Game Rewind: Pacers 120, Hornets 122 (OT)

After a wild night at Spectrum Center, the Pacers (3-4) eeventually fell to the Charlotte Hornets (4-3) 122-120 in overtime, ending their three-game winning streak. T.J. Warren finished with a team-high 33 points on 15-of-18 shooting and Malcolm Brogdon added 31, but it just wasn’t enough.

Behind a 20-2 scoring run and a 13-point performance from Bismack Biyombo in the fourth quarter, the Hornets erased a 14-point Pacers lead and acquired their first lead of the game. The Blue & Gold managed to force overtime on a Malcolm Brogdon bank shot with 16.8 seconds remaining, but fell in the final 1.7 seconds of overtime on two free throws from Devonte’ Graham after a controversial shooting foul called on JaKarr Sampson. The foul was upheld after review. Graham finished the game with a career-high 35 points. His last two turned out to be the most important.

During several points of the game, it seemed as if the Blue & Gold were going to run away with the lead and never look back. Though the first few minutes were back-and-forth, the Pacers soon jumped out to a 7-4 lead which they never relinquished until the fourth quarter, thanks to five quick points and two steals from former Hornet Jeremy Lamb.

The Pacers eventually finished the first quarter on top of the Hornets 35-20. The 35 points came on 15-of-25 shooting (60.0 percent), including 5-of-9 from long range. It looked as if it was going to be an easy night for the road team.

But after watching the Pacers climb to a 19-point lead near the halfway mark of the second quarter, Hornets head coach James Borrego switched to a smaller, faster lineup, and immediately saw dividends. The Hornets began a 20-5 run over a 3:37 span to cut the deficit to a little as four (56-52) on a PJ Washington dunk with 1:56 remaining in the first half. Thankfully, Lamb stopped the bleeding with a much needed 3-pointer and the Pacers managed to climb up to a 64-57 lead as the halftime buzzer sounded. He finished the game with 18 points, five rebounds, and two assists.

As the third quarter began, the Pacers once again appeared primed to put the comeback to a halt.Ready hands by the Blue & Gold allowed them to quickly increase the lead to 70-60. A botched lob pass from Brogdon caromed off the backboard into the waiting hands of Goga Bitadze for the lucky layup. Then, a Warren steal and finish on the other end provided the two points that pushed the lead back to double digits. Warren scored six of the Pacers first ten points of the second half.

However, midway through the third quarter the Hornets’ small lineup caused fits for the Pacers again. Miles Bridges connected on back-to-back 3-pointers against the mismatched lineups to cut the Pacers lead down to 78-74 with and force McMillan to call a timeout with 4:30 remaining in the third.

The Pacers appeared to set things straight once again, holding the Hornets scoreless for the next 2:31, and scoring seven unanswered points. Everything appeared to be trending in the right direction, as the Blue & Gold finished the third quarter ahead 92-78 on a buzzer beating jumper from T.J. McConnell. Warren even led all scorers in the third with 10 points.

But, once again, the Hornets found a way back into the game. This time, they had help from eight-year NBA veteran Bismack Biyombo. The big man who had watched the first three quarters from the bench provided the spark the Hornets needed to jump right back into the game. Biyombo completed an early fourth quarter 10-2 Hornets run by swiping the ball away from McConnell and finishing with an emphatic dunk to cut the Pacers’ lead to 94-88 with 9:34 remaining that forced McMillan to call a timeout.

Unfortunately, the timeout failed to stop the Hornets’ momentum as Biyombo’s second dunk after a Graham 3-pointer cut the lead to 94-93 with 8:16 remaining. Less than a minute later, Terry Rozier’s 3-pointer gave the Hornets their first lead of the game at 97-94.

The Hornets' lead grew to as high as 102-96 before the Pacers began to claw back. Warren’s second 3-pointer of the game eventually brought the Pacers out of deficit and tied the score 104-104 with 3:52 remaining.

The final 3:52 saw a highly contested battle in which nobody could grab the outright momentum down the stretch. With the Pacers down 107-106, Brogdon rose up and sank a deep 3-pointer from the right wing with three seconds left on the shot clock to put the Pacers ahead 109-107. But Biyombo continued his impressive fourth quarter and responded with a layup to tie the game 109-109 with 2:01 remaining.

After Graham gave the Hornets the advantage with a driving layup, Lamb executed a wild 360-spin jumper that somehow fell through the net, tying the score 111-111 with 1:15 remaining. The Hornets were then sent to the free throw line twice, but only managed to connect on 2-of-4 from the charity stripe. On the next Pacers possession, Brogdon hit his improvised bank shot and tied the score 113-113, and his potential game-winning 3-pointer fell well short as the buzzer sounded. The Blue & Gold were headed into overtime for the first time this season.

Brogdon started overtime scoring with a beautiful left-handed spinning layup to put the Pacers ahead 115-113. Lamb added to the Pacers' total and broke a 115-115 tie with a jumper on their next possession. But Graham completed a 3-point play with 1:44 remaining in overtime to give the Hornets the slim 118-117 lead.

With 1:17 remaining, Warren had a chance to give the Pacers the lead at the free throw line, but only connected on 1-of-2 attempts to tie the score 118-118. After misses from both teams, a loose ball foul was called on Sampson, sending Graham back to the stripe for the Hornets. With 27.2 seconds remaining, he connected on both free throws to make the score 120-118.

But the Pacers were not done yet. With Brogdon controlling the play at the top of the key, he attempted to drive left. But, he stumbled and nearly lost the ball. He desperately flipped the ball to Lamb, who dribbled to the free-throw line and sank a jumper with 5.2 seconds remaining.

The game appeared to be heading to a second overtime as Graham drove into the front court and flailed up a prayer shot. But, the dreaded whistle sounded. Despite avoiding contact with Graham, Sampson was called for a shooting foul. In desperation, McMillan challenged the ruling, but it was upheld and technical free throws were awarded. Graham sank 2-of-3 and the Hornets walked away with the narrow victory.

The Pacers were outscored 35-21 in the fourth quarter.

The Pacers were out-rebounded on the offensive glass 3-0 in overtime, and 10-7 for the game. All three offensive rebounds in overtime were gathered by Biyombo.

After hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter, the Pacers hit only seven more for the rest of the game.

The Hornets scored 17 second-chance points and held Indiana to just seven.

"I didn't think that was a foul. Devonte' [Graham} was driving a lot tonight and initiating the contact, I didn't feel that was a foul at all. He got two calls tonight that our guys had their hands up. He is initiating the contact and he got the free throws on that. We did get a lot of fouls this game but I did not think that was a foul." – Nate McMillan on the last foul call

"You've just got to keep being aggressive. At the end of the day you're not going to win arguments with the refs when they make the calls, so you've just got to focus on the next play." – T.J. Warren on staying focused moving forward

"They had a group out there that brought some energy. They were pressing us and they brought great energy and their defense really turned the game around and the crowd got into it. They went on their run and they started getting a lot of offensive rebounds. They had a lot of hustle plays which fired up their team and we didn’t answer back." – JaKarr Sampson on what turned the game in the second half

The Pacers return home to host Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards at Bankers Life Fiedhouse on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »

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