Candace Buckner

candace.buckner@indystar.com

Pacers at Spurs%2C 8%3A30 p.m. Wednesday%2C FSI

DALLAS – Go ahead, and call them the B-team, and the Indiana Pacers will stand up against your more talented stars and show them a thing or two about playing hard.

Call them undermanned, and the Pacers will remix their rotation, using what they have remaining in storage and still find a way to compete.

Call them scrappy, and the Pacers will succeed in that underdog role. Though these identities may suit a junior varsity team more than prideful professionals, the 2014-15 Pacers have embraced each one through a season that has thrown obstacles in their way. Though Indiana still can't shake the injury bug – on Monday, it was starting center Roy Hibbert's turn to wear a blazer on the bench while recovering from a sprained left ankle – the healthy remnant slugged back and showed the latest example of their resiliency.

The Pacers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 111-100 in front of a sold-out and stunned American Airlines Center and won their third straight road game against a quality opponent (also, Miami and Chicago).

"I'm really proud of them," coach Frank Vogel said. "I thought we scrapped and clawed and showed a toughness out there, but what I'm most impressed with our guys tonight is our offensive confidence."

In his homecoming, Dallas native Donald Sloan led all scorers with 29 points and drilled the gutsy 3-pointer with 3:17 remaining in the game to pull the Pacers ahead by 10 points. Also, Luis Scola made Dirk Nowitzki play defense in the power forward matchup and produced 14 points and 11 rebounds. In place of Hibbert, Ian Mahinmi thoroughly outplayed his former teammate on the Mavericks' 2011 NBA title team, Tyson Chandler, by contributing 10 points, seven rebounds and one block. Also, Rodney Stuckey and Solomon Hill filled out the balanced scoring from the starters by splitting 24 points.

Before the game, Vogel preached a special word and his players committed it to memory.To think, these players would be not be starting – and some likely not in the rotation – had the Pacers avoided this unceasing wave of injuries. No Hibbert, David West, George Hill and, of course, Paul George and the Pacers are currently without all five starters from last year's Eastern Conference finalist team. And yet, they are now 6-8 and only growing in poise.

"Scrap!" CJ Miles said, as his locker mate Chris Copeland jubilantly echoed the word of the night. "Just being scrappy, playing hard, just believing in each other.

"We don't think we're undermanned."

They think they can compete, and now the Pacers know they can. So, they'll gladly take on the cape of the scrappy underdogs.

"People are afraid of dogs," Miles warned.

Next to him, Copeland began to bark and howl.

Though Dallas entered the game with the best offense in the NBA and the No. 5 position in the tough Western Conference, Indiana looked like the offensive juggernaut in eclipsing the 100-point mark for only the second time this season.

"It's definitely big for us, man," said Copeland, who came off the bench to help give the Pacers a spread offensive look. With Hibbert out, the Pacers relied on their jump shooters and they came through; Copeland knocked down three of the team's 13 3-pointers.

"As long as we keep winning. We want to beat everybody but it's good to come in and beat a team that that's good," Copeland summed up.

Every 'good' win for the Pacers is another team's moment of shame. Or as Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons described the outcome: "Just a bad loss…There's no way around it, it's an embarrassing loss."

Future Hall of Famer Nowitzki didn't mince his feelings.

"I don't even know the words," Nowitzki told a group of reporters after his team allowed the Pacers, the 28th ranked offense in the NBA, to 111 points. "A horrible loss. Horrific. Awful. I can't find any more words."

While the Mavericks mourned, on the other side of the arena, the visitors filled their stomachs with catered barbecue as music thumped from the corner of the room. Sloan waited a while to appear from the shower, as the largest media crowd gathered in front of his locker as if he was an All-Star and not the third point guard on the roster.

"Surprisingly every game it's a different guy," said Sloan, who made 10 of 14 shots, three 3-pointers and added five assists against only one turnover. "It just so happen to be in Dallas (and) my turn."

From the outset, Sloan made his first six jump shots through the first quarter and carried the load with 13 points. Even through the first half as Vogel worked in substitutes to fill out the 10-man rotation, the Pacers continued to play at a high offensive rate. Indiana shot lights out from the left corner as Copeland and Stuckey combined to make three 3-pointers and Damjan Rudež knocked down a long two. Overall, the Pacers completed 4-of-11 shots from the 3-point arc through the half and held the 55-50 lead at the break.

