Live from the Moda Center as the Portland Trail Blazers host the Indiana Pacers.

Poor Pacers. Poor, poor Pacers. Their roster this season is “Who He Play For?” come to life. Paul George is out indefinitely with one of the more gruesome injuries you’re likely to see on a basketball court, Lance Stephenson skipped town during the off-season, and George Hill has yet to suit up due to a couple of leg ailments. That leaves David West and Roy Hibbert as the only two starters left from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals squad, and both of them have been in and out of the lineup.

So, yeah, Indiana is stuck with one of the most anonymous rosters in league. Solomon Hill? Donald Sloan? Chris Copeland? C.J. Miles? Those are either names of professional basketball players or stockboys at Safeway—take your pick.

But the Eastern Conference is a magical place, because this island of misfit hoopsters is 7-9 and right outside the playoff hunt. Playing in the East sure must be nice.

PRE-GAME:
The last time Indiana was in this building, Paul George put on one of the best shooting displays I’ve seen live. That game was so much fun—the two top teams in each conference (based on their records at that point) going at each other. Oh, what a difference a year makes. That game was an exclamation point. Tonight's game will be an ellipsis.

And here come the Pacers… (See, an ellipsis just feel right.)

Portland needs to avoid the trap game, though. With a tough five game in seven night road trip on the horizon, the Blazers can’t take this game lightly. Coach Frank Vogel has his squad playing hard. I mean, they’ve won seven games with Solomon Hill racking up the most minutes for the team, so either they are playing their butts off or Vogel is some kind of wizard.

Speaking of wizards, did y’all see that play call Coach Stotts went with at the end of the last game in Denver? And right after Zach Lowe praised him for his out-of-timeout sets. It’s almost like Stotts knew JJ Hickson wasn’t going to be able to defend that.

For someone who suffered such an awful injury not that long ago, Paul George is out here warming up and looking great. He just sunk at least thirteen straight corner threes. I'd still be in bed crying if my leg broke like his, so seeing him on a court (if only to warm up) is a welcome sign.

Fireworks here early, as the Ford Blimp just crashed right into the crowd. That thing went down like the Hindenburg. But, you know, without the fire and deaths. It's still stuck in the 200 level during introductions. Let's hope that not a harbinger of things to come tonight.

FIRST QUARTER:
11:11 - Nicolas Batum sunk his first shot of the night—good to see him hitting that jumper, and not being afraid to take that jumper. Hopefully his shot is back. 2-2 Tie.

8:48 - The refs are letting them play tonight, that's for sure. Both teams have been griping at the officials early, and rightfully so—there's a lot of contact happening under the basket. 7-4 Blazers.

7:55 - Finally, the first foul call of the night...but Robin Lopez was only able to sink one of his two free throws. 8-4 Blazers.

6:04 - Loud cheers as they're finally able to get the Ford blimp removed from the arena. They were trying to stuff the thing, still inflated, out of the 209 tunnel for a solid ten minutes. It, uh, wasn't working too well, but our floating nightmare is finally over. 10-6 Blazers.

4:33 - The Blazers are getting every single shot they want, they're just not hitting. Their field goal percentage is down to an anemic 22%. 10-8 Blazers.

3:29 - Make that 21%. Ugh. 10-10 Tie.

2:52 - Aldridge stops the scoring drought, hitting a baseline turnaround jumper. He's got a nice game going thus far, with five points, six rebounds, and two assists. 12-10 Blazers.

2:39 - Make that two more from Aldridge. Off of a Batum steal, Steve Blake found a streaking Aldridge witha behind the back pass for an easy layup. 14-10 Blazers.

0:00 - The shots were there, the Blazers just weren't able to hit. Portland won't shoot 25% from the floor for the rest of the night. Those jumpers will start falling soon enough. 16-14 Blazers.

SECOND QUARTER:
10:34 - Yep, leave it to Chris Kaman to be the one to hit a jumper. He's got the last four for Portland. 20-16 Blazers.

8:12 - Allen Crabbe with a huge block on C.J. Watson—didn't know Crabbe had that in him. He erased the layup, which led to a fast break, which led to a Joel Freeland layup, which led to an Indiana timeout. 26-20 Blazers.

7:18 - Crabbe putting in some work, beating Watson on a back cut for the easy dunk. He's turning into such a steady bench contributor. 28-22 Blazers.

