Pacers to keep limiting George Hill's minutes

Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel reiterated Tuesday that guard George Hill (left groin strain) needs to have his minutes per game kept around 20 for the foreseeable future.

"We don't want him to reinjure it," Vogel said after the light practice before Tuesday night's game against Toronto at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "It's not a challenge from my standpoint to keep him at that because once we started expanding (the minutes played) the last time we lost him for 11 games, and we're not interested in doing that again.

"We've got to be smart with it and hopefully soon we can increase (the minutes)."

Vogel said C.J. Miles will miss tthe game with a groin strain. Miles played only 7 minutes in Friday's loss at Miami and sat out Sunday's win at Orlando.

Hill played 20 minutes in each of the games in Florida over the weekend, averaging 15 points.

Hill said he remains somewhat limited, but he's "good enough to try to get out there and help the team win."

"I know what I can do, and I know what I can't do," the veteran point guard said. "Try to avoid the things that I can't do (but) sometimes in the duration of the game I have to just make a play."

The Pacers have a 16-30 record, 8-11 at home.

Toronto sits third in the Eastern Conference at 29-15.

Follow Curt Cavin on Twitter at @curtcavin

TORONTO at INDIANA

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Tuesday

TV: Fox Sports Indiana.

Radio: WFNI-FM (107.5), WFNI-AM (1070).

RAPTORS (29-15)

Pos. Player PPG Key stat PG Kyle Lowry 19.6 7.4 apg PG Greivis Vasquez 9.5 3.7 apg SG DeMar DeRozan 18.1 3.9 rpg PF Amir Johnson 9.8 5.8 rpg C Jonas Valanciunas 12.7 8.5 rpg 6th Louis Williams 14.9 .339 3pt%

PACERS (16-30)

Pos. Player PPG Key stat PG C.J. Watson 10.6 3.7 apg SG Rodney Stuckey 11.3 3.0 apg SF Solomon Hill 9.7 31.5 min PF David West 12.8 6.9 rpg C Roy Hibbert 11.1 6.9 rpg 6th George Hill 14.4 2.4 apg

STORYLINES:

A win! The Pacers enter this game on a high, having ended a seven-game losing streak with Sunday night's 106-99 win at Orlando. This is the first of five consecutive games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (and a stretch of six home games in seven outings), but that doesn't guarantee anything. Indiana's home record is 8-11 this season.

A new beast in East: The Eastern Conference includes new bullies at the top, with Atlanta on a 16-game winning streak and the Raptors battling Washington for the second seed. Toronto is only 5-5 in its past 10 games, but it is the top-scoring team in the conference at 105.8 points and a plus-5 in offensive production (that's No. 2 in the East). In addition to all of Lowry's points and assists, he averages 4.9 rebounds. Former Pacer Tyler Hansbrough hasn't been much of a factor, averaging 3.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes.

Prediction: The Raptors are for real, and their depth is impressive, particularly on the offensive end. Williams, a nine-year veteran in his first season with this team, scored a game-high 26 points in the 106-94 victory over Indiana on Dec. 12 in Toronto. This game figures to be closer, but the visitors seem too strong for the team that has lost 21 of its past 30 games. Toronto wins 104-101.

— Curt Cavin