Players and coaches like to talk about playing the full 48-minutes. For the Pacers, 14 proved to be enough. Dominating the first 11 minutes and the final 3 minutes while struggling the rest of the night, Indiana built a 25-point first-quarter lead, lost it in the fourth, then rallied down the stretch to beat Utah 89-83 Tuesday night in the Delta Center.
The Pacers earned a 2-2 split in their final Western Conference road trip of the season and return home 30-30 overall, 14-17 on the road. They also beat Utah for the fourth consecutive meeting. The Jazz dropped their third in a row to fall to 20-40. After an 8-5 start, Utah has gone 12-35.
Reggie Miller gets open by running defender Gordan Giricek into Austin Croshere's screen Tuesday night in Utah.
The Pacers couldn't have been much better in the first 11 minutes, rolling out to an astonishing 33-8 lead as Reggie Miller scored 15 quick points. Utah, which missed 11 of its first 13 shots while committing five turnovers, began chipping away with an 11-point run that cut the lead to 33-19 early in the second period and the Jazz effectively kept things from getting out of hand in the first half, trailing 55-42 at the break. Stephen Jackson carried the offense in the second quarter with 13 points
The Pacers were holding an apparently comfortable 67-54 lead in the third quarter when the offense disappeared. Indiana went roughly 6 minutes without a basket while Utah put together a 16-4 run cut the lead to 71-70 with 9:35 remaining. After the Pacers rebuilt a 77-72 lead, Utah scored eight in a row to take an 80-77 lead behind Matt Harpring, who hit a 3-pointer and the jumper that put the home team ahead for the first (and only) time, 78-77, with 5:02 remaining.
The Pacers gathered themselves and regained their defensive intensity in the final 3 minutes. Anthony Johnson hit a jumper to put them ahead for good, 81-80, Miller made a jumper, then Jackson a pair of free throws and the lead as 85-80 with 55 seconds left. Utah's only bucket of the final 5 minutes was a putback by Mehmet Okur that cut it to 85-82 with 14 seconds left but Austin Croshere and Miller closed it out at the line.
Jackson established a new Pacers high with 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting, inclduing 3-of-6 from the arc. Miller scored 24 but cooled after hitting his first five shots, going 2-of-11 the rest of the way. Johnson had a strong all-around game with 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Dale Davis and Jeff Foster had 10 rebounds apiece. The Pacers got just eight points on 2-of-12 shooting from the bench. The Pacers shot 45.3 percent for the game but were just 7-of-27 in the second half (25.9 percent).
Utah was led by Okur, who brought 18 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Harpring scored 18 with seven rebounds. Andrei Kirilenko scored 16 with six rebounds and three steals, and Keith McLeod scored 11 with six assists and four rebounds. The Jazz shot 37 percent for the game.
- Miller has averaged 19.0 points in 11 games Jermaine O'Neal has missed either due to suspension or injury.
- Jackson has averaged 22.0 points in the last seven games.
- Dale Davis has pulled 27 rebounds in three games since signing with the Pacers last Friday.
- With Jamaal Tinsley still out with a bruised foot and Fred Jones ill, Johnson returned to the lineup at point guard. Jones had started the previous two games at the point but was limited by a severe cold and played just 10 scoreless minutes.