Game Rewind: Pacers 104, Rockets 101

Despite leading by double digits in the second half, the Houston Rockets chipped away at Indiana's advantage, using a blistering 19-3 run to grab the lead from the Pacers in the third quarter.

When it was time to put the starting unit back in the game with nine minutes left in the contest, Pacers head coach Frank Vogel made a key change, subbing in Solomon Hill for Myles Turner at the power forward position to help matchup against the Rockets' smaller lineup.

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With four minutes left, Solomon Hill dished two timely passes to Ian Mahinmi, who slammed them down and brought the crowd to its feet as the Pacers opened up a lead that they were able to keep, beating the Rockets 104-101 despite 34 points from All-Star James Harden.

"I was just trying to bring energy," explained Solomon Hill at his locker. "James (Harden) had it going and brought them back. It was just about making the right plays. Everybody kind of contributed to our win tonight."

After Mahinmi's powerful dunks, things got close once again as Harden and Corey Brewer each drew trips to the free throw line where they were able to winnow the lead to 100-99. But Ellis — who finished the game with 23 points — rose up and hit a midrange jumper, making it a three-point Pacers lead.

When Mahinmi hit a free throw to push Indiana's lead to four, the Rockets responded with Dwight Howard finding daylight on a pick-and-roll and getting an easy bucket. The Rockets fouled Ellis on the inbounds, sending him to the line. Ellis was only able to hit one of two, which pushed Indiana's lead to three and gave the Rockets one last shot at tying things up.

With 4.5 on the clock, Jason Terry attempted a game-tying 3-pointer, but the shot hit nothing but oxygen, safely landing in the hands of Solomon Hill and securing the Pacers win.

The win was the Pacers' third in their last four, all of which came against opponents with records below .500. It wasn't easy, coming on the second night of a back-to-back, but the victory puts Indiana five games above .500 and gains them ground in the Eastern Conference Playoff race.

"This game came down to the wire," Paul George said. "We were up big and we can take a negative out of that for allowing a team to get back in the game. We give (the Rockets) credit for coming back. But I thought after they made it a game, we did a great job of taking control of the game later."

In the first half, Indiana built a 10-point lead by outscoring the Rockets in both of the first quarters of the game. George was the half's leading scorer, pouring in 16 points in the game's first 12 minutes. He finished the night with a team-high 25.

Indiana shot 50 percent from the field in the opening half, and led the Rockets 57-47.

Coming out of the locker room, Indiana show no signs of slowing down, breaking out a 10-4 run to begin the second half and extending its lead to 16 points midway through the third quarter.

But the Rockets, led by Harden, began to climb back into the game, narrowing their deficit to nine points with six minutes remaining in the third quarter. By the end of their blitzing 19-3 run, the Rockets knotted the game at 70 with 3:31 to play in the quarter, as Harden posted 15 points in the frame.

But even with the Rockets' 32-24 third quarter, Indiana entered the fourth quarter leading by two, digging in to hang on to a victory on the second night of the back-to-back.

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However, the Rockets' offense had plenty of fuel remaining, opening the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run on three made field goals. Luckily for the Pacers, Ian Mahinmi — who was in the game with the reserves to matchup with Dwight Howard — settled things down, scoring layups on back-to-back offensive possessions. Mahinmi won his matchup with Howard by night's end, finishing the evening with 19 points and 11 rebounds (six of them offensive), while Howard posted a line of 11 points and 10 boards.

"This is exactly the type of game we expected," said Mahinmi after the win. "We felt bad about that loss last night. We wanted to come out and be aggressive from the start. I think that's what we did."

With nine minutes remaining, Pacers head coach Frank Vogel inserted his entire starting lineup back in the game, with the exception of rookie Myles Turner — who had gone 0-for-5 from the field — in favor of Solomon Hill.

The move paid off quick, with Solomon Hill getting a tip-in to bring the Pacers within two points, followed by a 3-pointer from PG to take the lead off of a smooth drive-and-kick from Ellis.

With four minutes remaining and holding on to a one-point lead, Solo and Mahinmi executed nearly identical interior passes that led to thundering dunks both times, giving the Pacers a five-point cushion with 3:26 left in the game and setting up the thrilling finish at The Fieldhouse.

Ian Mahinmi tied his career high for points with 19, finishing the game one offensive rebound shy of his career high of seven offensive boards. Mahinmi's plus-minus of +15 was the highest on the Pacers.

When Solomon Hill entered the game, the Pacers were trailing 87-85, but ended up winning the game 104-101, outscoring the Rockets 19-14 during his final shift.

James Harden scored 24 of his 34 points in the second half.

After taking just four field goal attempts during Saturday's loss to Brooklyn, Monta Ellis connected on 10-of-18 shots from the field.

"(Solomon Hill) gave a solid contribution. He made winning plays, he made hustle plays. He was a big part of this win. He's a great defensive spread four. He's got great defensive instincts, he's physical and he's strong. We need everybody. A lot of it will be dependent on matchups. We needed him tonight." -Pacers head coach Frank Vogel

"I think for us, we were just alert, alert to the switching and jumping out and not letting them get the ball to the guy they wanted to." -Paul George on the final possessions

"It was good to see Ty (Lawson) out there. He looked good, made some big shots and helped them get the win, so that hurts for us. He can be really good for them. He's good in the pick and roll and he can make a lot of people better. It just didn't work out here for him." -Rockets guard Corey Brewer

Ian Mahinmi has now hit his career high of 19 points on three occasions (twice with the Pacers). The center also logged six offensive rebounds (11 total) for a difference-making double-double. It was Mahinmi's ninth double-double. Entering this season, the eighth-year pro had just three for his entire career.

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