MILWAUKEE, April 4 (AP) -- Mike Dunleavy had 27 points and 11 rebounds and the Indiana Pacers kept their faint playoff hopes alive by edging the Milwaukee Bucks 105-101 on Friday night.

Indiana pulled within three games of Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with the victory. The Hawks lost 109-104 to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Troy Murphy scored 17 points and Danny Granger added 13 for Indiana, which has missed the playoffs the last two seasons. Jermaine O'Neal had 11 points and six turnovers in his third game back after missing 33 with a sore left knee.

The Pacers have six games remaining, including matchups with the Bucks on Sunday and the Hawks on Tuesday night.

Michael Redd scored 28 points for Milwaukee, and Andrew Bogut added 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Bobby Simmons made two free throws to cut Indiana's lead to 77-75 but Dunleavy hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 9:10 to go.

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GAMEDAY ARCHIVE

Highlights from Friday's loss to Indiana

Click "play" on the video player to the right to watch highlights from Friday's loss to Indiana. Or use the links below to watch and listen to archived video and audio.

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Locker room: Ramon Sessions & Andrew Bogut
Post-game: Coach K
Game highlights

For exclusive locker room video from tonight's game, check out the AT&T Multimedia Vault!

Larry Krystkowiak

(On playing from behind tonight…)
“We couldn’t quite get over the top. They hit a couple of big threes late in the shot clock. There was one by (Mike) Dunleavy and one by (Marquis) Daniels when we did a pretty good job defending for 22 or 23 seconds. Then they hit a three like that and it takes a lot of air out of your sails. We probably missed a few too many free throws and it goes back to our first quarter. We kind of buried ourselves and didn’t come out with the kind of energy that we really needed in the first quarter and got ourselves down eight points. That seemed to be about the deficit we were fighting all night. I would have liked to come out of the locker room with a little more fire and energy.”

(On the Pacers defensive effort tonight…)
“They do a nice job defensively. It’s a team concept. They load up on penetration. I saw more charges probably in the game tonight than I’ve seen all season. We had at least a half a dozen charges. Then they do a nice job of packing the paint on Andrew (Bogut) so you have a hard time doing a whole lot inside and you get a little bit teased to shoot perimeter jump shots, which is that rut that we got in in the first half.”

(On the play of Ramon Sessions tonight...)
“That’s been about four games in-a-row now where he’s played in the thirty minute category. I thought Mo (Williams) and Sessions did a great job distributing. They had 15 assists between them. They did a nice job defending and keeping the ball in front of them. He’s on his way.”

(On the Pacers defensive effort…)
“They do a great job of sinking in and the guys really dig in and try to strip you every time you put the ball on the floor. (Jeff) Foster is a pretty good defender and so is Jermaine O’Neal.”

(On closing out the season strong…)
“I’m trying to use these games as a stepping stone to get better. That’s all the motivation I have individually going into these games is to try to get better as a basketball player.”

(On the Pacers offense tonight…)
“We couldn’t get any breaks. They hit big shot after big shot. You have to tip your hat to them. We D’ed up but once they swung the ball around, the next thing you know they hit a big shot. It was tough for us.”

(On playing more minutes at the end of the year…)
“I’m getting more comfortable the more I’m out there playing and the more minutes I’m getting. I wish we could have got the win.”

Photos by NBAE/Getty Images

Michael Redd

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