INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Pacers notched its first win in 2022 with a 125-113 stunner over Utah Jazz in the 2021-2022 NBA Season on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) at the Gainbridge FieldHouse in Indianapolis.
Domantas Sabonis fired career-high 42 points to go with six assists and three rebounds as the Pacers snapped its six-game slide to improve to 15-25 win-loss slate.
Lance Stephenson added double-double 16 points and career-high 14 assists while rookie Duane Washington Jr. and Justin Holiday contributed 16 and 15 markers, respectively, for the Pacers.
After seeing their double-digit lead trimmed to 91-93, the Pacers rode on the exploits of Washington, Jeremy Lamb, Sabonis and Holiday to build a 109-97 edge.
The Jazz threatened to within 107-113 after a triple by Bojan Bogdanovic but inside conversions from Sabonis and free throws by Keifer Sykes, Washington and Holiday secured the win for the Pacers.
Donovan Mitchell top-scored with 36 points, while Bogdanovic and Filipino-American guard Jordan Clarkson added 21 and 18 points, respectively, as the Jazz slumped to 28-12 slate.
Charlotte Hornets (21-19) survived a late rally by defending champions Milwaukee Bucks (26-16) for a 114-106 victory at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Comfortably ahead by 14 points with five minutes left, the Bucks went on a huge rally behind Giannis
Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton to cut the deficit to four with 47.5 seconds left.
But Terry Rozier buried a left wing three-pointer to widen the lead to seven for the Hornets before Miles Bridges secured the win with a layup with 10 seconds in the match.
Rozier finished the match with 28 points, including six outside baskets, Bridges added 21 markers while LaMelo Ball and Kelly Oubre Jr. ended with 19 and 18 for the Hornets./PN
BOX SCORE:
INDIANA 125 — Sabonis 42, Stephenson 16, Washington 16, J. Holiday 15, Duarte 9, Turner 8, Sykes 7, Brissett 7, Lamb 5.
UTAH 113 — Mitchell 36, Bogdanovic 21, Clarkson 18, Conley 9, Whiteside 8, O’Neale 8, Gay 7, Pelle 4, Paschall 2, House 0.
Quarterscores: 33-27, 61-52, 90-86, 125-113.
