Game Rewind: Pacers 107, Celtics 103 (OT)

Back at Bankers Life Fieldhouse after a four-game West Coast road trip, the Pacers looked at times like they were still getting adjusted to a new time zone, but did just enough to beat the Boston Celtics in overtime on Friday night, 107-103.

With a win over the Celtics (12-22), Indiana (15-23) has now won seven of its last 11 and is just a game back of Miami for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"I was just proud of our team," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said. "Because you play a game 36 hours after you land coming back from the West Coast, that's always a tough energy game."

Evan Turner's pull-up jumper with 1:45 left in overtime gave the visitors a 103-102 lead. David West missed a wide-open fastbreak layup with 1:10 to play, but made up for his mistake by drawing a foul and knocking down both free throws to put Indiana back in front with 31.2 seconds remaining.

Roy Hibbert blocked Turner at the rim on the next possession and Marcus Smart stepped out of bounds trying to corral the rebound, giving the Pacers possession with 12 ticks left on the clock. C.J. Miles buried two free throws to push the lead back to three.

Kelly Olynyk missed a 3-pointer on the other end and C.J. Watson came down with the rebound to seal the victory.

"We grinded it out," Hibbert said after the win. "Earlier in the season we would have lost that game, but we’re coming along."

Hibbert had left Wednesday's loss at Golden State with a sprained ankle, but it didn't appear to bother him on Friday. The 7-foot-2 center scored 11 points in the first quarter and led the Pacers with 19 points and 11 rebounds on the night.

Miles added 17 points and Luis Scola had 14, while Watson scored 15 and dished out eight assists. West had just 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting, but scored nine points down the stretch in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Celtics guard Avery Bradley led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting. Five other Celtics players reached double figures. Turner struggled from the floor, making just 3-of-15 shots, but the former Pacers guard did manage to tally 15 rebounds and seven assists against his former team.

The Pacers looked to have another victory locked up in regulation, but Bradley buried a 3-pointer from the right corner with 4.3 seconds remaining to force the extra session.

Indiana started the fourth quarter off strong, with backup point guard Donald Sloan sinking a pair of 3-pointers and getting another bucket at the rim to push the Pacers' lead to 13. But Brad Stevens' Celtics didn't fold, responding with a 20-8 run to climb within one point with 4:10 remaining.

The Celtics later tied the game at 87 on Bradley's jumper with 2:06 to play, setting off a wild finish.

Solomon Hill swished a fadeaway jumper on the ensuing possession to put the Pacers back in front. Boston briefly took the lead on Jared Sullinger's 3-pointer, only to have C.J. Watson knock down a long two to give Indiana a 91-90 lead with 1:05 left on the clock.

Boston had several chances to tie the game or take the lead in the final minute. With the Pacers clinging to a two-point lead, Turner drew a foul on Hibbert with 9.7 seconds remaining, but only managed to make one of two free throws.

Boston fouled West out of the ensuing timeout, and the veteran knocked down both foul shots with 8.6 seconds left, but Bradley hit a big shot on the other end to force overtime.

Vogel said afterwards they considered fouling Bradley to prevent a game-tying 3-pointer, but opted against it. Though his three extended the game, it did not deter the Pacers' resolve.

"We felt like we were the better team," Vogel said. "And if you're the better team, you welcome five more minutes."

Indiana won't have much time to rest — the Pacers play again Saturday night in Philadelphia.

The Pacers won despite shooting just 37 percent from the field (34-of-92). Friday was just the second win for Indiana in a game in which they shot below 40 percent. They were 1-11 on such occasions entering Friday's contest.

Hibbert's double-double was his ninth of the season and the 99th of his career. The Big Dog also had five blocks, his fifth game with five or more rejections this season.

Miles has now scored in double figures in his last seven games and 14 of his last 16. Scola has scored 10 or more points in three straight contests and seven of his last nine.

Turner's 15 rebounds tied a career high. The former Ohio State standout also had 15 boards while playing for the 76ers at New York on March 11, 2012.

"We felt like we had an advantage up front and we wanted to try to take advantage of it. So, we did want to go inside to (Hibbert)." -Frank Vogel

"That’s kind of our bread and butter, throw the ball down low, try to get Roy to draw some early fouls and buckets and get us in the penalty early. After that we can drive to the basket more." -C.J. Watson

"We wanted to keep up the momentum that we built. We felt like we were playing decent basketball on that West coast trip and wanted to come in and keep playing with the same amount of effort that we’ve been playing with." -David West

"We played with a lot of purpose, especially on the defensive end the last couple of games. It’s too bad we didn’t get that (the win) because we had a chance to get it. We played from behind basically the whole game and just kind of kept swinging and swinging and swinging and made it back." -Celtics head coach Brad Stevens

"I thought defensively we did one hell of a job as a group. Being down 12 in the fourth quarter, we kept on fighting. They attacked us and we played physical. We didn’t let the foul calls change our game. We kept on playing hard." -Celtics forward Jared Sullinger

The Blue & Gold won this game at the free throw line. They made a season-high 30 of 34 shots from the charity stripe (88.2 percent). Indiana was +19 from the line (the Celtics made just 11 free throws on 16 attempts).

Getting to the free throw line has been a point of emphasis lately. The Pacers have attempted 154 foul shots in their past six games and knocked down 87.7 percent of their attempts.

"Coach has been talking about it and we've been putting an effort to getting to the basket some," C.J. Miles said. "...We're just doing job of being aggressive and trying to get there."

The Pacers play again Saturday night in Philadelphia, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.