STREAKING PACERS ROLL PAST HORNETS
INDIANAPOLIS— Darren Collison threw the early scoring punches. Victor Oladipo delivered the decisive second-half flurry.
Together, the Indiana Pacers’ starting guards were a knockout combination.
Oladipo scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, Collison finished with 19 points and nine assists and surging Indiana pulled away from the Charlotte Hornets 120-95 on Sunday for their fourth win in five games.
“Me, Bojan (Bogdanovic), Vic, we were all being aggressive on the pick-and-roll,” Collison said. “When all three of us are aggressive, it’s tough to beat us.”
The Pacers have proven it by going 11-3 over the past month and improving to 16 games above .500 for the first time since the end of 2013-14.
It’s not by happenstance, either. Coach Nate McMillan has repeatedly challenged his players to move the ball and stay aggressive on offense while confounding opponents with their ability to stay in front of the ball on defense.
Indiana has used that blueprint to win its last four games by 86 points, all by at least 12.
Charlotte fell into the same trap as the other teams—falling behind early and trying to play catch-up against the league’s top scoring defense.
Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 23 points but didn’t get enough from a supporting cast that was held in check. Malik
Monk finished with 11 points off the bench while Bismack Biyombo and Jeremy Lamb each scored 10 as the Hornets’ three-gamewinning streak ended.
“What’s kept us in games in the last few games is our defense. Tonight, it didn’t,” Charlotte coach James Borrego said.
In another game, Derrick Rose buried a 20-foot, tie-breaking jumper with nine-tenths of a second remaining, delivering the Minnesota Timberwolves a 116114 victory over the Phoenix Suns in Minneapolis.
The Timberwolves trailed 110-106 before Rose capped a 31point performance by scoring eight of Minnesota’s final 10 points over the closing 3:25.
The Los Angeles Clippers also beat host San Antonio Spurs, 103-95.