Hill's layup beats Wizards, ends Pacers' victory drought

WASHINGTON – Back when the Indiana Pacers glided to their season-best winning streak, they faced several rivals who were missing their star players. The list of absent or injured standouts could have made an All-Star team, but the Pacers took advantage and recorded seven straight wins.

By Wednesday night, with the Pacers mired in a streak moving rapidly in the wrong direction, Washington Wizards point guard John Wall served as a reminder to the strength of star power. However, the Pacers, unfazed by the wattage of Wall's stardom, showed team balance as well as their own version of Capitol Hill.

Indiana defeated Washington 103-101 after George Hill, in high pick-and-roll action with David West, zipped to the rim for the game-winning finger roll with only two seconds remaining.

While Wall played scored 34 points – including 27 through the second half and the game-tying 3-pointer with 11.2 seconds remaining – six Pacers contributed double figures as Hill performed just as superbly as his All-Star point guard counterpart.

Hill finished with 29 points (12-of-24) to go along with nine assists and seven rebounds while outlasting everyone on the court in 42 minutes, 39 seconds of action. Hill scored 12 through the final 4½ minutes of the fourth quarter as the Pacers climbed back from a double-digit deficit and snapped a six-game losing streak.

"We stuck with it," Hill said. "We fought hard through everything that went on, missing shots, calls not going on our way at that time, things like that. We started making a couple shots. We started getting some stops on the defensive end and turned the game around and guys built off of that."

Through six straight disappointments – and by the 7:41 mark of the fourth quarter when the Wizards led 88-78, a seventh seemed to be destined – the Pacers have fallen out of the playoff picture. However, just one win and the hope flickers faintly once again.

The Pacers (31-40) share the same record as the Boston Celtics, currently occupying the final playoff position. While Boston owns the tiebreaker – the March 14 loss to the Celtics kicked off this recent dry spell – the Pacers have positioned themselves once again for a potential playoff spot in spite of suffering through four losing streaks that extended through six games or more.

"We've already been in this situation this season losing several games in a row," said Damjan Rudež, who scored 11 points and knocked down three 3-pointers in his bench role. "We only need one to turn things around. All of us are looking at this period of the season as just the last hurdle we have to cross in order to get to the playoffs and achieve our goals. Nothing has been easy for us, literally nothing from day one. Everything's been so, so hard and hopefully that's what is going to make it more enjoyable in the end when we get our final result in the playoff."

The final 11 games of the regular season can be more enjoyable if the Pacers have more second halves like Wednesday.

Through the opening 24 minutes of play, the Pacers and Wizards combined to miss 50 shot attempts. The low scoring first half, as Washington led 44-42, must have been appreciated by global superstar Lionel Messi and his Argentinian national soccer teammates. The group watched from the Verizon Center suites, but maybe the game needed a little Messi, who's known for his soccer mastery, on the hardwood. The teams combined to miss 50 shots as only one player, Hill, had surpassed nine points.

Then by the third quarter, the scoring pace picked up as the Pacers took a slight lead. At the 3:40 mark, Wall's corner 3-pointer snapped Washington out of the funk and for rest of the third, the Wizards made a push to lead 76-70.

Whether he was blazing down the court for a layup or pulling up for the mid-range jumper, Wall over took by scoring 12 of his team's 14 points in the opening of the fourth quarter. After the game, West shook his head and disapproved of Wall's clean looks. The Pacers allowed 36 points on the break, a point of contention from coach Frank Vogel after the game. However, the Pacers responded with an effort that outweighed Wall's solo act.

"We stayed in the fight even when we were down 10," West said.

When Hill stole a Martell Webster pass and scored the layup with about 3 minutes to go, Indiana trailed only 94-93. Then, after the Wizards called a timeout, C.J. Miles picked off a pass and Lavoy Allen found Hill open under the rim for the layup and 95-94 lead.

West, who produced a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, hit a runner within the final minute to build the cushion to 99-96, then on the Pacers' final possession, his pairing with Hill created the winning play. With Hill dribbling the ball beyond the arc, West turned upwards to set the high pick-and-roll. However, West slipped the screen and as Nene stuck with him to defend a potential pass back, Hill attacked the wide-open lane.

"He made his mind up early and you could see it develop so fast," said Miles, who scored 16 and also nailed a trio of 3s. "I was standing in the corner… it kinda shocked me that he got there so fast, he was so open."

Hill now has two game-winning layups, and the other (Feb. 8 at Charlotte) catapulted the Pacers to a stretch in which they won 13 of 15 games. This latest moment needs to set off similar momentum, because the Pacers can use a star right now.

"I felt like I put us in that hole with a couple of turnovers, a couple of missed shots, easy layups that I should've hit," Hill said, speaking of Wednesday night. "I felt that I put us in that situation. Only thing I could think about was how can I try to help us get out of that situation and that was just stay aggressive. It worked itself out."

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