Indiana Pacers Come Up Short To Washington Wizards

Nov 8, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Luis Scola (4) is guarded by Washington Wizards forward Nene (42) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Indianapolis, IN – The Indiana Pacers were trying to snap a five-game losing skid tonight against the Washington Wizards, but they came up just short of making a big comeback. Indiana lost by a final score of 97-90, but outscored the Wizards by 12 in the second half trying to come back after a rough first half. It’s a major disappointment, but they showed fight once again and nearly came all the way back without most of their best players.

Roy Hibbert went down in the first half with a bruised knee, and wasn’t able to return for the rest of the game. That forced backup center Ian Mahinmi and third-string center Shayne Whittington to step up, and they rose to the call and did their best against a very strong Wizards’ front-court.

Solomon Hill was the star of the night for the Pacers, scoring 28 points on 10-19 shooting and knocked down 7-11 at the free-throw line as well. Larry Bird and Frank Vogel talked Hill up quite a bit this past offseason, and he is beginning to show the potential that they were talking about over the past few games as he has become more comfortable with more minutes.

Chris Copeland and Donald Sloan were the only other two double digit scorers for the Pacers with 14 and 13 respectively. Copeland had a rough game all-around, shooting just 6-19 from the field and 1-10 from downtown. A.J. Price came off the bench to have a nice game for Indiana, scoring nine points to go along with four assists. Damjan Rudez also scored nine points on three three-point shots.

John Wall led the way for the Wizards with 18 points, while Nene backed him up with 17 points of his own. Kevin Seraphin scored 13 points, while both Paul Pierce and Marcin Gortat scored 12 points apiece.

Needless to say, this is a tough loss to swallow especially since it’s Indiana’s sixth in a row. They are bringing the effort needed, but simply don’t have the talent to close games out in the fourth quarter.

Indiana will now look ahead to their next game against the Utah Jazz on Monday night.