 Jamaal Tinsley had a career night, with hints of many more to come. Ron Hoskins/NBAE/Getty Images from Hawks-Pacers: 56k | 300k |
Rookie Jamaal Tinsley scored a season-high 29 points, Reggie Miller added 22 and Jalen Rose 18 for the Pacers, who were on their way to their fifth straight loss until Thomas lit into them at halftime.
"Isiah Thomas came in there and redecorated our locker room," said Miller, whose team has had a handful of slow starts this season.
"He was upset," Tinsley said. "We have to learn, as a team, to play hard for 48 minutes. We seem to only really start fighting when we're down. We have to focus from the start."
Thomas was able to joke about his tirade afterward.
"It was a routine halftime," he said. "I think I let them know how I felt about their performance. To their credit, they came out and did something about it."
The Pacers trailed 61-42 at halftime and still were down by 12 as the fourth quarter began. But consecutive 3-pointers by Tinsley and Miller cut the deficit to 94-91 with 5:27 to play.
Rose scored seven points in a 15-1 run as the Hawks went cold down the stretch. They fell to 0-7 on the road this season and have not won away from home since February 18, 2001 at Golden State.
"We had one in position tonight and we lost it," Hawks coach Lon Kruger said. "We didn't finish."
After Miller's 3-pointer halved the deficit, Toni Kukoc and Emanual Davis scored to rebuild the lead to 98-91 with 2:59 to go. But the Hawks went scoreless for 2 1/2 minutes, missing six shots.
Jumpers by Jermaine O'Neal and Rose and two free throws from Al Harrington made it 98-97 with 1:37 to play. The Hawks had a shot-clock violation and Rose hit a jumper to give Indiana the lead for good with 1:01 left.
After Terry missed a jumper, Rose hit another. He added a free throw on the next possession for a 102-98 lead with 25 seconds remaining and Tinsley and Miller added two foul shots apiece. Terry made a meaningless 3-pointer before the buzzer.
"You can't lose a 21-point lead, even a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter," Terry said. "It's just very disheartening."
O'Neal returned from a three-game absence due to a back injury and had 16 points and nine rebounds. Jeff Foster added 11 and 11 for the Pacers, who shot 46 percent (38-of-83) from the field.
"I have no explanation (for the slow starts)," O'Neal said. "We are continuing to do this and we know we can't. We've got to be able to jump-start and get out early and beat up on somebody."
Terry scored a season-high 35 points and Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 20 and 14 rebounds for the Hawks, who shot 44 percent (40-of-90), including 5-of-23 in the final period.
Atlanta started much the same way it did at home against Boston on Saturday, while Indiana began in similar fashion to last week's home wins vs. New York and Portland, in which it dug out of huge first-half holes.
"I'm not sure why we have all the slow starts," Rose said. "We just have to keep playing hard and get through it."
Terry scored 17 points and Abdur-Rahim added 15 as the Hawks shot 53 percent and raced to a 61-42 advantage. Tinsley scored 16 points to keep it from becoming a blowout, but the Pacers heard it from the crowd of 15,278 at Conseco Fieldhouse.
"The crowd had a right to boo," Foster said. "We had been down 10, 15, 20 points too many games this year. It should be that way. It's their right to voice their opinions when we are not playing well."
Terry's 20-footer opened the second half and gave the Hawks their largest lead.
Tinsley was originally selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies (now Memphis) in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft, and traded to the Hawks, before ending up in Indiana in another draft day trade.