Indiana Pacers end skid, hold on to beat Atlanta Hawks

Caris LeVert scored nine of his 31 points in the final three minutes to help the Indiana Pacers hold off the visiting Atlanta Hawks 133-126 on Thursday in Indianapolis.

The Pacers saw an 18-point second-half lead disappear when the Hawks got to within 122-121 on a basket by Clint Capela with 3:06 remaining. But LeVert responded with a basket and added a three-point play with 1:08 to push the lead back to six points.

Indiana snapped a two-game losing streak and slowed a fall that had seen it drop four of the last five games. The win helped ease the tension that came to a head on Wednesday when assistant coach Greg Foster and Goga Bitadze had a heated exchange on the court, an incident that caused the team to suspend Foster for a game and hit Bitadze with an undisclosed fine.

Indiana (31-35) also got 30 points, eight rebounds and nine assists from Domantas Sabonis and 19 points from reserve T.J. McConnell.

Atlanta (37-31) was led by Trae Young with 30 points and 10 assists, Bogdan Bogdanovic with 28, including six 3-pointers, and John Collins with 25 points.

The Pacers shot 61.2 percent from the floor in the first half, when they rolled up a 72-58 lead, and finished at 62.1 percent for the game. Indiana grew the lead to 18 points when a Sabonis basket made it 76-58 with 11:03 remaining before the Hawks began their comeback.

Atlanta, with Young scoring 17 in the third quarter, twice cut the lead to six points before the Pacers regained control and took a 110-96 lead into the final quarter. The Hawks twice got to within a point, but never took the lead.

Indiana won two of the three games against Atlanta this season and has won 13 of the last 16 meetings.

The Pacers complete their three-game homestand on Saturday against Washington. Atlanta is off until Monday, when it hosts Washington.

–Field Level Media