Game Rewind: Pacers 114, Rockets 107

Indiana played in its second close contest in as many games on Wednesday night and walked away with the same result – a hard-fought win.

The Pacers (6-2) picked up their sixth victory of the season after besting the Houston Rockets (2-4), 114-107, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. It is Indiana’s first victory over Houston inside The Fieldhouse since Jan. 29, 2017.

With 38.2 seconds remaining and the Pacers ahead 111-107, Myles Turner swatted away a potential David Nwaba layup for his eighth block of the night – tying his career high for the second time this season. Then, sitting at 33 points, Malcolm Brogdon calmly put the game on ice at the charity stripe on the other end, ending the night with a new career-high 35 points on the night.

“He’s been terrific,” Brogdon said of Turner. “He’s the best shot-blocking big in the league. It’s really that simple.”

In all, three Pacers finished with 20 or more points. Domantas Sabonis notched yet another double-double, his eighth, with 22 points and 12 boards, while Justin Holiday tallied a season-high 20 on 6-of-9 shooting.

While John Wall managed 28 points for Houston, Indiana’s defense held prolific scorer James Harden to just 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting. The Blue & Gold held the visitors scoreless for the final 2:37 of game time.

“We wanted to be aggressive with Harden early,” coach Nate Bjorkgren said about the game plan postgame. “We wanted to put different guys on him and make him see double teams in different ways and have active hands.”

A 12-point first quarter from Brogdon helped negate a surprising start from NBA veteran DeMarcus Cousins. In his first start since 2018, the veteran scored seven of the Rockets’ first 12 points en route to amassing an 18-8 Houston lead. But the Pacers then settled in.

Indiana found its spark after buckets from Victor Oladipo and Brogdon sandwiched a monster swat from Domantas Sabonis on the defensive end. The sequence helped Indiana cut the lead to 18-12 with 5:26 to play in the first.

From there, the Blue & Gold continued to pick into Houston’s lead, and the high-energy efforts of the Pacers’ bench helped snag a 35-30 lead after the first. Justin Holiday scored eight of the final 11 Pacers points of the period, including a smooth fadeaway jumper with 17.8 seconds to go. T.J. McConnell then picked off the ensuing lazy inbounds pass to give Indiana one final possession. With 1.7 seconds remaining, Aaron Holiday connected on his first field goal to end scoring for the quarter.

Continuing its impressive play, the bench opened the second with a 10-4 run – four from McConnell – that saw the Pacers lead swell to 45-34 with 9:24 to play in the half.

The lead helped keep Houston at bay for most of the quarter. But the Rockets threatened with the consecutive layups in the paint. Harden’s finger-roll layup with 4:29 to play eventually cut Indiana’s lead to 51-47 before coach Nate Bjorkgren called timeout to stop the run.

After regrouping, Indiana matched Houston’s possessions shot-for-shot in the paint. Layups from Oladipo and Doug McDermott, and four points from Brogdon gave Indiana a 60-54 lead with 1:15 to go. McDermott added free throws with 37.7 seconds to play earned from a gritty offensive rebound kept Indiana’s lead to six at the break.

Three blocks from Turner in the first 4:01 of the third quarter helped Indiana maintain a six-digit advantage, 72-66, before the first break in the action. However, back-to-back threes from Jae’Sean Tate and P.J. Tucker out of the break quickly tied things up at 72 apiece with 6:10 to play in the third. The teams then remained separated by no more than four points. Four straight points from Sabonis appeared to start a run, but Nwaba responded with a corner three to halt Indiana’s advances. Justin Holiday’s trey with 3:05 to play put the Pacers ahead by four, 81-77, again. But Eric Gordon swiftly responded with a layup to cut the lead to just a bucket before the next timeout.

The Blue & Gold threatened to pull away late in the third behind a 7-0 spree, including five from Brogdon. However, Houston responded with an 8-0 run in 1:30 to trim the Blue & Gold’s lead down to one, 88-87, with 9.8 seconds left.

But Brogdon, unbothered, sprinted down the court and ended the third on a high note. The veteran drove right and connected on a layup with 3.1 ticks left to give Indiana a 90-87 lead heading into the final frame.

In the fourth, Indiana used a small 8-2 spurt, including four from Oladipo, to grab a 98-93 lead with 7:35 to play. But Houston soon responded with six unanswered to snag a one-point lead.

But just 15 seconds later, Brogdon connected on his third triple to put Indiana ahead once more. After Wall responded with a layup, Sabonis tipped in a shot to give the Blue & Gold a 103-101 lead with 5:03 to go.

Almost three minutes later Brogdon, the hot scorer, got a friendly front-rim bounce on his fourth trey of the night to give the Blue & Gold a 109-107 advantage with 2:22 to play. Sabonis’ third offensive rebound of the contest led to his tip-in shot to stretch Indiana’s lead to four.

After the teams traded misses, Harden attempted to find Nwaba in the paint for an easy layup with 38.2 seconds to go. However, Turner and Sabonis rose together and denied Nwaba’s shot, and Sabonis collected the rebound. Brogdon’s final points of hist career night then sealed the victory.

Over the last three games, Brogdon is averaging 27.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 9.0 assists.

Four of Turner’s eight blocks came in the fourth quarter. He raised his league-leading blocks total to 33 (4.1 per game)

Coming into tonight, the Pacers ranked fourth in the NBA in points off turnovers (21.0). They scored 24 points off 16 Houston turnovers tonight

Victor Oladipo finished with 18 points and nine rebounds

“Justin always comes ready to play. I just like his speed out there. He’s running to the corners. He’s setting good screens. He knows how to play multiple positions. He knows where to go on every single play call. He knows what all five guys on the floor need to do” – Head Coach Nate Bjorkgren on Justin Holiday’s play while coming off the bench

“I think he’s doing a great job in knowing where his spots are. He’s comfortable with the offense. He’s comfortable with coach. He’s executed. He knows where he’s going to get his shots. He knows when to be aggressive, knows when to get people involved. He’s playing great for us now. We’re going to need him to do that all year,” – Victor Oladipo on what he’s seen out of Malcolm Brogdon this year

The Pacers limited the Rockets to just 26.7 percent shooting (8-for-30) from 3-point range in the second half, including an 0-for-7 mark in the fourth quarter.

Indiana hosts Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 7:00 PM ET.