Nate Taylor

IndyStar

Pacers at Celtics, 8 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN, FSI

Inside a darkened Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Indiana Pacers stayed on the court and tried to maintain some form of a routine.

George Hill practiced shooting from different spots. Ian Mahinmi, furious with the situation, talked to himself for motivation. Paul George mostly just waited, knowing he would not be on the court when the game resumed. Coach Frank Vogel decided to not address his team.

For 22 minutes Tuesday night, Pacers and their opponent, the beleaguered Phoenix Suns, stood and waited for electricity to return. The power outage during the second quarter, which affected much of Central Indiana, discombobulated almost everyone in some way. Several Pacers described Tuesday’s game as weird – from the unexpected delay to the overall uneven pace that the game was played in.

Fortunate for the Pacers, they showed no negative effect from the delay once enough light was restored. In fact, the Pacers played their best once the game resumed, as they handled the Suns for a 116-97 victory.

“It’s actually tough,” Mahinmi said. “It breaks your rhythm. You have to keep yourself warm and I really don’t like it. I was just trying, mentally, to talk to myself and tell myself what we did good in the first quarter. I think we responded pretty well.”

The power outage occurred with 4:32 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The Pacers, who scored the game’s first 12 points, were trailing the Suns by two.

Instead of waiting in the locker room, both teams stayed on the court. The Suns went through stretching techniques. The Pacers shot as if they were going through a second pregame warmup.

“I saw the lights go out and said, ‘What the heck?’” C.J. Miles said. “I sat down, drank some Gatorade and basically was like, ‘Let’s hurry up and get this thing going.’”

• BOX SCORE: Pacers 116, Suns 97

Before the delay, the Pacers shot just 35 percent from the floor. But after the game restarted, the Pacers (22-16) found their rhythm on offense for an 18-6 run to build a 10-point lead at halftime. The Pacers finished the game shooting an impressive 51 percent.

The game was particularly disjointed for Paul George, who spent much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble. When the third quarter started, George had not been on the court for more than 50 minutes.

“I talked to him at halftime and told him to forget about the first half,” Mahinmi said of George. “He came out in the second half with an aggressive mindset to drive to the basket. I think he responded well and that’s part of his growth as a player.”

George was able to play an efficient second half. He led the Pacers with a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds.

“It’s crazy,” George said of the power outage. “This one was weird, it being in the middle of a quarter. You got to take a rest and I had already sat down for a long time. I had to sit down even longer. We still did a good job of being ready when the lights came back on.”

Pacers hope to solve their late-game issues

Before tipoff, Tuesday’s game appeared to be one that the Pacers would have little trouble winning.

The Suns (13-27) entered Bankers Life Fieldhouse with a short-handed roster. Eric Bledsoe, their best player, was not with the team after having season-ending surgery on his right knee last week. Brandon Knight, the team’s primary point guard in Bledsoe’s absence, did not play because of an illness. Ronnie Price, the Suns’ third point guard, and Alex Len also missed the game.

That left Suns coach Jeff Hornacek with just nine available players. But the Suns were able to stay with the Pacers for much of the night – they even took a brief lead in the third quarter – because of strong performances by Markieff Morris (16 points and nine rebounds), Mirza Teletovic (19 points) and rookie Devin Booker (19 points).

The Pacers, though, were able to create a comfortable lead early in the fourth quarter with crisp ball movement that led to open shots. They built a 10-point lead midway through the quarter and beat the Suns with a balanced scoring attack that pleased Vogel.

Hill finished with 20 points. Monta Ellis scored all of his 14 points after halftime and had seven assists. C.J. Miles added 19 points off the bench in 30 minutes.

“When we’re moving the ball, pushing the ball in transition and playing for each other, I think that’s when we’re at our best,” Hill said of the Pacers’ offense. “We have a deep team with a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket.”

Oddly for the Pacers, this was the second time in eight days that they experienced a power outage inside an arena.

The start of their road game against the Miami Heat last week was delayed 26 minutes as the AmericanAirlines Arena experienced lighting problems. The lights did not turn on after the starters’ introductions, causing players to leave the darkened court for the locker room. The Pacers loss that night to the Heat in overtime.

