Game Rewind: Pacers 109, Bucks 103

On the first play of overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks, things were looking bleak for the Pacers. A flagrant foul whistled against Ian Mahinmi was his sixth and final of the night, leaving the Pacers without their center as they searched for a seventh consecutive win. But after Zaza Pachulia drained both of his free throws to put the Bucks (34-31) up by one, the Pacers rattled off a 9-0 run, securing the 109-103 home victory and pushing Indiana even closer to Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.

"We took it as a playoff game, that’s the way we wanted to come in," said C.J. Miles, who had 14 points. "It was a big win for us, a team we’re chasing in the standings. It was physical, they played hard, we played hard. We were just able to make some plays down the stretch."

In regulation, the Pacers (30-34) led by three with just over a minute remaining, when Ersan Ilyasova (19 points) drained a baseline jumper to winnow Indiana's lead to just one point. After a Rodney Stuckey miss on the other end, a foul committed by David West sent Ilyasova to the line for two shots, where hit the first and missed the second to tie the game at 96.

With the crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on its feet and under 30 seconds on the clock, George Hill (17 points) missed a jumper that would have broken the tie. On the other end, with the crowd maintaining its deafening roar, a Khris Middleton (18 points) isolation jumper hit iron as the clock raced towards zeros and sent the game into overtime.

The Pacers might not have even been in position to win the game had it not been for the night of Luis Scola and his monster double-double, his seventh this season. Scola finished the night with 15 rebounds (his career high as a Pacer) and 17 points, including a crucial baseline jumper in the overtime period which put the Pacers ahead by three.

"That’s Scola being Scola," said Miles of his teammate. "Playing hard on both ends, he’s non-stop energy. He’s one of the best big mid-range jump shooters in the game and he’s just making effort plays on top of that. It’s hard to match his energy."

Also providing a punch off of the bench, to no one's surprise, was Rodney Stuckey, who poured in a team-high 25 points for the Pacers, continuing his run of offensive excellence. Stuckey had the final basket of the Pacers' 9-0 overtime blitz of Milwaukee, on a jumper that caromed high off the rim before falling through the cylinder; seeming to typify that luck was in Indiana's favor in the final five minutes of play.

But for much of the game, it seemed nothing was going the way of the Blue & Gold. After trailing for nearly the entire first half, the Pacers were able to grab the lead momentarily when George Hill drained a 3-pointer late in the second quarter, but another rally by the Bucks allowed Milwaukee to take a 53-51 lead into the half.

"We were reckless with our fouling early," Pacers coach Frank Vogel explained. "We’ve got to be more disciplined. We don’t want to give up 36 free throws."

But Indiana came scorching out of the locker room, pushing themselves into the lead with a 31-21 tilt in the third frame, which set up a tightly contested fourth frame. A fitting finish for a game that featured six lead changes throughout, and two chances to win it outright in the final seconds of regulation.

The win gives the Pacers their season-high seventh straight win, and makes them an NBA-best 9-1 since the All-Star Break.

Indiana won despite turning the ball over 20 times (tying its season high), after going 18-straight games with 15 or fewer turnovers

The Pacers bench outscored Milwaukee's 52-10

Luis Scola's 15 rebounds were the most he's had with the Pacers

“We knew Milwaukee was going to come in and play a tough game. They’re a tough team, they’re athletic, real long. We knew it was going to be a battle. We turned the ball over a lot today and put them on the free throw line a lot, but we overcame that and got the victory. It’s a great win for us. We know that we can play those type of grind it out games. We competed.” -Rodney Stuckey

"It’s the team moving better, playing with better energy, better momentum. We’re getting more things accomplished and winning more games, moving up in the standings. A lot of good things today. Let’s see if we can keep it going." -Luis Scola

"We kept fighting, we gave ourselves a chance to win, we just came up short. The overtime was tough.They executed their plays. We had too many mental mistakes. That hurt us." -Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams

The Pacers have now held seven consecutive opponents under 40 percent shooting; the longest streak in franchise history

The Pacers host former Butler head coach Brad Stevens and his Boston Celtics on Saturday night at 7 PM. Select tickets are still available. Find Tickets »