INDIANAPOLIS -- Myles Turner scored 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked six shots to lead the Pacers to a 140-112 win over the Jazz at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday night.
The Pacers improved to 46-31, holding on to their three-game lead on fourth place in the Eastern Conference and coming within one of last year's season win total. The Jazz fell to 16-62 with their eighth straight loss.
All-Star forward Pascal Siakam scored 22 points, guard Bennedict Mathurin had 20 in his return from left calf soreness and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton posted 17 points and 11 assists. Guard Collin Sexton led the Jazz with 27 points.
Here are three observations.
The Pacers messed around with another lottery team but got a win
Just as they did Wednesday night against Charlotte and just as they have several times this season -- with the notable exception of their 162-point performance against the Wizards in Washington -- the Pacers let a lottery-bound team hang around for most of the evening before finally putting them away.
The Pacers actually trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and never held a lead before halftime. They finished the second quarter on a 10-0 run but that just got them within two points at the break. They still didn't put the game away in the third quarter, falling behind by as many as four points in the period and only holding a lead of five. However, they scored 41 points in the period and that seemed to set their offense finally on a path to success and they won the fourth quarter 42-18 to put the game away.
The Pacers' troubles with the Jazz came in a number of areas. They struggled to keep the ball out of the paint and also gave up a number of open 3s. The Jazz used a lot of zone in the first half to make it hard for the Pacers to score at the rim and they missed a lot of the open shots that produced. The Jazz outscored the Pacers 24-22 in the paint in the first half and hit 10 of 30 3-pointers while the Pacers made just 6 of 20. Utah scored 12 second-chance points to the Pacers' five and also took advantage of the Pacers' struggles at the free throw line. Indiana was 7 of 12 at the break and was 10 of 20 at one point in the third quarter.
The Pacers eventually overpowered the Jazz, winning the points in the paint battle 40-16 in the second half and scoring 18 fast-break points to the Jazz's four after the break. But still, considering all that Utah was missing, it was a game that was closer than what it probably should have been.
Pacers' frontcourt punishes Jazz
When they needed to put their foot down in the second half, the Pacers took advantage of the Jazz where they were at their most short-handed. Utah went into the game with seven players having been already ruled out with injury or illness and six of them were forwards or centers including starting forwards Lauri Markkanen and John Collins and center Walker Kessler. They had to start rookie Kyle Filipowski at center with wing Brice Sensabaugh (6-6) and Johnny Juzang (6-7) at the forward spots
The Pacers were almost fully healthy, so they rode their established starting frontcourt and dominated the paint in the second half.
Center Myles Turner was sharp early from outside and the Pacers kept feeding him inside more and more in the second half and he finished with 26 points on 9 of 17 shooting including 3 of 7 from 3. All-Star forward Pascal Siakam was just 4 of 9 from the floor for nine points in the first half, but was much more dominant and efficient in the second half with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting.
The two combined to grab 12 rebounds and were also dominant on the rim on defense. Turner blocked six shots and Siakam blocked four as the ...
