Indiana Pacers Hold Off Jazz To Win 105-101
By Evan Massey
The Indiana Pacers got back on track with a 105-101 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
101. 118. 105. 100. Final
Salt Lake City, UT – The Indiana Pacers got their season back on track with a 105-101 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night, but barely survived a strong comeback attempt by Utah. This was the second straight night that the Pacers had allowed their opponents to make a comeback on them, but they found a way to finish this game off.
There are plenty of reasons to be happy with the win for the Pacers, but they still didn’t play to their full potential. With the win, the Pacers improved to 14-22 on the season and took another step back towards the eighth seed in the playoffs.
Roy Hibbert came through with a huge performance for the Pacers, scoring 22 points to go along with eight rebounds. He ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter, but the type of performance that he had was very impressive. Luis Scola also had a big game for the Pacers, scoring 16 points on 7-9 shooting.
C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey both chipped in with 13 points apiece, and Solomon Hill finished the game with 11 points including two big free-throws in the final minute. David West finished with 10 points to round out the Pacers’ double digit scorers, while also dishing out six assists.
Derrick Favors came through with a big game for the Jazz, scoring 27 points and recording a double-double with 11 rebounds. Gordon Hayward was the other big scorer for Utah with 24 points, and nailed 12-13 from the free-throw line. Dante Exum scored 13 points on the night, while Trevor Booker and Rody Gobert scored 12 and 11 points respectively.
It is going to be interesting to see whether or not the Pacers can keep improving throughout the course of the season. They aren’t too far away from being a playoff team, and they still haven’t seen George Hill come back and stay healthy.
Either way, they are playing much better than many expected them to. The Pacers will now look ahead to their Wednesday night game on the road against the Golden State Warriors.