Pacers-Jazz Insider 061217

UTAH 104, INDIANA 94
Indiana Can't Keep Pace With Jazz

By Conrad Brunner | Dec. 17, 2006

There's nothing about the Utah Jazz that overwhelms you. Except, of course, the way the team plays, collectively and intensely at both ends of the court. At the end of the game, it must feel like getting carved up by a butter knife. You don't even realize the threat until it's too late.

The Pacers simply had no answers for Utah's thoroughly complete effort Sunday. Though able to slice 10 points from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit, they were unable to get any closer before falling 104-94 before 15,329.

Indiana's six-game home winning streak was snapped and the Pacers dropped to 13-13 overall, 8-3 in Conseco Fieldhouse. Utah ended a seven-game losing streak to the Pacers dating back to Dec. 2, 2002, and improved to 18-6 overall, 7-4 on the road.

PLUSES
On a day laced with substandard performances, only one starter got much done. Jermaine O'Neal scored a season-high 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting, hitting 11-of-13 from the free-throw line. Though he fell one rebound short of an eighth consecutive double-double, he did have four assists and three blocked shots. Darrell Armstrong brought his usual spark from the bench with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Danny Granger and Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 12 apiece.

MINUSES
Al Harrington succumbed to early foul trouble and was scoreless in 23 minutes. Jamaal Tinsley spent too much time dueling with Deron Williams and went 3-of-18 from the floor with just four assists. Despite a 7-inch height advantage over Derek Fisher, Stephen Jackson only rarely ventured into the post and finished 3-of-10, though he did have seven rebounds and four assists. Even Jeff Foster came up empty, pulling just six rebounds. The Pacers shot .365 for the game, .279 in the second half and 4-of-20 in the fourth quarter, committing 18 turnovers.

Williams was the key for Utah, scoring 17 on 5-of-7 shooting with five assists before fouling out. Carlos Boozer scored 18 with 11 rebounds and three assists. Mehmet Okur also scored 17, adding seven rebounds. Fisher scored 15 and Matt Harpring 12 off the bench. Andrei Kirilenko blocked six shots to go with six assists and six rebounds.

MOMENTS

Starting slowly once again, the Pacers fell behind 18-9 and spent the rest of the afternoon playing uphill. Foul trouble to Tinsley, Foster and Harrington in the second quarter led to a 45-31 deficit but an eight-point run helped reduce the halftime margin to 53-47. The Pacers were hanging around into the third quarter until Fisher sparked a 21-6 run with nine points and Utah stretched its lead to 78-57. O'Neal was the only Pacers player to score for the first 8:55 of the quarter. Sarunas Jasikevicius sparked a nine-point burst that closed the gap to 78-66 but Utah pushed it back to 91-75 with 8:26 remaining.

Here's where the Pacers finally found some defensive energy, forcing seven fourth-quarter turnovers to chip away at the lead. Armstrong scored six in a row, including a 3-pointer, to make it 98-90 with 2:33 left and O'Neal hit a pair of free throws to cut it to six with 1:58 remaining. Utah missed its initial shot on its next two possessions but neither time could the Pacers control the rebound, allowing the Jazz to burn the clock. On the second bonus possession, Fisher was fouled and made both free throws with 30.2 seconds left to wrap up the proceedings.

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