while Willy Hernangomez emerged off the bench to the tune of 14 points, three assists and a pair of triples. Hernangomez is listed as questionable for Wednesday's showdown with Indiana with a right ankle sprain suffered during Monday's affair. Charlotte remains in eighth place in the East.