West
and George each scored 24 points, including combining for 21 of
Indiana’s 31 fourth-quarter points in a 95-88 victory over the Atlanta
Hawks in game six of the first-round series at Philips Arena.
Indiana will host the deciding seventh game Saturday.
Atlanta
held a fourth-quarter lead as large as five points, but after West
scored four points and George Hill added a lay up, the Pacers led 85-84
with just under two minutes left. Atlanta pulled even when Pero Antic
hit 1-of-2 free throws, yet the hosts couldn’t score over the next 1:12
and a bucket by West and a combined 6-for-6 performance from the
free-throw line by George and Hill helped Indiana survive.
After
hitting 15 of 27 3-pointers in a stunning game five win in
Indianapolis, the Hawks made just 25 percent (9 of 35) Thursday and were
held to 35 percent shooting overall.
“They’re
a good defensive team, we just didn’t make shots that we had,” said
Kyle Korver, who was 3 of 8 from three for nine points after a 5 of 10,
16-point performance from behind the arc in game five. “That’s what
happens when you shoot a lot of threes: sometimes they don’t go in.”
The
final stages of the third quarter belonged to Jeff Teague. Indiana had
just taken its largest lead of the night at 57-48 on a beautiful reverse
lay up by George, but then Teague, who led all scorers with 29 points,
helped pick up George’s fourth foul, then hit two free throws with about
five minutes left. That got Atlanta started on a 19-7 run, 12 of the
points coming from Teague and two coming when Mike Scott threw down a
thunderous dunk over Indiana center Ian Mahinmi, to close the quarter
ahead 67-64.
“I thought Jeff was excellent all night,” said first-year Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer. “He knows how important he is to us.”
Lou
Williams came off the bench and scored 16 points, including a lay up
off a nice backdoor pass from Paul Milsap (16 points, 18 rebounds, five
assists) that gave Atlanta a 74-70 cushion. Indiana eventually took the
lead back at 77-76 two and a half minutes later on a bucket by Hill, but
the Hawks scored eight of the next 10 points to go up five with 3:16 to
play.
Neither
team could build a second quarter lead of larger than three points
until Indiana got buckets from George and West and a pair of Lance
Stephenson free throws to go up 41-35 with just under a minute to play.
Williams’
only 3-pointer of the half helped get Atlanta to within 41-39. Just
moments after receiving a technical foul during a short altercation with
Scott, who also was hit with a technical, Hill hit a shot well beyond
the three-point line for the point guard’s only points of the half and
the Pacers went into the halftime locker room up 44-39.
Atlanta
misfired on its first four attempts from three-point range, but after
the fourth miss, DeMarre Carroll corralled the offensive rebound and fed
Korver for a three, then Carroll also drained a long ball, part of a
12-0 run that put the Hawks up 15-5 with 5 1/2 minutes to play in the
first.
The
10-point cushion was Atlanta’s largest of the quarter. Indiana’s bench
brought the top seed back as C.J. Watson hit a pair of jumpers and Chris
Copeland knocked down a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left that pulled the
Pacers to within 22-20 after one.
Atlanta
dropped its third consecutive game six at home, which includes a loss
to the same Pacers team in an elimination contest a year ago. This year
the Hawks, who haven’t been past the first round since 2011 but have
already won twice in Indiana in the series, get a game seven to try and
rebound.
“I
think we need to get to the next game, get our focus,” Budenholzer said
of game seven. “We have a lot of confidence in our group and this is
the next challenge for us.”
“We know we can win in anybody’s building,” said Carroll.
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