After Flirting With Disaster, Indiana Pacers Beat Philadelphia 76ers
By Ben Gibson
C.J. Miles found his shot once again as the Indiana Pacers struggled at times against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Pacers flirted with disaster on Saturday but didn’t manage to lose to the Philadelphia 76ers in an 115-102 victory.
Indiana replaced Myles Turner in the starting lineup with Lavoy Allen, but it didn’t last long as the 76ers went small ball to counteract their former teammate’s presence That prompted Frank Vogel to use Solomon Hill even more than he has recently, as Solo played more minutes that Allen, Ian Mahinmi, and Turner on Saturday.
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But it was C.J. Miles that proved to be the hero in Philadelphia with 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range and 2 of 2 from the foul line. After a dreadful January where he shot 21.6% from 3-point range, he’s improved each month since then, going 32.3 in February and 39.2 in March.
He also had 3 steals and a blocked shot to go with his points, but his go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:39 left might have been the most important as it saved Indiana from embarrassment and from getting closer to falling out of the playoff race.
It was a frustrating game to watch for Indiana fans as the Pacers struggled against the NBA’s worst (or second worst team depending on your opinion of the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers) and looked like they were destined to lose until late in the game when Miles and company pushed the Pacers over the finish line.
Going into Sunday, Indiana holds a two-game lead over the Chicago Bulls for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, and a half-game behind the Detroit Pistons.
Data curated by PointAfter
Paul George had 20 points on Saturday but struggled to shoot from the field as he went 5 of 15, including 2 of 5 from deep. His aggressiveness getting to the free throw line helped make up for the missed shots as he went 8 of 9 from there while also posting 9 rebounds and 8 assists in the game.
Rodney Stuckey had a strong game coming off the bench with 17 points and 5 assists while shooting 6 of 7 from the field and 4 of 5 from the foul line. Monta Ellis had 12 points and 6 assists while George Hill had 11 points. Ty Lawson played well off the bench with 5 points and 5 assists.
Indiana Pacers 2015-16 Playoff Outlook | PointAfter
The Pacers face the New York Knicks today at Madison Square Garden and hope to improve their playoff positioning if they can pick up a much-needed road win.
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Indiana has room for error, but not much with the Bulls and Pistons packed together with them and only a handful of games left to play in the regular season.