Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert the stars again as Indiana Pacers hold on to beat Philadelphia 76ers: NBA
On Tuesday night, at the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, the visiting Indiana Pacers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in a thriller of a match with a score of 102-97. As the regular season is winding down, the Pacers have
come out to be one of the strongest contenders, come playoff time.
Indiana have now won their sixth straight game and have only suffered defeat once in the 11 games they have played.
During this season, with 4 games to go in the shortened season, Indiana have reached the 40 win mark in 62 games, a high feat compared to the previous five seasons in which they failed to reach the 30 win mark with 62 games played.
Danny Granger was the leading scorer for the Pacers with 24 points which included some clutch three point shooting as he got 18 of his points from long range. Roy Hibbert added 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, making this the
21st time this season; he has finished a game with double-double statistics.
David West also played well as he chipped in with 13 points while George Hill contributed 12 points. Leandro Barbosa and Tyler Hansbrough both came off the bench to contribute 9 points each.
For the Sixers, Andre Iguodala led with 23 points. Elton Brand scored 11 points and also grabbed 8 boards. However, the rest of the three starters failed to score more than 8 points, individually.
Thaddeus Young led the bench scoring for Philadelphia with 19 points. Louis Williams was not far behind with 18 points and Spencer Hawes also contributed 12 points.
Despite outrebounding the Pacers 48-44 on the night, Philadelphia, were unable to control the Pacers offense from long range. Indiana shot the ball, 54.2% from beyond the arc, knocking down 13 triples in the game.
Both teams started the game off well as it remained a close contest from the get go. At 13-7, Indiana led by as many as six points midway through the first, but only held a minor 2 point advantage by the end of the first quarter,
23-21.
The second quarter went on similar fashion. Pacers tried to get their noses in front and were successful in getting a 6 point advantage deep with George Hill scoring five in a row. However, the Sixers were not letting up and with
just about a minute to go in the half, they were back with in 2 on a three point play by Andre Iguodala, 40-42.
Pacers scored 5 quick points in the final minute of the first half while only allowing the Sixers to score 2 and were able to open up a 5 point advantage, 47-42.
Hibbert started the third on a jumper to extend the advantage to seven, but what followed was an 11-0 response from the Sixers, which gave the hosts a 53-49 lead. Both team kept on finding the rim constantly in the ensuing passage,
but the Pacers struck from the land of three thrice and tied the game at 70 heading into the last 12 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, with 7:52 remaining the Pacers led by 79-77. Granger added 6 quick points by shooting 2 triples and Paul George then sank another trey to help the Pacers get ahead in the contest, 88-81. However the Sixers,
rallied back to pull within 3 points with 2:30 remaining till the final whistle.
On the next possession, Hibbert came up with a three point play. Pacers added 3 more from another George three, to lead 96-87 in the matchup.
The Sixers however just did not know when to give up as they rallied back again to make this a one possession game 6.8 seconds remaining. On the next possession, Granger nailed the final nail to the coffin as he buried two clutch
free throws to help the Pacers hold on in this one.
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