Game Rewind: Pacers 111, Jazz 100

Facing a hostile environment in Utah just 24 hours after playing in Denver, the Pacers (5-8) knocked off the Utah Jazz (8-4), 111-100 to cap off their Western Conference road trip in a positive fashion.

It was an all-around impressive performance for the squad. Indiana led after every quarter and out-rebounded the Jazz, 53-37. They scratched and clawed through a fourth quarter that featured four ejections, including heavyweights Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner, after Turner blocked his layup attempt. After all was said and done, Utah (8-4) was left with its first home loss of the season at the hands of the Blue & Gold.

"(This win) showed us the character we have in this locker room," T.J. McConnell said. "(It showed) the fight we have in this locker room and how well-coached we are. I think the list goes on."

In his second game back from a nasty non-COVID illness, Malcolm Brogdon dropped 30 points and hauled in nine boards to lead the squad. McConnell polished off his incredible road trip with 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting, eight rebounds, and five assists. To add, former Butler star Kelan Martin recorded a season-high 14 off the bench, including nine clutch points in the fourth.

"It gives me a lot of confidence in my game," Martin said of his increased minutes. "Coach (Carlisle) is just trusting me out there, especially late-game with the ball in my hands."

For the seventh time this season, the Pacers hit the 30-point mark in the first quarter. After each side started with two treys apiece, Indiana used transition buckets and a balanced effort to connect on six of its first 11 shots. However, the difference early on was the long-range efforts of Donovan Mitchell. Coming into tonight, the guard was averaging just 32 percent shooting from beyond the arc. He started this game 3-of-3 from deep, including a 31-foot pull-up triple at the 7:05 mark to give Utah an 18-14 lead.

The teams traded shots over the next few minutes before Indiana responded from long range. Trailing 22-18, McConnell and Martin drilled consecutive threes to grab a two-point Pacers lead with 3:15 to play in the frame.

The reserves' buckets started a run of 10 unanswered Pacers points. The lead climbed to 28-22 before Joe Ingles knocked in a three with 1:45 to go. Nonetheless, the Blue & Gold managed to hold on to a 32-30 advantage as time expired.

Indiana held on to a slim lead over the first four minutes of the second quarter behind a pair of buckets from Chris Duarte. It was a good sign for the rookie, who struggled against the Denver Nuggets in his last outing.

However, with the Pacers ahead 38-35, the hosts mounted a 7-0 run to snag a 42-38 lead with 6:48 to play. Former Pacer Bojan Bogdanovic showed off his driving skills, flying by his defender for an easy layup.

But Indiana kept on charging. The Blue & Gold responded with an 11-2 run, featuring six from Brogdon, over a 2:28 span to take a 49-44 edge with 4:20 remaining.

From there, the Blue & Gold continued to play solid basketball to close the half. Leading 54-51, Indiana tallied the final six points of the frame to take a nine-point edge into halftime. Duarte had a massive block in transition, while McConnell provided the offense in the final 34.8 seconds. After making a jumper, he collected an offensive rebound with 1.4 seconds remaining and notched another layup just before time expired.

The Pacers stretched their lead to double digits early in the third with the help of Myles Turner on two separate occasions. With 10:04 to play, Turner rose and swatted away Gobert's layup attempt. Frustrated afterward, Gobert was assessed a technical foul. Brogdon hit the free throw to give Indiana the 10-point edge. At the 7:35 mark, Turner extended Indiana's lead to 69-57 after drilling a triple from the right wing.

With Turner resting and Indiana leading 72-62, the Jazz mounted a 7-0 run to cut the Pacers' advantage to five with 3:55 to play. Despite a timeout, Utah continued the surge, finding Gobert for a cutting flush to trim the gap to three with 2:46 to play.

However, after checking back in, Turner nailed a trey from the right side again to extend Indiana's lead back to 77-71 with 2:25 remaining. 58 seconds later, he did it again to push the lead to 83-74.

From there, the Blue & Gold closed out the quarter strong. With 25.5 seconds to play, Brogdon added another bucket, a tough 18-foot jumper off a dish from McConnell. They led 85-77 entering the final frame. Turner tallied nine points in the frame. Brogdon added 13.

Then, the Pacers got big minutes from Martin early in the fourth. He began with five quick points, including a tough baseline triple while falling, to help Indiana maintain a 92-83 lead with 9:39 to play. When two quick dunks by Eric Paschall threatened the lead, he added two more jumpers to extend Indiana's lead back to 96-87 with 7:30 remaining.

With Indiana leading 102-92 at the 4:07 mark, Gobert went up for a layup attempt, but was blocked by Turner and fell to the ground. Frustrated, Gobert tugged at Turner's shorts to bring him down as well. A scrum ensued and NBA officials went to check the replay. After a lengthy review, Turner and Gobert were ejected, along with Mitchell and Joe Ingles for trying to escalate the situation further. Brogdon hit 1-of-2 technical free throws and play resumed.

Muscling through a heightened hostile crowd, the Pacers continued to fight on. Leading 106-96, Duarte hit a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key to stretch Indiana's lead to 13 with 2:25 left. 0:17 later, Martin added two free throws, extending the Pacers' lead to 111-96.

"(That was) the biggest shot of the game to me," Carlisle said of Duarte's three. "That was a huge play."

From there, the group on the floor closed out the game without any major interference. It was a spirited win for the Blue & Gold, who fought through a back-to-back at high altitude to split the set of games.

Indiana finally returns home to host the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night.

After Utah started 4-of-5 from deep, the Pacers' defense held them to just 5-of-27 shooting for the rest of the game.

Myles Turner tallied 13 points, nine boards, and three blocked shots. Tonight, he eclipsed Dale Davis to move into fifth place for career blocks in Pacers franchise history.

Utah was limited to fewer than 110 points for just the fifth time this season.

"He's a fighter. He's a competitor. He's got an edge. He plays with an edge. He gets on the floor. He hits people. If you were in a street fight, I'd want that guy on my side every day of the week." –Carlisle on turning to Martin in crunch time

"This is a great challenge. This is something that we talked about at the beginning of the year – that was something that was going to need to galvanize our team – with the level of difficulty that we faced early on. You saw some signs of that tonight. And we've got to continue in that vein." –Carlisle on the heavy road-game schedule to start the season

"It's huge for me. I think it's a confidence boost more than anything. I've been here for seven years now. I want to leave my mark here on this organization. I'm still climbing. I still got a way to go." –Turner on taking over the fifth spot in career blocked shots in Pacers franchise history

Martin and McConnell finished with 35 of the Pacers' 45 bench points. The duo scored two fewer points than the entire Jazz bench combined.

After a four-game Western Conference road trip, the Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to host the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »