George Hill To Practice Fully This Week, Should Return “Pretty Soon”

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The Indiana Pacers are on an eight-game losing streak. The Los Angeles Lakers come to town tonight on the second end of a back to back, having played last night in Minnesota, so there is hope that the Pacers can beat a bad team while they’re tired. But even the lowly Lakers are playing much better than the Pacers right now, so who knows?

Luckily, there is some good news.

According to Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows, Pacers coach Frank Vogel told the media today that George Hill is returning to practice in full this week and may be back soon.

"“George is expected to practice full-out this week and build his conditioning as much as possible and get back as soon as possible, but still no timeline,” Vogel said. “He’s going to be practicing this week with the intent to try to get back pretty soon.”Vogel went on to confirm Hill hasn’t taken part in a full practice yet and that he will travel with the team but it is unlikely he will play in one of the three road games this week. He didn’t rule out the possibility, though which seems to indicate Hill’s return depends on how the knee and/or quad responds to the additional practice time."

George Hill first practiced, in limited work, last Thursday.

But the fact that he will practice “full-out,” as Vogel put it, is a big step. And so is idea that him playing on the upcoming road trip hasn’t been ruled out.

Indiana plays away at the Los Angeles Clippers (Wednesday), Denver Nuggets (Saturday), and Minnesota Timberwolves (Sunday) this week before returning to The Fieldhouse to face the New Orleans Pelicans (on Tuesday, December 23) in their final game before Christmas. If he could suit up for the team’s showdown with Anthony Davis, that would be great for a team that needs all the help it can get.

UPDATE (December 16): George Hill was back to practice today, and Autumn Allison of the Indianapolis Star had a report that notes that Hill is “still limited.”