Paul George and Roy Hibbert combined for 43 second-half points as the Indiana Pacers put the Washington Wizards on the brink of elimination with a 95-92 win on Sunday.
The Wizards led by 19 points in the third quarter and appeared to be en route to leveling the best-of-seven NBA playoff series when the wheels fell off in the second half.
George tallied 28 second-half points for the Pacers, who lead the Eastern Conference series 3-1.
Photo: USA Today
“I was just in a rhythm and it carried out through the whole game,” said George, who finished with 39 points and 12 rebounds. “I was able to knock some shots down.”
George Hill scored 15 and David West scored 14 points for the Pacers in the Mother’s Day contest in front of a crowd of 20,356 at the Verizon Center in the US capital.
“It is about us executing offensively because we have complete and absolute trust in our defense,” West said.
Hibbert appears to have discovered his form after struggling early in the post-season.
“He found himself,” George said of Hibbert. “He has been winning games because he has been playing at a high level.”
Hibbert finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, and made a huge hook shot with 1 minute, 2 seconds left in the fourth to give the Pacers a 94-91 lead.
After a series of empty possessions, the Wizards’ Bradley Beal and the Pacers’ Hill each made one of two shots from the free-throw line. Hill’s miss with six seconds remaining gave the Wizards one chance to force overtime, but Washington failed to get a shot off as Trevor Ariza botched an inbounds pass.
Beal helped pace the Wizard’s attack with 20 points. Ariza had 16 in the loss.
The team made half of their field-goal attempts through the first three quarters, but they shot just 29 percent from the floor in the final quarter.
“I’m not blaming any of this on any youth or inexperience, or who has been in the playoffs and who hasn’t,” Wizards head coach Randy Wittman said. “That’s just an excuse.”
Game 5 is schedule for today in Indianapolis.
George said Game 5 is going to be the toughest of the series.
“We can’t expect it to be easy. We know it is going to be a crazy environment,” he said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but