Then, Indiana backed up its highest scoring first half by dropping another 30 points in the third quarter. Vogel tightened the rotation through the third, depending heavily on his starters who matched Dallas' stable of players. In the quarter, Mahinmi connected on four of five shots and dropped in a six-foot hook shot over Chandler at the 3:15 mark, a moment that exemplified how he was getting the best of Chandler.

The bubble still did not burst into the fourth, as the Pacers outworked and outshot the Mavericks. The Pacers had already made three 3-pointers within the opening three minutes when Lavoy Allen pulled down an offensive rebound that led to a half court reset. With the second opportunity, Rudež nailed the wing 3-pointer to pull the Pacers ahead 98-86 with 8:27 remaining in the game. At that point, Rudež matched his career-high 11 points and the Pacers seemed to be in control with a 12-point lead.

Indiana would need the cushion because the offense hit a dry spell – for nearly five minutes, the five Pacers on the court could not find the bottom of the net. Only Hill's free throws at the 3:54 mark broke the scoreless streak and at that time, the Mavericks had crept closer to make it a five-point game. However, when Sloan knocked down his final 3-pointer, the Pacers opened the 103-93 lead and once again, showed that they may be undermanned but never overmatched.

"Obviously, we're missing key pieces to our organization and guys who will make us that much better," Miles said, "but we believe that we have enough talent, if we play the right way, to beat people. We've proven it. That's pretty much what it is."

Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.

PACERS 111, MAVERICKS 100

FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS SHill 32:59 4-8 4-4 2-6 3 3 12 Scola 33:36 4-11 5-6 2-11 2 4 14 Mahinmi 27:35 5-7 0-6 0-7 0 2 10 Sloan 38:16 10-14 6-9 0-2 5 1 29 Stuckey 31:38 2-9 6-6 0-3 5 4 12 Copeland 13:51 4-10 0-0 0-1 0 4 11 Miles 17:26 2-7 1-2 0-2 2 0 6 Rudez 14:54 4-5 1-1 0-0 1 1 11 Allen 20:02 1-2 1-2 3-10 1 1 3 Price 9:44 1-4 0-0 1-2 1 1 3 Totals 240:01 37-77 24-36 8-44 20 21 111

Percentages: FG .481, FT .667.

3-Point Goals: 13-26, .500 (Copeland 3-4, Sloan 3-5, Rudez 2-3, Stuckey 2-3, Miles 1-3, Price 1-3, Scola 1-3, S.Hill 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 14. Team Turnovers: 16 (20 PTS).

Blocked Shots: 4 (Allen, Mahinmi, Miles, Scola).

Turnovers: 12 (Mahinmi 3, S.Hill 2, Scola 2, Allen, Price, Rudez, Sloan, Stuckey).

Steals: 6 (Scola 2, S.Hill, Miles, Sloan, Stuckey).

Technical Fouls: Coach Vogel, 6:27 fourth.

FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Parsons 35:18 6-13 1-2 0-3 1 6 16 Nowitzki 33:24 9-17 2-2 1-11 1 1 22 Chandler 30:54 2-3 2-4 4-9 1 4 6 Nelson 29:19 4-11 0-0 0-3 5 4 10 Ellis 37:21 9-19 5-8 0-3 6 3 24 Aminu 13:52 1-1 1-1 0-3 0 1 3 Wright 24:43 6-6 1-2 1-4 0 1 13 Harris 18:41 1-5 0-0 0-0 3 4 2 Barea 10:39 2-5 0-2 0-1 4 2 4 Crowder 4:52 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Villanueva 0:57 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240:00 40-80 12-21 6-37 21 28 100

Percentages: FG .500, FT .571.

3-Point Goals: 8-24, .333 (Parsons 3-6, Nowitzki 2-4, Nelson 2-8, Ellis 1-5, Harris 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 12 (16 PTS).

Blocked Shots: 6 (Wright 2, Aminu, Chandler, Nowitzki, Parsons).

Turnovers: 12 (Ellis 5, Crowder 2, Wright 2, Harris, Nowitzki, Parsons).

Steals: 6 (Ellis 2, Parsons 2, Aminu, Nelson).

Technical Fouls: Coach Carlisle, 9:43 fourth.

Indiana 25 30 30 26 — 111 Dallas 24 26 28 22 — 100

A—19,850 (19,200). T—2:18.

Officials—Zach Zarba, Mark Lindsay, Marat Kogut.