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Pacers edge Lakers on Hill's late drive

Nov 28, 2012 - 7:18 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - George Hill's go-ahead layup with 0.1 seconds left lifted the Indiana Pacers to a 79-77 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

With 24.5 left on the clock, Hill calmly and cooly took the time down to four seconds before he made his move. Hill drove past Metta World Peace and Pau Gasol before his high-arching underhanded scoop shot over the outstretched arms of Gasol and Dwight Howard and kissed high off the glass and through the net.

"I worked on that shot so much and it paid off today," Hill said. "I wanted to catch them off guard. I wanted to put it high enough so they couldn't touch it. It's something you dream about to win a basketball game."

Following a Lakers timeout, World Peace lobbed his inbounds pass to the rim, but no Los Angeles player was in the vicinity.

Kobe Bryant, who finished with 40 points, tied the contest at 77-77 prior to Hill's layup after he rose over two Pacers and nailed a pull-up, right-wing 3- pointer.

Hill tallied 19 points for the Pacers, who have won three of their last four games. David West had 16 points, 10 boards and eight assists in the win.

Dwight Howard netted 17 points, but was just 3-of-12 from the foul line for Los Angeles, which is 2-3 under new head coach Mike D'Antoni.

The Lakers committed 21 turnovers, were 53.5 percent (23-of-43) from the foul line and shot just 31.6 percent (24-of-76) from the floor.

"It's hard to win a game when you miss 20 foul shots," D'Antoni said. "Offensively that was tough. There's no way you can play that bad and win. It was just bad shooting."

An 8-0 surge by the home team knotted the game at 74-74 before West sunk 1- of-2 from the line to give the Pacers the advantage right back with 1:15 to play.

Los Angeles then proceeded to miss four consecutive free throws on its ensuing trip down the floor.

After Howard missed a pair, an over-the-back foul on Ian Mahinmi put World Peace on the charity stripe, but he too misfired on both attempts.

Hill's floater at the other end gave Indiana a three-point cushion prior to Bryant's tying bucket.

Earlier, Indiana led, 25-21 after a quarter of play and 40-33 at halftime.

The Pacers took a 61-57 edge into the final frame.

Game Notes

Bryant's 40-point game was the 114th of his career, which ranks third in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan ... Indiana was 36.7 percent (29-of-79) from the floor ... Bryant had 10 turnovers and 10 boards.