Pacers beat Hornets with late surge

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Victor Oladipo and Myles Turner combined for 47 points as the Indiana Pacers won their second straight with a 105-96 win over the struggling Charlotte Hornets on Monday, January 29.

The teams battled back and forth for the first 3 quarters before the Pacers pulled away late in the 4th with a 13-4 run.

Oladipo sparked the surge with a 19-footer and by the time the run was over, the Pacers had boosted their lead to 94-86 with 6 minutes remaining. They took over after that.

Oladipo scored a team-high 25 points for the Pacers, who have won two in a row and 4-of-5.

“Everybody contributed,” Oladipo said. “It’s a collective team thing. We had to do a great job of playing team defence, making them work. I think we did a great job of that tonight.”

Six players scored in double figures, including Thaddeus Young with 16 points and Darren Collison with 13. Domantas Sabonis had his 12th double-double this season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“We finally found our groove in the fourth and wore them down,” Young said.

Kemba Walker finished with 23 points and 3 triples to lead the Hornets, who have lost two straight games and 4-of-6.

Dwight Howard had 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Nicolas Batum made 5 threes and finished with 22 points for Charlotte.

A Turner 3-pointer started a 7-0 run that extended the lead to 103-89 with 2:46 left. That marked the biggest lead of the game for Indiana.

Charlotte eventually cut the deficit to single digits in the final minute of the contest that included 18 lead changes.

The Pacers’ next game is Wednesday, January 31, when they host Memphis.

Elsewhere, Kent Bazemore scored 22 points, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2:09 remaining, and the Atlanta Hawks rallied after trailing by 11 in the third quarter to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 105-100. – Rappler.com