Five being more than one, simple math won for the Pacers Friday night — but just barely, because Trae Young was the one.
Young's 49 points weren't quite enough to neutralize the balance of the Pacers' starters who all scored between 16 and 20 points and took between 11 and 15 shots. There's something to be said for an equal opportunity employer, even in the star-driven NBA where certain players on certain nights are unstoppable.
The 105-104 overtime victory completed a spotless four-game homestand for the Pacers, nudged their winning streak to five and lifted their record to 12-6. Better than that, perhaps, it issued a reminder. You have to come out and play against losing teams, even those with an eight-game losing streak as Atlanta had going into the game, no matter how many games you've won in a row and no matter how much Thanksgiving dinner you ate the previous day.
"Too much turkey," Nate McMillan speculated when asked why his team had played so sluggishly and shot so inaccurately in the first half, when the Pacers had more turnovers (7) than assists (6) and the Hawks led by as many as 18 points.
"They say that turkey will put you to sleep, and we looked that way the first half. I don't know."
Ultimately, the Pacers behaved like any good family on Thanksgiving. They addressed their issues and found harmony and bade a harmonious goodbye to their guests. And the door-closing process could prove beneficial in the long run of the 82-game season. Each of their previous 11 victories had come by five points or more, so they were needed more experience in close games.
They had played an overtime game at Charlotte on Nov. 5 but lost that one largely because they were outscored 35-21 in the fourth quarter.
They also faltered in the fourth quarter in this one, letting a seven-point lead midway through the period slip away, but they regathered enough mojo in the overtime to negate the tryptophan-fueled first half. And somewhere along the way, each of the starters made a crucial contribution.
Jeremy Lamb scored a team-high 20 points, 14 in the second half, and hit the first shot of the overtime.
Domantas Sabonis missed a few easy shots at the rim, but still pieced together the 11th double-double in his previous 12 games with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Photo Credit: Matt Kryger
Myles Turner got a bigger role in the offense after managing just 20 shots total over the previous three games but hit just 5-of-14 shots. Still, he made major contributions with four blocked shots and two crucial 3-pointers. One came in the final minute of the third quarter after T.J. McConnell rebounded his own missed layup and passed out to Turner. The other came with 4:11 left in overtime and opened a five-point lead.
McMillan said a few more plays were called for Turner, but Turner said he mostly took a more aggressive approach to the offense.
"You can call all the plays in the world, but at the end of the day I have to assert myself," said Turner, whose left hand was bandaged after the game because of a bruise suffered in the fourth quarter. "Shooting five or six times isn't going to cut it for the team and for me personally. Me and Nate need to keep on growing that relationship."
T.J. Warren scored 16 points and hit what probably was the game's biggest shot, a tie-breaking 3-pointer from the corner in front of Atlanta's bench with 1:13 left in overtime.
Malcolm Brogdon also had 16 points and hit the game-clinching foul shots with 10.9 seconds left after the Pacers' defense forced Atlanta into consecutive misses in the wake of Warren's basket. Brogdon, the NBA's leading foul shooter, has hit 52-of-54 in 15 games.
"We didn't have it for most of the game," McMillan said. "You're going to have to win games like this. You're going to have to grind games out."
The Pacers' bench was outscored 36-19, partially because DeAndre Bembry and Alex Len both played starter minutes and scored 15 each. Doug McDermott, though, came up with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions midway through the fourth quarter to help push the Pacers' lead to seven.
Young, who matched his career-high point total by hitting an inconsequential 3-pointer at the buzzer, was forced to give up the ball by a Pacers' trap on the perimeter, a strategy they mixed into their defense, after McDermott's first three. Young turned the ball over after the second one, which led to Justin Holiday layup.
Young was too much for Brogdon's defense at times, beating him off the dribble and getting into the lane. He was too much for all of the Pacers' defense at times, for that matter, hitting 8-of-15 3-pointers. But he also committed nine turnovers, four of which led directly to field goals for the Pacers.
That's the danger of a one-man show. It has to be virtually perfect to be good enough.
Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce acknowledged Young's brilliant individual performance but was envious of the fact the Pacers didn't need one like it.
"We've got to find ways to balance and get other guys going to alleviate some of that pressure," Pierce said. "It's going to be tough for us to ask him to do that on a nightly basis, but nothing to take away from the night he had."
Pierce raved about the Pacers' multitude of weapons and ways to win before the game. He watched the replay of their Wednesday victory over Utah on Thursday and rewatched the fourth quarter again Friday morning. He saw a lot to like and expounded on it at length."
"I love their roster," he said. "They've got a bunch of guys with the DNA of Nate McMillan. They play hard. Not a whole lot of ego on their team. They play to their strengths.
"You've got natural shooting guys, you've got pick-and-roll guys, you have efficient shooters, you have mid-range shooters," he said. "I'm talking (to his players) about eight different guys right now, how we're going to guard them and know all their sets...then we're going to go to Houston (Saturday) and they're going to space out and one guy (James Harden) is going to have the basketball.
"This is old-school NBA. It's refreshing, but that doesn't make it easier."
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