After Tuesday’s game, many of the Pacers were grateful they won despite playing under strange circumstances.

“That was kind of crazy,” Glenn Robinson III said of the delay. “It was a weird game.”

Pacers honor Andrew Smith

Before the national anthem, the Pacers honored Andrew Smith by having a moment of silence just hours after he died. Smith, the former standout with the Butler Bulldogs from 2009-13, went through a two-year public battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia. The last Butler game Smith watched in person was Dec. 19 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, when the Bulldogs defeated Purdue.

Injury report

Rodney Stuckey left Tuesday’s game in the first quarter with a sore right foot and did not return. The Pacers listed Stuckey as day-to-day ahead of Wednesday’s road game against the Boston Celtics.

“It’s a concern,” Vogel said. “He’s battling some soreness. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”

Stuckey also missed Monday’s practice because of his foot. He first hurt his right ankle and foot in November and missed five games.

“It’s just a little tender,” Stuckey said of his foot after the team’s morning shootaround. “We’re trying to see what’s going on, but it’s just bothering me a little bit.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

Pacers at Celtics, 8 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN and Fox Sports Indiana

Ride along as we travel with the Pacers via the IndyStar Pacers XTRA app: http://bit.ly/1BR4fDs

INDIANA AT BOSTON

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Arena: TD Boston Garden

TV: ESPN, Fox Sports Indiana

Radio: WFNI-AM (1070), -FM (93.5)

Pacers (21-16)*

Projected starters

Pos;Player;PPG;Key stat

PG; George Hill; 12.4 ppg; 4.0 rpg

SG; Monta Ellis; 13.2 ppg; 5.0 apg

SF; C.J. Miles; 13.7 ppg; 38.2 3pt%

PF; Paul George; 24.2 ppg; 7.6 rpg

C; Ian Mahinmi; 8.6 ppg; 7.3 rpg

6th; Jordan Hill; 9.6 ppg; 7.4 rpg

Celtics (19-18)*

Projected starters

Pos;Player;PPG;Key stat

PG; Isaiah Thomas; 21.1 ppg; 6.8 apg

SG; Avery Bradley; 14.7 ppg; 37.6 3pt%

SF; Jae Crowder; 13.9 ppg; 5.2 rpg

PF; Amir Johnson; 8.1 ppg; 6.1 rpg

C; Kelly Olynyk; 9.4 ppg; 4.3 rpg

6th; Jared Sullinger; 9.7 ppg; 8.9 rpg

* – Records, statistics entering Tuesday

Storylines

CELTICS HAVING TROUBLE ON DEFENSE: The Celtics entered Tuesday’s game against the New York Knicks in one of their worst defensive stretches of the season. The Celtics have surrendered more than 10o points in four of their last six games before Tuesday. Seven of Boston’s last nine losses have come with the Celtics allowing their opponent to score at least 100 points.

ELLIS ASSISTING HIS TEAMMATES: Monta Ellis leads the Pacers with five assists per game and his passing has become more efficient as he continues to get more comfortable with his teammates. In the last seven games, Ellis has recorded at least five assists in six of the games. He recorded a season-high 13 assists in Sunday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. Ellis is on pace to have a career high this season in assists and assists per game.

HE SAID WHAT?!: “He’s very confident on the offensive end. When he’s in the right position defensively he’s a force. It’s just a matter of learning all the different type of action that takes time to get used to. I’m challenging him to make me keep him on the floor. If he goes out there and he’s making a play and then making a mistake, then I’ll keep his minutes where they are at. But if he goes out there and really impacts the game and minimizes the errors, then we’ll certainly increase his minutes.” – coach Frank Vogel on the possibility of relying on rookie Myles Turner more as the season progresses.

PREDICTION: The Pacers have struggled on the road against teams with a winning record. The Celtics have their own issues in terms of their rotation, but Isaiah Thomas can create plenty of problems with his speed and quickness. Celtics 99, Pacers 94.

- Nate Taylor