Hawes a go as Sixers host Indiana tonight

The Sixers will be looking for their fifth-straight win of the early season tonight when they host the Indiana Pacers, and it appears as though Spencer Hawes will be a full go.

Hawes, who is leading the league in field goal percentage, was limited to 16.5 minutes in Saturday's 97-62 win over Toronto due to a strained back. This morning at the team's shootaround, Hawes and coach Doug Collins both pronounced him fit and ready.

"Feeling a lot better," Hawes said. "Got a chance to do some treatment yesterday – massage, yoga – ran through the whole gamut so I'm feeling better today. It was just one of those things where I started feeling it and you keep going on with the game and it starts to feel worse and worse. It's a long season and it can come up on you quickly. Thankfully we were in a game where I could come out and get a little more rest coming into this stretch that we have this week."

Tonight will begin a stretch in which the Sixers will play five games in six nights. They'll host the Sacramento Kings tomorrow, travel to New York on Wednesday, then host Washington on Friday before playing there Saturday.

"This is a philly work week. Five games in six nights," said Collins. "I talked to our guys about that, about how this city's all about hard work and toughness and that's what we're going to have to be. We're going to have to rebound the ball, we're going to have to post defend.

This could be a defensive struggle as both teams have displayed good defenses in the early going. The Sixers are allowing just 85.6 points, while Indiana (6-2) allows only 89.3 points.

Danny Granger leads the Pacers balanced scoring attack at 14.9 points a game.