Game Rewind: Pacers 129, Hawks 121

After a two-day break for Christmas, the Pacers returned to action on Wednesday night in Atlanta. There was no holiday hangover for Indiana (23-12), as eight players scored in double figures in a 129-121 win over the Hawks (9-24).

Thaddeus Young led the Blue & Gold with 21 points in the win on 9-of-12 shooting, while Domantas Sabonis added 19 points and eight rebounds.

Tyreke Evans, back in the lineup after missing the last two games with a bruised right knee, added 19 points and five assists, going 7-for-9 from the field and 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

"It felt good just to be back out there with my team," Evans said. "I just wanted to help and I was out there playing the way that I wanted to play and it just felt good tonight."

The Pacers actually got off to a sluggish start on Wednesday, missing their first eight field goal attempts and falling into a 12-2 hole. Indiana finally got its first field goal on Young's layup with 6:55 remaining in the opening frame.

The offense quickly came to life from there. Indiana took a 21-20 lead on Victor Oladipo's three-point play with 3:49 left in the period, part of an 11-0 run by the Blue & Gold.

After their rough start, the Pacers hit 10 of their final 13 field goal attempts in the first quarter and took a narrow 32-31 advantage into the second quarter.

Evans provided a major spark in the second quarter. He scored 12 points in the first four minutes of the frame, knocking down three 3-pointers in that span.

"I thought he was aggressive tonight making plays, made some shots, and defensively he was pretty solid," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "We want our guys to be aggressive when they are out there and I thought Tyreke did a good job of attacking tonight."

But the Hawks moved back in front midway through the quarter thanks to a 16-6 run and remained in front for the remainder of the half, taking a 67-64 lead into the break.

Atlanta led for most of the third quarter, but the Pacers closed the frame with a flurry. Cory Joseph hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to tie the game at 85 with 2:35 left in the period, then put Indiana in front with a breakaway layup 21 seconds later.

The Hawks briefly retook the lead on Omari Spellman's three with 1:14 left in the quarter, but Indiana reeled off eight unanswered points in the final minute of the frame to take a 95-88 lead into the fourth quarter.

The visitors kept the Hawks at arm's length in the final frame, extending their advantage to 11 points on Evans' 3-pointer with 3:37 to play.

Atlanta used a 7-1 run to climb within five, but Young's tip-in of an Oladipo miss stopped the bleeding and helped seal the victory for Indiana.

"I thought we did a better job of getting stops, we did a better job of taking care of the ball, and we scored at a high level," Oladipo said about the Pacers' second-half performance.

Oladipo finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Bojan Bogdanovic added 16 points and Joseph chipped in 14 points and six assists off the bench.

Darren Collison tallied 11 points, five rebounds, and eight assists. Myles Turner was the eighth Pacers player in double figures with 11 points, six boards, and four dimes.

Hawks guard Kent Bazemore tied his career high with 32 points in the loss, going 14-for-25 from the field and 4-for-9 from 3-point range.

Second-year forward John Collins recorded a double-double for the Hawks with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 11 rebounds, while rookie guard Trae Young finished with 17 points and nine assists.

The Pacers will return home to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for their final two games of 2018, hosting the Detroit Pistons on Friday night and then welcoming the Hawks for a rematch on New Year's Eve.

Photo Credit: Walt Thomas

Evans had missed three of the past five games due to injury and had not scored in double figures in his last four appearances before Wednesday's outburst, which matched his second-highest scoring game of the season.

Bogdanovic finished in double figures for the 26th straight game despite struggling from the field. The Croatian sharpshooter went just 3-for-10 from the field and 1-for-6 from 3-point range, but was 9-for-10 from the free throw line, setting season highs for both makes and attempts at the charity stripe.

The Pacers went 13-for-27 from 3-point range on Wednesday, but the Hawks were even more prolific, going 17-for-36 from beyond the arc.

Bazemore's 32 points tied his career high set earlier this season in a win over Dallas on Oct. 24.

Indiana's bench outscored Atlanta's reserves, 54-30.

The Pacers attempted 15 more free throws than their counterparts on Wednesday. The Blue & Gold went 24-for-33 from the foul line, while the Hawks were 14-for-18.

"When guys are open you have to get them the ball. You shoot a better percentage when you move the ball and you have your feet set and that's what we continue to express to our guys. It was just good ball movement tonight. Some of our guys finally found their rhythm tonight with that ball movement and it's tough to guard when you are moving the ball like that." -McMillan

"Everybody was scoring. We had very balanced scoring tonight and Tyreke came in and played well for us. We just have to continue getting better every game." -Oladipo

"We came in the locker room at the half and talked about it. Everybody was talking about what we needed to do to stop the pick-and-roll because they were getting three's and dunks, so we just dialed in and locked in to figure out ball pressure and make things hard for them." -Evans on the Pacers' defense in the second half

"They're a good team. Like I said before the game, well-coached, they play hard, they play together. Coach said after the game that any mistake we made defensively, they took advantage of it. That's what good teams do in this league." -Bazemore

"I'll start off by saying hats off to Coach McMillan and his team. They're a really good team, probably one of the best teams that we've played all year. You know they punish every mistake; we turned the basketball over 20 times and they scored 24 points off of it." -Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce

The Pacers dished out 35 assists on Wednesday, matching their season high originally set in a win over Utah on Nov. 19.

The Pacers return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to host Blake Griffin and the Detroit Pistons on Friday, Dec. 28 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »

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