INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers changed lineups, moved the ball and forced turnovers. ADVERTISING INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers changed lineups, moved the ball and forced turnovers. By doing all that differently, they looked like a different team. George Hill
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers changed lineups, moved the ball and forced turnovers.
By doing all that differently, they looked like a different team.
George Hill and Ian Mahinmi each scored 22 points, Paul George added 19 and the Pacers bounced back from an embarrassing home loss two days earlier to rout the Toronto Raptors 100-83 on Saturday and even the first-round playoff series at 2-2.
“This is how I wanted us to respond to the Game 3 loss,” George said. “I thought we were very attentive and focused on evening this series up.”
The turnaround from 48 hours earlier was remarkable.
Indiana found the passion and energy it was missing Thursday, defended aggressively and won the rebounding battle for the first time in the best-of-seven series.
Hill missed only two shots, both 3-pointers. Mahinmi had a career-high scoring total, while his 10 rebounds and five assists were both playoff career bests.
The Pacers forced as many turnovers in the first 20 minutes as they had in all of Game 3, and they made five of their first seven 3s — more than enough to help pull away on a night that a large, loud Raptors crowd infiltrated the Pacers’ home arena.
Now, Indiana will head back to Toronto seeking a similar performance in Game 5 on Tuesday.
HORNETS 96, HEAT 80
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jeremy Lin scored 18 points, Kemba Walker had 17 and Charlotte beat Miami to snap a 12-game playoff losing streak and earn its first postseason victory in 14 years.
Rookie Frank Kaminsky, who got the starting nod, scored eight of his 15 points during an 18-0 run in the third quarter that broke open a 53-all game.
The Heat lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Monday night.
Marvin Williams, a non-factor in the first two games, had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets.
Luol Deng scored 19 points on five 3-pointers, and Dwyane Wade added 17 for Miami. Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 18 rebounds but battled foul trouble.
Miami, which shot 58 percent from the field in the first two games, was limited to 34 percent shooting.
THUNDER 119, MAVERICKS 108
DALLAS — Russell Westbrook had 25 points and 15 assists, and Oklahoma City beat Dallas to take a commanding 3-1 lead in a testy first-round series that got quite a bit testier.
Enes Kanter had his second straight playoff career high with 28 points on 12-of-13 shooting for the Thunder, who never trailed in two games in Dallas after the Mavericks evened the series with a one-point win in Oklahoma City following a 38-point loss in the opener.
Kevin Durant scored 19 points before he was ejected in the final minute for a flagrant foul on Dallas’ Justin Anderson. It was the last of several tense moments, and Dallas team security had to make sure Durant didn’t leave the court in front of the Mavericks bench.
Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points and eight rebounds for the Mavericks, who haven’t won a playoff series since winning the 2011 NBA title.
TRAIL BLAZERS 96, CLIPPERS 88
PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard scored 32 points and Portland found its offense at home, beating Los Angeles to pull within 2-1 in the Western Conference first-round series.
Newly crowned Most Improved Player CJ McCollum added 27 points for Portland, which snapped a five-game losing streak to the Clippers going back to the regular season.
Mason Plumlee had six points, 21 rebounds and nine assists for Portland, which hosts Game 4 on Monday night.
Lillard had made only 13 of 39 from the floor, and just 3 of 14 from 3-point range in the first two games combined. But he found his shot on Saturday, hitting 10 of 20 from the field with three 3-pointers.
Chris Paul finished with 26 points for the Clippers, who had held the Blazers to an average of just 88 points in the first two games — down from an average of 105.1 in the regular season.
