Game Rewind: Pacers 123, Hawks 132

Coming off a pair of road losses, the Pacers hoped a trip back home would bring good fortunes.

Unfortunately, a red-hot Atlanta Hawks (38-37) offense had other plans. Despite the shorthanded Pacers putting up a fight, the visitors shot 54.7 percent from the field and dropped 17 threes to dispatch the shorthanded Pacers, 132-123 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

"We're in a tough spot with personnel," Rick Carlisle said. "But we have to do our best. And we didn't do our best tonight."

Playing an eight-man rotation, six Pacers (25-51) finished in double figures. The former Kings duo of Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton tallied 26 and 25 points, respectively. Haliburton also added 13 assists. Keifer Sykes also had a solid night, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-6 from deep. Goga Bitadze recorded 14 points and five boards, while Lance Stephenson finished with a bench-high 13 points.

The squads remained in tight quarters over the opening minutes. Hield provided all the offense for Indiana, scoring the first eight Pacers points. However, tied at eight apiece with 9:01 left, the visitors rattled off seven unanswered in 60 seconds, forcing the Blue & Gold to call a timeout.

Although the Hawks stayed hot from deep, Indiana chewed into the lead. Trailing 21-13, the squad mounted a 7-0 spree to cut the deficit to one with 5:38 left. A few moments later, the Blue & Gold answered another three with a beautiful bucket. Justin Anderson hurled a three-quarter court pass to an open Terry Taylor to make it a 26-24 ballgame with 3:57 remaining.

But the Hawks' offense remained scorching. Young drilled the visitors’ 10th trey of the frame with 1:14 remaining. The Pacers fell into a 44-30 hole after the first quarter.

Atlanta soon stretched the advantage to 18 points as Indiana struggled to slow its offense. At the 9:23 mark, Bogdan Bogdanovic nailed the visitors' 11th triple. Yet, the Blue & Gold were determined to hang around. Trailing 56-39, Tyrese Haliburton dropped in back-to-back pull-up triples to trim the deficit to 11 with 7:26 left.

The Blue & Gold trimmed the gap to 11 two more times over the next few minutes. Yet, Atlanta appeared to have the answers. Finally, the squad cut the margin to single digits as Keifer Sykes drilled his second triple at the 2:11 mark.

But the Hawks' buckets still rained in too easily. After Sykes’ trey, Atlanta reeled off a 6-1 run — all from the paint — to increase their lead to 74-60 with 38.8 seconds remaining. The Pacers managed to cut the gap to 74-63 before halftime.

Indiana countered a Delon Wright trey with seven unanswered to start the third. Hield, Anderson, and Bitadze earned buckets as the Pacers cut the gap to 77-70. However, the Hawks soon found their footing and managed to keep the Pacers from coming closer. Wright’s floater with 7:16 to play pushed Atlanta’s edge to 87-77 and prompted an Indiana timeout.

Although Atlanta stayed hot, Indiana remained in rhythm. Sykes and Hield each hit their fourth three of the contest to keep Indiana hanging around. At the 3:59 mark, Jalen Smith joined the action, draining his first trey to make it a 94-86 ballgame. He added a jumper less than a minute later to cut the gap to six. The spree forced a Hawks timeout with 3:08 left.

Unfortunately, that would be as close as they got in the frame. Atlanta closed the stanza with an 8-2 run — five from Bogdanovic — to take a 102-90 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Hawks opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 spurt to stretch the gap to 17. But, Stephenson kept the Pacers within striking distance by answering with four straight. Atlanta led 109-96 with 9:31 left.

As the midway mark approached, Indiana stayed in stride. Despite Atlanta scoring at will, the Pacers matched them. On three separate occasions, the Blue & Gold kept the Hawks’ advantage to 13. Hield and Taylor each did it with triples, while Bitadze added a bucket in the paint to do it again. The squad’s tenacity forced the Hawks to call a timeout with 6:24 left. Indiana trailed 119-106.

With 5:29 remaining, the Blue & Gold finally broke that barrier on a pair of Stephenson free throws. Bitadze then added a spinning layup to cut the deficit to 121-112.

But, as time ticked away, so did the Pacers' comeback hopes. While the offense clicked, the defense struggled to stop Atlanta’s offense. With 3:08 left, Kevin Huerter provided the Hawks with their 17th 3-pointer. The bucket stretched their advantage to 129-116.

Down the stretch, Haliburton gave the Pacers one final chance. The 22-year-old tallied five points to cut the gap to 130-121 with 1:07 remaining. But, it turned out to be too little, too late.

Both teams finished with 32 assists. Trae Young tallied a season-high 16 dishes for Atlanta.

Atlanta outscored Indiana in the paint, 50-36.

The Hawks outrebounded the Pacers, 40-28, including 13-8 on the offensive glass.

"I thought the balance was good. 19 shots is a lot of shots. But when your best players are taking them, and they’re good looks, that's what you want. He's going to get assists. His vision is so good. He has a sense for delivering the ball in rhythm and on time." –Carlisle on Haliburton's play

"I'm just collecting and being more calm with myself. (I'm) trusting my work and trusting what got me here. I just work with the coaching staff every day and watch film to see how I can be effective. I'm taking good shots now." –Hield on his increased performance since coming to Indiana

With his five threes, Buddy Hield moved into 50th place in career 3-point field goals made. He passed two-time NBA champion Brent Barry.

The Pacers welcome Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday, March 30 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »