NBA WATCH

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Pacers’ defence sees them rise above the Heat

For the past three seasons, the Indiana Pacers figured their toughness, defence and rebounding would be enough to ultimately knock off the Miami Heat. These are not those same Pacers. The formula still worked wonders.

Chris Copeland scored 17 points and put Indiana ahead to stay on a lay-up with 43 seconds left, Roy Hibbert added 16 points and 15 rebounds, and the undermanned Pacers beat the Heat 81-75 on Wednesday.

Indiana — which saw each of its past three seasons end with play-off losses to Miami — held the Heat to 17 points or less in each of the final three quarters, and also outrebounded Miami 53-28. The Heat even struggled when the Pacers struggled on defence; Miami missed 10 of its 18 free throws.

Donald Sloan added 15 points for Indiana, which has won two straight after a 1-6 start.

“You have to figure out a way to pull a few of these games out throughout the year,” said Miami’s Dwyane Wade, who scored a game-high 20 points. “We didn’t do that tonight, but hopefully next time we’re in this situation we learn from tonight and we figure out a way.”

Indiana was missing six players, including four-fifths of its starting line-up from the previous Pacers-Heat meeting — that being Game 6 of last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Paul George, David West and George Hill are all hurt, meaning Hibbert was the lone returning first-stringer from that rivalry.

“I’m thinking about not starting a losing streak again,” Hibbert said. “We dropped six straight, we won the last game, and I’m not thinking about a rivalry. I’m just thinking about getting wins.” AP

OTHER RESULTS:

Washington* 107 Detroit 103, Atlanta* 100 Utah 97, Oklahoma City 109 Boston* 94, Orlando 97 New York* 95, New Orleans* 109 LA Lakers 102, Portland 130 Denver* 113, Phoenix* 112 Brooklyn 104

(*Home team)

STAT OF THE NIGHT

1,000 assists — Indiana’s Luis Scola (picture, left) reached the milestone in Wednesday’s win over Miami. But he is a long way from catching retired Utah point-guard John Stockton’s all-time record of 15,806.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

“Only basketball, baseball and soccer are allowed in my house.” — Miami’s LeBron James, speaking on ESPN.com, on not letting his sons LeBron Jr and Bryce Maximus play American football because of perceived health dangers associated with the sport. James was a wide-receiver at St Vincent-St Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, but stopped after sustaining a broken wrist.

TODAY’S GAMES

Sacramento v Memphis (StarHub TV Ch 216, 9am), Chicago v Toronto (StarHub TV Ch 202, 9am), Philadelphia v Dallas, Brooklyn v Golden State. Sacramento v Memphis (StarHub TV Ch 216, 9am), Chicago v Toronto (StarHub TV Ch 202, 9am), Philadelphia v Dallas, Brooklyn v Golden State.