Pelicans 84 - 96 Pacers
Final
  for this game

Pacers down Pelicans in Hill's return

Dec 24, 2014 - 4:22 AM Indianapolis, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - George Hill was in the Indiana lineup for the first time all season and helped the Pacers to a 96-84 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.

Hill, who missed Indiana's first 28 games due to a right knee contusion sustained in the preseason, scored a team-high 15 points off the bench in 21 minutes of action.

"He looked great out there," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Hill. "He just played a great game on both ends."

Roy Hibbert supplied 14 points, while Solomon Hill and David West each posted 13 points in the win, the Pacers' second straight.

Anthony Davis led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting to go along with nine rebounds. Jrue Holiday scored 16 points with five rebounds and five assists, while Tyreke Evans netted 14 points with 11 rebounds for the Pelicans.

"They were a lot more physical than we were all night long," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. "We waited too late to try and turn it on."

After a tightly contested first half that featured eight ties and three lead changes, Indiana gained some cushion in the third quarter.

An Evans jumper cut the Pelicans' deficit to one before Hill's 3- pointer that started a 13-2 spurt. West and C.J. Watson each scored four points during the run that gave the Pacers a 65-53 lead with under five minutes left in the frame.

Indiana led 70-61 entering the fourth quarter.

Hill then showed why he was such a missing piece to a Pacers team that has struggled mightily over the first couple of months, knocking down a pair of treys in the fourth to help maintain a 12-point advantage.

Holiday's layup later in the frame cut the deficit to five, 87-82, but Watson and Hibbert answered with baskets to keep the Pacers out in front with over two minutes to go.

The Pelicans led 26-24 after a quarter of play, and the Pacers took a 44-40 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Game Notes

C.J. Miles and Watson went for 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the win ... Indiana scored 18 points off turnovers ... The Pacers shot 50 percent from the floor and limited the opposition to 39.8 percent shooting ... New Orleans held a 46-38 rebounding edge.






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