NBA: Domantas Sabonis scores career-high 42 as Pacers nip Jazz

Domantas Sabonis scored a career-high 42 points on 18-of-22 shooting and Lance Stephenson contributed 16 points and 14 assists off the bench to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 125-113 win over the Utah Jazz in Indianapolis on Saturday night.

Sabonis scored 18 points in the first quarter as the Pacers established an early lead en route to snapping a six-game losing streak.

Stephenson went 7 for 12 and pulled in six rebounds, and Indiana shot 55 percent overall. Duane Washington Jr. added 16 points and Justin Holiday had 15.

Utah lost for the second straight night, although this game had more of a sense of normalcy than its setback in Toronto on Friday, when eight regular players missed the game due to injuries and COVID-19.

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz in this one with 36 points on 13-for-27 shooting and chipped in nine assists after missing Friday's game with a back injury. Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson, both of whom sat out Friday, finished with 21 and 18, respectively.

The Jazz were without Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles, both of whom are in the NBA's health and safety protocol.

The Pacers closed out the first quarter on an 18-7 run for a 33-27 lead. Sabonis established himself early by hitting all seven attempts in that period.

Indiana built its lead to 14 before the Jazz responded with a 9-0 run. Bolstered by 56.1 percent shooting, including 52.9 percent from 3-point range, the Pacers took a 61-52 lead into halftime.

Indiana held a 70-57 lead when Mike Conley hit a pull-up jumper to ignite the Jazz. Utah fired off 12 straight points, including 3-pointers by Mitchell and Bogdanovic.

Stephenson, playing for the second time in Indiana after signing a 10-day contract, made a couple of buckets to end Utah's surge. He received a loud ovation from the home crowd after scoring 30 points on Wednesday.

The Jazz pulled within one point of the Pacers on seven different occasions in the latter part of the third quarter, but Indiana never relinquished the lead.

Utah called a timeout after Sabonis dunked for a 101-95 lead with 6:50 remaining. Mitchell then cut the lead to four, but Holiday fueled an 8-0 Pacers run for a 109-97 advantage.

Utah never got closer than six the rest of the way.

-reuters

NBA: Huge first half leads Pacers to rout of Spurs

Domantas Sabonis finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds and the Indiana Pacers rolled to a 22-point halftime lead while cruising to a 131-118 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday in Indianapolis.

After losing by seven and three points to the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors, respectively, in their past two games, the Pacers took any suspense out of Monday's game early on while snapping a four-game losing streak.

Indiana built a 25-point advantage midway through the third quarter and waltzed to the finish line, routing a San Antonio team that had allowed just 93 points to the defending league champ Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.

Myles Turner added 19 points for Indiana. Justin Holiday scored 17, Chris Duarte racked up 18, Caris LeVert tallied 16 and T.J. McConnell contributed 10 points and 10 assists. The Pacers sank a season-high 18 3-pointers in the win.

Dejounte Murray led the Spurs with 16 points. Devin Vassell added 15, Derrick White hit for 13, Jakob Poeltl scored 11 points, and Bryn Forbes, Jock Landale, Lonnie Walker IV and Keita Bates-Diop added 10 points each for San Antonio, which has lost five of its past six games.

In the first quarter, Indiana shot 68 percent from the floor and canned 8 of 10 3-point attempts and building a 43-33 lead. Murray kept the Spurs close, scoring 14 in the quarter, but San Antonio committed five turnovers in the period, leading to 11 points.

The Pacers kept rolling in the second quarter, ending up at 63.8 percent shooting and with 12 threes on the way to a 78-56 lead at halftime.

Indiana already had five players in double-figure scoring by halftime, led by Turner's 14 points (12 of which came in the first quarter) and 12 each from LeVert, Sabonis and Holiday.

Murray paced all scorers at the half with 16 points, but didn't score after the break while playing just 10 more minutes.

-reuters

NBA: Domantas Sabonis' triple-double guides Pacers to OT win over Wolves

Domantas Sabonis recorded 36 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Indiana Pacers rallied for a 134-128 overtime win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

Malcolm Brogdon added 32 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Pacers, who won for the third time in four games.

After giving up 40 second-quarter points, Indiana trailed for most of the second half.

Malik Beasley came off Minnesota's bench to score a team-high 31 points. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds while Ricky Rubio added 20 points and 13 assists, but the Timberwolves still lost for the sixth time in seven games.

A 10-4 Minnesota run spanning 1:23 gave the Timberwolves a 121-116 lead with 58.9 seconds left after Towns put in a 3-pointer and a basket in the paint, both off Rubio assists. 

However, a Jeremy Lamb 3-pointer, a Sabonis rebound and then a pair of Sabonis free throws forced overtime.

Minnesota rookie Anthony Edwards had a look at the would-be game-winner but missed his 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Edwards finished with eight points on 3-of-15 shooting.

Brogdon and Sabonis scored the first five points of the extra frame, then Brogdon made the last of his six 3-pointers with 9.8 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Brogdon went 6-of-7 from beyond the arc to lead Indiana on a 13-of-26 night from long range. Lamb scored 18 points off the Pacers' bench, and reserve Aaron Holiday added 15 points.

Indiana's Justin Holiday contributed 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Timberwolves got 18 points from Naz Reid and 11 points from Jaden McDaniels.

The Pacers shot 50.5 percent from the floor while the Timberwolves hit just 42.1 percent of their field-goal attempts, and Indiana had a 51-44 edge in rebounding. Minnesota made just 15 of 40 attempts from 3-point range.

-reuters