Candace Buckner

The Indiana Pacers are unwrapping a long awaited gift a few days before Christmas in the return of a healthy George Hill.

Hill will make his season debut Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Hill sustained a left knee contusion, which turned into a quad muscle tear, on Oct. 21 as one of several Pacers to miss significant time due to injury.

"We're going to bring him off the bench," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "We felt like he's healthy enough to play. His conditioning is still going to be a concern, we're just going to keep an eye on it. We won't play him huge minutes but it will be a good situation to get his feet wet."

The Pacers have started 9-19 without Hill, who has career averages of 10.3 points, 3.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game. Vogel would like to give Hill three 3-minute bursts beginning in the first quarter.

"Right now, he's just kind of finding a rhythm, he's just playing the game," Vogel said. "We always want him to be assertive on the offensive end but it's really about finding a rhythm right now."

Vogel plans to stagger Hill's minutes so that he can play alongside different groups of players, including starters and second-unit players. But above all, Vogel wants Hill out on the floor.

For well over a week, Hill has returned to full practice in an effort to jump back into game conditioning.

"George is a two-way player more than anything, and you would see some situations where he would have a three-to-four possession dominance," Vogel said. "Two good offensive plays and then come back and make two good defensive plays and great rebounding plays. You've just seen what you've been missing."

Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.