Paul George is questionable for the Pacers' game at Oklahoma City on Sunday. His backup, C.J. Miles, is out.
Glenn Robinson III, meanwhile, is in, and without question looking forward to another opportunity.
The Pacers could offer nothing more than status updates on George and Miles following Saturday's practice at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as they awaited test results. George, who sprained his left ankle against Philadelphia on Nov. 11, sat out Friday's loss to Phoenix, while Miles – who started in place of George – sprained his left knee early in that game. Kevin Seraphin also is questionable with a sprained left knee.
Both George and Miles underwent MRIs Saturday morning and then attended but sat out the light practice session, other than shooting. George, for one, doesn't expect a long absence.
"Anything other than a sprain, it would feel a lot worse," he said. "It hurts, but … I think I would know the difference between the two."
George said he doesn't feel pressure to return in the wake of Friday's 20-point loss to the Suns, and the challenge of Sunday's game against the 8-5 Thunder.
"I'd rather be strong late in the year rather than early in the year," he said.
Miles' absence and George's possible absence creates an opening – maybe two – for Robinson, who played a season-high 25 minutes on Friday. He finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and sparked a third-quarter surge after starting the second half. He scored seven points within 1 minute and 41 seconds of game clock, four of them on mid-range jumpers and the rest on a three-point play after drawing a foul on a dunked lob pass from Monta Ellis.
"Glenn has worked hard and he'll get his opportunity tomorrow," coach Nate McMillan said.
Robinson believes he's ready for this one. He had an impressive pre-season a year ago, but didn't take advantage of his best opportunity for playing time in the regular season, a four-game stretch of Western Conference road games in which he started but was productive in just one.
He said he'll take a different mindset to Oklahoma City.
"I think I'm a lot more aggressive," he said. "That's what I'm going to try to do. Coach talked to me and said we need a spark coming off that bench, especially defensively. That's something I'm going to try to do and let everything else come to me.
"I think this time last year I was a little more hesitant than I am now. I have a lot more confidence in my game this year and in my abilities."
The Pacers can use all of it.
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