Game Rewind: Pacers 110, Hawks 100

Indiana showed few signs of a hangover from their statement win against the Boston Celtics two nights ago. On Friday night, they dispatched the Atlanta Hawks 110-100 at State Farm Arena behind a balanced scoring night and a swarming defense.

Malcolm Brogdon led all Pacers (17-9) with 19 and notched his sixth double-double by dishing out a game-high 12 assists. T.J. Warren finished with 18 points, while Doug McDermott added 16 off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting to secure the win. In addition, Domantas Sabonis continued to be a double-double machine, adding 12 points and 14 rebounds for his 21st of the season.

After scoring 49 against Indiana two weeks ago, Trae Young was limited to 23 points on just 9-of-30 shooting, including 3-of-10 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Hawks (6-20) shot just 39-of-95 (41.5 percent) from the field, and 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) from 3-point range.

The Pacers climbed to a 63-48 halftime lead thanks to 11 points from Warren and nine more from four different players. The stifling Pacers defense reminiscent of one year ago reared its head, as they held Atlanta scoreless from beyond the arc (0-of-13). Young had also scored just six points.

But Young and the Hawks were determined to make things interesting. Atlanta finished 13-of-21 from the field for 35 third-quarter points to cut Indiana’s lead to 86-83 entering the final frame.

Little did they know, that would be the closest they’d ever get.

McDermott would personally pull of a 7-2 run, including a deep four-point play, and the Pacers kept the Hawks from trimming the lead to fewer than five for the remainder of the game. In similar fashion to two nights ago, Malcolm Brogdon iced the game with his accurate free-throw game.

The teams played an evenly contested first half of the initial frame. The Blue & Gold grabbed a 13-10 lead on T.J. Warren’s hustle play underneath the basket. With 7:14 remaining in the first, Warren attempted a layup but missed off the right side. Warren quickly grabbed his own miss and connected on a put-back attempt while drawing a foul from De’Andre Hunter. He connected on the ensuing free throw to compete the three-point play.

After struggling to find Myles Turner offensive possessions during the past few games, Indiana made it very obvious they wanted to get him involved early and often. With the score tied 17-17, Brogdon found a cutting Turner for the easy layup to give the Pacers a two-point advantage with 4:14 left in the frame. After the dish, Brogdon would score the next three Pacers points to push Indiana ahead 22-17 and earn a bit of breathing room.

As most of the starters headed to the bench, the same squad that brought the Blue & Gold back against the Celtics opened up a 29-19 lead behind back-to-back buckets from Doug McDermott with 59.5 seconds left to play in the first. Atlanta was able to slightly trim the lead to 29-22 before the period ended.

The reserves continued to extend the lead in the early moments of the second quarter. After four quick points from T.J. McConnell – including one of his nifty turnaround jumpers in the paint – Justin Holiday tipped in a Sabonis miss to give Indiana a 35-24 lead with 9:37 left in the half. After being tied 17-17 late in the first, the Blue & Gold eventually pulled off an 18-7 run.

After a timeout from Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce, the Pacers continued to pile on the points. A Jeremy Lamb 3-pointer from the left wing with 6:46 remaining gave Indiana a 46-30 lead.

The Blue & Gold extended the lead to as many as 17 twice before Atlanta dented the margin in the late stages of the second. Trailing 57-40, Atlanta pulled off a 7-2 run to trim Indiana’s lead to 59-47 on a Jabari Parker layup. The Pacers ended the run on Warren’s alley-oop layup from Brogdon with 1:16 left to play in the first half.

With time winding down, Warren connected on a reverse layup to give Indiana the 15 point lead at the break.

After opening the third quarter with a Warren 3-pointer that pushed the Pacers’ lead to 18, Atlanta heated up, and rattled off a 15-6 run to cut Indiana’s lead to 72-63 on Jabari Parker’s dunk with 8:07 left in the period.

After Turner’s layup put Indiana ahead 81-67 with 5:11 remaining, the Blue & Gold would remain scoreless for the next 2:40. In that span, Atlanta would trim the Pacers’ lead to just five, 81-76, with 2:45 remaining in the period.

Indiana stretched the lead back to eight after McConnell connected on a pull-up jumper with 1:15 left in the third. But, the Hawks closed out the remaining seconds of the quarter strong to trim the Blue & Gold’s lead to just one possession as the buzzer sounded. Allen Crabbe’s 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds remaining made the score 86-83 heading into the final quarter.

McDermott’s four-point play to open the fourth quarter at the 11:28 mark in the fourth quarter would be the only points scored for the next 2:09 of the quarter. A pair of free throws from Hunter cut the Pacers’ lead to 90-85 with 9:19 remaining. But eight seconds later, the man they call “McBuckets” would then respond with a laser-like 3-pointer from the top of the key to push the Blue & Gold’s lead to eight.

Back-to-back buckets from Aaron Holiday soon extended Indiana’s lead back to 10, 97-87, at the 6:55 mark of the frame. But Young responded with a 3-pointer to quickly trim the margin to single digits once again.

Just over two minutes later, Young responded to a Sabonis hook shot with a layup to make things interesting once again. The sensational point guard connected on a floater in the lane to cut Indiana’s lead to 101-96.

After back-to-back buckets from Aaron Holiday and Lamb widened the margin to 105-96 with 3:15 remaining, Alex Len and Kevin Huerter responded with buckets of their own to cut the lead back to five once more.

After hitting 1-of-2 free throws, Brogdon then stretched Indiana’s lead to 108-100 with a tough finish at the rim with 1:09 left to play in the game. He would add another pair of free throws with 27.9 seconds remaining to push the Pacers’ lead to double digits to ice the game down the stretch.

Doug McDermott finished in double figures for the fifth time in six games.

Indiana’s bench outscored Atlanta’s bench 39-22.

Aaron Holiday finished in double figures for the third time in four games with 13 points.

The Pacers outscored the Hawks in the paint 68-60.

“That unit, they got a good rhythm, and we play at a different tempo when they are in the game…I didn’t think we really established ourselves in the second half giving up 35 points in the third quarter. But we did a better job in the fourth quarter holding them to 17 points.” – Head coach Nate McMillan on the play of the second unit

“That’s just kind of who we have been all year. Nobody cares who is scoring, we are all just about winning this year, and if we can all push our personal stats to the side, we can go a long way. That has been our mindset all year, and we just have to keep that same attitude moving forward.” – Doug McDermott on the balanced scoring effort tonight

“We were able to control Trae Young. He wasn’t able to have an explosive game tonight. Then, stops defensively allowed us to get out in transition and get easy buckets. Guys like Aaron [Holiday], T.J. [McConnell], and Doug [McDermott] came off the bench and were huge for us. It was just a well-rounded game for us. We came out sluggish in the third but other than that, we had good defensive quarters.” – Malcolm Brogdon on putting pressure on Trae Young

Indiana shot 50.0 percent from the floor (46-of-92), marking the ninth time this season they’ve shot 50 percent or better in a game.

The Pacers return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to host Cody Zeller and the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 5:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »

Jack's Donuts: Visit your local Jack's Donuts the day after a Pacers victory and mention the Pacers win to receive a free 12-ounce coffee or donut with any purchase. Visit JacksDonuts.com to find the Jack's Donuts nearest you.

Papa John's Pacers90: The day after the Pacers score 90 or more points, you score 50 percent off online pizzas at regular menu price. Order online at papajohns.com with promo code PACERS90. Offer valid in Central Indiana.