ATLANTA — Jeff Teague flung in a wild 3-pointer after the officials appeared to miss him stepping out of bounds, and Kyle Korver finished off Indiana from beyond the arc to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 98-85 victory Thursday night and another lead in the series with the top-seeded Pacers.
Hardly playing like a No. 8 seed that finished six games under .500 during the regular season, the Hawks took control in the third quarter — the decisive period in all three games — and held off the Pacers to go up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4 is Saturday in Atlanta.
The Hawks were up 84-78 with the shot clock running down when Teague launched a running shot from the wing — after his foot seemed to clip the line. It counted, even after a video review.
Korver clinched it with the last of his four treys, putting Atlanta up 92-80 with 1:41 remaining.
Teague scored 22 points and Korver added 20 to lead the Hawks, who are playing with confidence and swagger against an Indiana team that struggled down the stretch and is still scrambling to regain the form it showed much of the season.
Lance Stephenson led the Pacers with 21 points, and Luis Scola added 17 in another stellar performance off the bench that at least gave Indiana hope. But Paul George was held to 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting, George Hill made only 1-of-11 from the field, and Roy Hibbert continually missed shots close to the hoop.
Teague made the biggest shot of all. Looking up to see the clock running down, he dribbled to his left and threw it up with Scola in his face. Nothing but net. Teague smiled and shrugged his shoulders on the way back down the court, as surprised as anyone that it went in.
The Hawks stunned the Pacers in Game 1 and led by as many as 11 in the first half of Game 2, before the Pacers finally looked like the top seed in the East with a dominant third quarter that evened the series.
The first half was downright ugly. Both teams were sloppy with the ball and had trouble knocking down anything, which made it difficult to establish any sort of flow to the game. The Hawks shot just 30 percent (12 of 40) from the field and an especially dismal 2 of 16 beyond the 3-point arc, yet they were still up 39-38 lead at the break.
The Pacers were nearly as bad, hitting only 15 of 40 shots.
Memphis 98, Oklahoma City 95 OT
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mike Conley scored five of his 20 points in overtime, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 98-95 Thursday night in taking a 2-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.
The Grizzlies won their second straight overtime game after blowing a fourth-quarter lead. This time, they led by 17 before going cold for most of the final 7:43 of regulation. Courtney Lee clinched the win, hitting three of four free throws in the final 10.9 seconds of OT.
NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each scored 30 for the Thunder who even got another four-point play in the final minute to force overtime. This time, it was Westbrook’s turn with 26.6 seconds left.
But Durant missed all eight 3-point attempts and was 10 of 27. Westbrook was 9 of 26. The Thunder hit only 3 of 12 overall in overtime.
Zach Randolph scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds for Memphis, which now has won 15 straight at home.
L.A. Clippers 98, Golden State 96
OAKLAND, Calif. — Blake Griffin scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds, DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 22 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers outlasted the Golden State Warriors 98-96 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.
The frontcourt tandem bullied and bruised the Warriors inside to power the Clippers ahead by 18 points in the third quarter. And they did just enough late to silence a rocking, gold-shirt wearing sellout crowd of 19,596 to regain home-court advantage.
Klay Thompson scored 26 points, and Stephen Curry had 16 points and 15 assists to rally the Warriors back. But Curry forced a contested, step-back 3-pointer over Chris Paul in the final seconds to seal the Clippers’ victory.
Bobcats’ McRoberts fined for hit on james
NEW YORK — Charlotte Bobcats forward Josh McRoberts was fined $20,000 by the NBA on Thursday for making unnecessary and excessive contact with Miami Heat forward LeBron James.
McRoberts’ foul against James with 50 seconds remaining Wednesday night in Miami in the Heat’s 101-97 playoff victory over the Bobcats has been upgraded to a Flagrant 2.
By wire sources