AP
MIAMI, November 13
For the last three seasons the Indiana Pacers figured their toughness, defense and rebounding would be enough to ultimately knock off the Miami Heat. These are not those same Pacers.
The formula still worked wonders.
Chris Copeland scored 17 points and put Indiana ahead to stay on a layup with 43 seconds left, Roy Hibbert added 16 points and 15 rebounds and the undermanned Pacers beat the Heat 81-75 on Wednesday night.
“Sometimes that’s what it’s about, let our defense win it for us,” Copeland said. “I think we made their shots difficult and sometimes on the road it’s not pretty.”
Indiana – which saw each of its last three seasons end with playoff losses to Miami – held the Heat to 17 points or less in each of the final three quarters, plus outrebounded Miami 53-28. The Heat even struggled when the Pacers struggled on defense; Miami missed 10 of its 18 free throws.
Donald Sloan added 15 points for Indiana, which has won two straight after a 1-6 start.
Ian Mahinmi’s three-point play with 7 minutes left put Indiana up 72-65, then its largest lead of the night. Miami scored the next seven to tie it, then knotted the game again at 75 before Indiana closed on a 6-0 run.
Shawne Williams scored 15 for Miami. Chris Bosh was held to a season-low nine, on 3 for 13 shooting.
The Heat had three late shots at the lead, but a jumper by Luol Deng missed, Hibbert blocked a dunk attempt by Deng and Bosh airballed a 3-pointer.
Indiana was missing six players, including four-fifths of its starting lineup from the last Pacers-Heat meeting — that being Game 6 of last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Paul George, David West and George Hill are all hurt and Lance Stephenson is now with Charlotte, meaning Hibbert was the lone returning first-stringer from that rivalry.
Depleted Thunder beat Boston Celtics
AP
BOSTON, November 13
Reggie Jackson had 28 points and eight assists, and Anthony Morrow scored 28 to lift the injury-riddled Oklahoma City Thunder to a 109-94 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
It was the second win in six games for the Thunder, who are missing stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Jackson, a standout at nearby Boston College from 2008-11, posted his big game a night after scoring a career-high 29 in a loss at Milwaukee.
Rajon Rondo just missed his second triple-double of the season with 20 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds. Avery Bradley added 17 points for Boston, which had won its last two.
The Celtics went 9 for 33 from beyond the 3-point line.
Leading by four entering the final quarter, the Thunder — behind Morrow and Jackson — hit eight of their first 10 shots from the floor and opened a 94-81 lead on Morrow’s floater from the right baseline with 6:13 to play.
They kept up their strong shooting, opening a 105-88 advantage on consecutive 3-pointers by Nick Collison and Morrow.
Alternating between zone and man-to-man defense, Oklahoma City seemed to frustrate the Celtics, who fired up a number of long-range jumpers — missing most of them.
The Thunder trailed 64-59 midway through the third quarter, but went on a 9-2 run to take their first lead on Steven Adams’ free throw. Jackson, who had 14 points and four assists in the quarter, swished a 3 from deep with 0.3 seconds left, giving Oklahoma City a 76-72 edge.
In a first half filled with poor 3-point shooting, the Celtics owned a 51-42 edge at halftime. Boston missed 14 of 19 from beyond the arc, including at least four airballs. The Thunder went 3 for 10 on their 3-point attempts.
Boston jumped out to an 18-3 lead in the opening 6 minutes en route to a 24-15 advantage despite going 1 for 7 on 3-pointers.
The Thunder were held to 78 points and shot just 33 percent Tuesday in Milwaukee.
