Pacers Beat Hawks in Very Important Win
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Pacers got what feels like their most crucial win of the season on Thursday night over the Atlanta Hawks, winning 133-126.
After the win, the Pacers held onto the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference with their new record of 31-35 (the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors and remain just 0.5 games behind), and the Hawks fell to 37-31, missing out on a chance to overtake the New York Knicks for the fourth seed.
"I like the way that we shared the basketball tonight," Nate Bjorkgren said post-game. "I thought that way we came out the game and played active on both ends. It was a good basketball game, good team game."
With all the noise about the Pacers on and off the court, the win felt like a must-win. There are only six games left in the regular season, and the team came through when it mattered most down the stretch tonight.
Caris LeVert finished with 31 points and 12 assists and had several huge shots down the stretch, including an and-one that gave the Pacers a six-point lead with around one minute left in the game.
"It feels good, and you have to enjoy the moments like that when you're playing basketball that way," Bjorkgren said. We talked about it before the game with all of us here together, and our team, you want to play it the right way, you want to share the ball, make the right basketball play, give it everything you got on the defensive end. For 48 minutes, there was a lot of highs and lows there, but we were on the high side much more."
All-Star Domantas Sabonis continued his hot streak, scoring 30 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out eight assists.
The offense continues to be something that the Pacers are elite at this season (top ten in points per game), but the defense, even in the win, is not where it should be this late in the season. Earlier in the week, they gave up 154 points to the Wizards, and the Hawks, even in the loss, were able to score 126 points.
Clint Capela was held in check for only ten points and nine rebounds, but Trae Young and John Collins combined to score 55 points, and Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 28 points.
The Pacers remain 0.5 games ahead of the Wizards, four games ahead of the Chicago Bulls and four and a half games ahead of the Raptors.