4:23 - Dang, CJ Miles from loooong distance. He fired that as soon as it hit his hands, presumably to make up for having his last layup attempt swatted into the fifth row by Batum. 32-27 Blazers.

3:04 - Indiana with a quick 7-0 run, and Portland needs time. This game is something. When a blimp crashing is the most exciting thing to happen... 32-31 Blazers.

1:55 - Well, there have been three offensive fouls on the last three possessions. So there's that. 32-31 Blazers.

1:16 - This game is like staring into the sun—look for too long, and you might go blind. 34-31 Blazers.

0:00 - Maybe two different teams will come out after half? Or at least two better versions of these teams? 24 minutes of that and they might be handing out laced Kool-Aid upon leaving instead of free food coupons. 38-33 Blazers.

THIRD QUARTER:
11:02 - Portland is 2-2 this quarter. Shut it down! 42-33 Blazers.

8:45 - Aaaand the Blazers have missed their last four shots. So it goes. 42-40 Blazers.

7:47 - Now we've got some action. Off of a Batum miss, David West and Robin Lopez were battling for rebounding position. West took offense with something (hard to see on the replay), and shoved Lopez back into the stanchion. The refs were there to quickly separate everyone, but Lopez was fired up—he was ready to throw down, and had to be held back by a few people. West picked up a technical foul for his shove, but Lillard missed the free throw. Of course. 44-42 Blazers.

5:57 - Wow, it's like the crowd just realized they were here. Thanks, David West. Lillard sunk a three, Aldridge swatted away a Solomon Hill layup, and Batum dunked in transition off of the block. Timeout Indiana. 51-44 Blazers.

5:39 - Out of the timeout, Dame stole the ball and drove the length of the court for an and-one. Portland is finally coming alive. 54-44 Blazers.

3:24 - It's a good thing Lopez just checked out of this one. He narrowly missed getting hit with a Hibbert elbow, then threw Hibbert to the ground while battling for position. Had the two been left to battle on another possession during that stretch, dudes were going to come to blows. 54-51 Blazers.

2:48 - LaMarcus Aldridge three-point alert, his second of the night. That's now fourteen points and eleven rebounds for LA. 57-51 Blazers.

0:00 - Sorry for the lack of an update there over the last couple of minutes, but I think I might have blacked out. This game is making my head hurt. Even though the score is close, this one feels like it's one small Portland run from being over. 62-59 Blazers.

FOURTH QUARTER:
10:54 - And we're tied. Ugh. 64-64 Tie.

9:29 - Yep, only one make basket since my last update. First team to 80 wins. 66-64 Blazers.

8:14 - A four point run in this game is the equivalent of a twelve point run in any other game. The Blazers scored back-to-back baskets, so of course Indiana called time. 70-66 Blazers.

7:12 - The Blazers won a jump ball with just a few seconds left on the shot clock. The ball found its way right to the top of the arc where Batum was standing, and he drained the triple. 73-66 Blazers.

5:32 - Once again, the Pacers turned it over coming out of a timeout. Allen Crabbe stole the ball from Luis Scola, and Dame was able to pick up a foul (and hit both of his freebies) on the other end. 77-66 Blazers.

3:26 - That was a weird sequence. Lopez fouled Roy Hibbert, who fell to the ground. Hibbert rolled up on Wesley's ankle when he hit the deck, knocking Matthews to the ground in pain. While he was falling, Hibbert threw the ball at Lopez and picked up a tech. After all the free throws, the Blazers are the first to 80 which I think means they win. 80-73 Blazers.

1:56 - Wesley hits in the paint, and a ton of fans are headed to the exits. If Twitter is right, they might not be getting out of here early though—it sounds like the Moda Center is on lock down due to the protests. 82-73 Blazers.

0:36 - I looked down, I looked back up, and somehow this was just a one possession game. Aldridge took it to the post and was able to draw a foul, and he calmly sunk both freebies. Whew. 85-80 Blazers.

0:23 - The Pacers missed on their next possession, and Dame was able to secure the rebound and draw the foul. Only problem—he hit the deck when he was fouled, and he looks to be clutching his finger in pain. 86-80 Blazers.

FINAL: 88-82 Blazers. It sure wasn't pretty, but a win is a win is a win. That's three straight for Portland, but now the fun begins with five games in seven nights on the road.