C.J. Miles, Roy Hibbert lead Indiana Pacers to win at Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE –- In the absence of their two top point guards, the Indiana Pacers still had enough in storage on Friday night.

The Pacers outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks for a 94-91 win inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center as C.J. Miles controlled the perimeter and Roy Hibbert dominated the paint.

Miles scored 22 points, primarily from his deft shooting touch and made all eight of his field goals from 10 feet or deeper. Hibbert used his 7-2 size, which the lengthy yet smaller Bucks could not match, and got good position which forced Milwaukee into fouling. Hibbert was perfect at the free-throw line (6-for-6) and finished with 18points.

Though the Pacers played without starting point guard George Hill (strained left groin) and backup C.J. Watson (sore left foot), and committed a few ball handling mistakes down the stretch, they defeated their second straight Eastern Conference opponent ahead in the standings and improved to 13-21 for the season.

At the start, the teams combined for nine consecutive misses so any flow of offense – though limited – seemed like a welcomed flourish. By the time Miles entered the game at the 7:14 mark, relieving RodneyStuckey who had to reappear in the late in the quarter as the backup point guard, the score was 5-3 in the Bucks' favor. Then, Miles steadied the game by raising the bar with his shot making.

Miles has been a big reason behind the Pacers' bench scoring surge and on Wednesday, he scored 25 points in 34 minutes. This season, Indiana's reserves average the third most minutes in the NBA and score 40.8 points per game while Milwaukee's unit tops the league at 44.8. On Friday, as the starters began to sub out through the first quarter, the makings of a reserve cage match began to take form with Miles, again, at the center.

Miles hit his three jump shot attempts and in only seven minutes took over the scoring mantle for the game with eight points as the Pacers led 23-21 after one quarter.

The teams played even through half of the second quarter but the Bucks capitalized on the Pacers' flat passes. Over the final 5:41 of the half, Milwaukee stole three passes that directly led to six points. Through the first half, the Bucks scored eight fast break points compared to the Pacers' zero. Though Luis Scola joined Miles as a bench contributor, making 5-of-6 shots for 10 points, by halftime the Bucks had moved ahead to 53-46.

Even with this lead, Milwaukee did not have an answer for Hibbert. Through the third quarter, realizing that 7-2 is actually pretty hard to stop, the Bucks elected to send a second defender, and once even flashed a triple team, to the post for Hibbert, who scored six in the frame. At one point, Hibbert had contributed 16 of the starters 31 points yet somehow, the Pacers still kept up.

David West scored on a hook on deep position and near the end of the quarter, helped give the Pacers' a three-point lead by frustrating Jared Dudley so much during a possession in which Stuckey scored. Dudley complained loudly to referee Pat Fraher and received a technical foul.

By the fourth, the Pacers didn't need extra help in putting points on the scoreboard. Indiana started the quarter by making six of its first eight shot attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers from Miles. On his 26-foot pull-up shot, the Pacers pulled ahead to 81-76 with 7:16 remaining to match their largest lead of the game then pushed the lead to seven and maintained the distance for pick up the first win of their four-game trip.

Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.