J. Michael|Indianapolis Star
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The Indiana Pacers are looking ahead to the postseason, experimenting with different lineups and holding out two starters, but they still had enough to overcome the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
Edmond Sumner (season-high 17 points) had his best game in the Orlando "bubble," making 6 of 10 shots and getting to the foul line 6 times in the 108-104 victory.
"He played well for us," coach Nate McMillan said of Sumner. "Brought good energy. All of our guys, it seems like when they get an opportunity to play they've done some good things.
"Offensively he was aggressive. Defensively, he did a nice job staying in front of (James) Harden, just trying to make him work."
The Pacers (44-28) are 5-2in the seeding games and have one remaining Friday vs. the Miami Heat. Both teams are locked in a 4 vs. 5 matchup in the first round.
A 21-8 run in the first quarter brought the Pacers back when Harden went to the bench and it remained competitive asMcMillan rolled out five bench players to extend a 79-77 lead to double digits.
"There's only so much you can do," Sumner said of defending Harden with his long, 6-4 frame. "I was trying to limit fouling him. You can't really play with hands and stuff because he does a good job drawing fouls. With my left, even though he's a great shooter, tried to get my hand up."
Russell Westbrook (right thigh strain) didn’t play for Houston, but Harden played the final 8:07 as the deficit grew to 104-90 before whittling to a one-possession game with 27.6 seconds left.
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Justin Holiday, who sealed it withtwofree throws with 6.5 seconds remaining,and Myles Turner (18 points) led Indiana. Doug McDermott had his best shooting and scoring game of the restart (16 points, 6-for-7).
"I thought I did a good job of finding the right spacing," McDermott said. "The way they were playing defense, switching, it made it kind of hard to get some shots at first but second half they got a little tired and we were able to get out and run and I was able to free things up."
The teams split the season series 1-1.
>> Victor Oladipo (16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) showed a willingness to explode to the rim and finish but he didn't come close to completing a dunk just before halftime because of Jeff Green rotating to close him off. Oladipo did, however, drive his man back off the dribble to create separation, stop and rise to make the mid-range jumper. Both are good signs despite the difference in success.
>> The Rockets start a 6-7 "center" in Robert Covington (11 points), use 6-5 P.J. Tucker (3 points) and the 6-8 Jeff Green (14 points)there too and they were beating the Pacers on the boards with 6-11 Turner in the middle and using Goga Bitadze, who also is 6-11. The Rockets had a 34-31 rebounding edge entering the fourth but that's when Turner's size became too much. He grabbed 6 rebounds, doubling his output in the first 3 quarters.It's the first time the Pacers outrebounded an opponent in the restart, 54-49.After a 14-2 run had cut the Pacers' lead to 106-104 in the final 30 seconds, an offensive rebound by Holiday preserved victory.
>> With the Pacers’ seedingcertain at 4 or 5 and no home-court advantage at stake, they held out T.J. Warren (foot) and Malcolm Brogdon (neck). That allowed Alize Johnson (2points) to play 17minutes, Bitadze (4points) to log 17and Sumner to play 22. "Malcolm has some soreness," McMillan said about an injury to his starting point guard that kept him out of the restart opener with Philadelphia. "We have a number of guys with some tweaks. So we're really trying to be cautious here." Warren has plantar fasciitis, the same ailment that has kept out Domantas Sabonis for the entire restart, however, the severity of the injury can vary.
>> Houston shot 16-for-57 from 3 (28%) compared to Indiana's 11-for-31 (35.5%). The key to being able to contest the avalanche of long balls came from sticking to the ballhandlers."You have to control the ball. If you're not controlling the basketball and they're getting into the paint and forcing your defense to collapse you're not able to get out to the 3-point shooters," McMillan said. "All defenses start with controlling the basketball."
Pacers 108, Rockets 104
INDIANA (108):J.Holiday 6-10 2-2 18, Sampson 3-3 3-3 9, Turner 5-14 8-10 18, A.Holiday 1-11 0-0 2, Oladipo 7-26 0-0 16, Bitadze 2-6 0-0 4, Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, McDermott 6-7 1-1 16, McConnell 3-9 0-0 6, Sumner 6-11 3-6 17. Totals 40-100 17-22 108.
HOUSTON (104):Gordon 5-15 2-2 13, Tucker 1-6 0-0 3, Covington 3-8 2-2 11, Harden 13-21 12-14 45, McLemore 2-9 1-2 7, Carroll 0-2 3-4 3, Green 5-12 4-4 14, Clemons 1-1 0-0 3, Frazier 1-3 0-0 2, Rivers 1-9 0-0 3. Totals 32-86 24-28 104.
Indiana 29 22 28 29 — 108
Houston 33 17 27 27 — 104
3-Point Goals_Indiana 11-31 (J.Holiday 4-8, McDermott 3-3, Sumner 2-3, Oladipo 2-12, A.Holiday 0-3), Houston 16-57 (Harden 7-14, Covington 3-8, McLemore 2-8, Tucker 1-4, Rivers 1-5, Gordon 1-9, Carroll 0-2, Frazier 0-2, Green 0-4). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 54 (Turner 12), Houston 49 (Harden 17). Assists_Indiana 25 (McConnell 7), Houston 20 (Harden 9). Total Fouls_Indiana 25, Houston 20.
