Withstanding one of Paul George's worst performances this season, the Indiana Pacers saw other players pick up the slack in a 118-113 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. David West and George Hill were simply amazing throughout this one, with the latter being especially clutch.
Trail Blazers vs. Pacers final score: George Hill powers 118-113 overtime win
This time, George Hill and David West led Indiana to a big victory against an elite opponent.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Hill's last-second three, which came after a George miss and Roy Hibbert rebound, was the shot that forced overtime:
Hill finished with a career-high 37 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in 38 minutes of action. He was 12-of-19 from the field and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe, helping lead the Pacers back after looking sluggish to start the game. West added 30 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Showing some inconsistency over the past couple weeks after a red hot start to the season, Portland looked on point early Friday. The team led 6-0 to start the game, didn’t allow Indiana’s first basket for nearly three minutes and eventually took a 28-16 lead into the second quarter.
The Pacers responded on their home floor, cutting the deficit to five by halftime before eventually taking a lead midway through the third quarter. However, the lead was just one point, and the Blazers responded by stretching their lead back out before Indiana made its final run late in regulation.
Damian Lillard was fantastic all night for Portland, leading all scorers with 38 points on 15-of-26 shooting in addition to handing out 11 assists. His big guys, LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez, stepped up with a combined 39 points and 23 rebounds, while Wesley Matthews scored all 19 of his points after halftime.
Portland's starting wings struggled for most of the game, Nicolas Batum in particular. The French forward simply never got going, finishing with four points on 1-of-8 shooting and the same number of turnovers as assists.
Meanwhile, George has ordinarily been Indiana’s best player, but he was an abysmal 5-of-23 from the floor Friday en route to 17 points. It wasn’t his worst shooting game of the season -- he shot 2-of-14 and scored eight points on Jan. 10 against Washington -- but George also had 14 rebounds, six assists and just one turnover in a 27-point win that night.
On Friday against Portland, George had just seven assists and six rebounds while committing three turnovers. All things considered, this might’ve been his worst game of the 2013-14 season thus far.
All of it makes the win that much more impressive for Indiana, which is now 39-10 this season.
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