Darren Collison notched a double-double with 21 points and 13 assists for the Pacers, who snapped a nine-game road losing streak. Mike Dunleavy finished with 20 points and Tyler Hansbrough added 12 points and nine rebounds for Indiana.
Jrue Holiday led a balanced Sixers attack with 19 points and eight assists. Elton Brand added 18 points and both Evan Turner and Marreese Speights finished with 14 points in reserve roles for Philadelphia, which has dropped two in a row.
Sixers forward Andre Iguodala made his return to the team after missing seven games with an injured right Achilles. He finished with seven assists, but went 0-for-7 from the field and scored his only point in 33 minutes on a free throw.
"Needless to say, we were in an uphill struggle the whole night. We came out incredibly flat," Sixers coach Doug Collins said.
After trading the lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Philadelphia tied the game at 99-99 on Brand's short jumper with 2:32 left.
However, Indiana responded with Collison's jumper and Roy Hibbert's hook-shot to take a four-point lead with 1:24 remaining.
Thaddeus Young made it a one-possession game with a finger-roll at 1:12, but the Pacers connected on six straight free throws to widen their margin to 109-101.
After Williams connected on a driving layup with 8.9 ticks remaining, Collison iced two from the line with 7.3 seconds remanding to account for the final margin.
"I think that we defended well," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "We had a good quickness on the court, challenged shots, shots that they were making were challenged."
Dunleavy controlled the first quarter, scoring 15 points, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, as the Pacers took a 27-23 lead after the opening 12 minutes. Indiana then widened its margin to 57-49 at the half.
Granger's three to open up the third quarter started a 10-2 Pacers run, capped by a Hansbrough jumper at 10:17, to put the game at 67-51. However, Philadelphia responded with a 10-0 run to pull within a manageable 67-61 inside the eight-minute mark.
Holiday later cut the deficit to 73-72 with a three-pointer just over the five-minute mark, but Indiana took an 84-81 lead into the final stanza.
Game Notes
The Sixers started a three-game home stand that will see them also host Milwaukee and Charlotte...Jodie Meeks finished with 13 points and both Williams and Young added 12 points off the bench in the loss...Sixers forward Andres Nocioni left the game in the first quarter with a dislocated right middle finger...Philadelphia is now 10-7 at home this season...Jeff Foster added 10 points and eight rebounds while Hibbert scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds in the win...Indiana was 11-of-11 from the free throw line.
Copyright: The Sports Network
No comments:
Post a Comment