Live Game Thread: Brooklyn Nets at Indiana Pacers, 7:00 PM EST

Kyrie Irving is out Thursday night against the Indiana Pacers. He’ll rest up on the first night of a back-to-back.

The good news, however, is that Kevin Durant will play - I suppose you can expect Kyrie to play Friday night against the Blazers and for Durant to sit on the second night of a back-to-back?

Caris LeVert and the Pacers are playing...fine. They are 5-5 in their last 10 but are still without their best player, Domantas Sabonis. The Pacers are loaded with guards, and watch out for Oshae Brissett who has been fantastic filling in for the Indiana ailing bigs.

Do you miss Caris LeVert? Let’s talk it out after tonight’s game on our Clubhouse channel:

WHO: Brooklyn Nets (42-20) at Indiana Pacers (29-32)

WHEN: 7:00 PM EST

WHERE: NBA TV (national), YES (local), WFAN (radio)

Game Preview.

Player to watch: Malcolm Brogdon

Malcolm Brogdon is certainly a good player, but can he do a little bit more? His usage rate has gone up each year he’s been in the league and now that he and Levert are the two best players left, he’ll have to carry some more of the scoring load.

It was only two years ago that Brogdon became only the eighth player all-time with a 50/40/90 shooting split. (Two of the other eight were Kevin Durant who did it in 2012-13 and Steve Nash who did it FOUR times, the most of any player in NBA history.)

This year, Bogdon is having his best scoring year, at 21.5 points per and although he isn’t at 50/40/90 levels, he’s close at 45/39/87. He also at career-high numbers in minutes (34.9), rebounds (5.3) and steals (0.9). He’s been a bit up-and-down. Twice in the last 10 days, he’s had stingers, going 1-of-7 from deep against both the Spurs and Blazers. Against SA, he shot 5-of-20, the Blazers, 5-of-14. He is, in effect, the personalization of the Pacers.

For more on the Pacers, check out Indy Cornrows.