George Hill's winning lay-up snaps Pacers' 6-game losing streak
The fight for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference has been one of the tightest races in the NBA this season, with positions changing seemingly every day as several teams attempt to become humongous underdogs to the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round of the postseason. A strong second half has allowed the Indiana Pacers to become one of those squads, although a three-game losing streak had sent them from a potential upset pick to a team just trying to claw its way back into the top eight in the standings. The Pacers entered Wednesday night's road game against the Washington Wizards — themselves in the midst of a four-game losing streak — needing a win to keep up with the competition.
[DraftKings: FREE entry to huge cash Fantasy Basketball Contest with first deposit]
Indiana got that streak-snapping victory, although not without some drama. Down 76-70 after three quarters, the visitors performed well in the final period to grab a 101-98 lead after two C.J. Miles free throws with 19 seconds remaining. John Wall, easily the Wizards' top performed on the night, erased that margin pretty quickly with a three-pointer to tie.
That gave the Pacers a chance to avoid overtime with 11 seconds on the clock. Point guard George Hill was called upon as playmaker, and he ended up with one of the easier late-game forays to the basket in recent memory:
Hill's basket finished off a fantastic performance in which he went for a team-high 29 points on 12-of-24 shooting with nine assists and seven rebounds. Rasual Butler missed a prayer three-pointer at the buzzer, and the Pacers ended up with a 103-101 win.
[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
If Hill encountered little trouble on his way to the basket, it may have been because Washington head coach Randy Wittmann opted not to play Marcin Gortat on the possession despite his having blocked a Hill lay-up roughly 20 seconds earlier. There's no easy way to explain this decision, because Nene is an inferior rim protector who isn't clearly better at switching onto a smaller player after a pick. This doesn't appear to have been a difference of strategic opinion — it just looks like Wittmann made a mistake.
The Pacers win combined with the Boston Celtics' loss to the Miami Heat to create a virtual tie for the final spot in the playoffs with the both teams holding a 31-40 record. The Celtics currently hold the tiebreaker with a 2-1 advantage in the season series, but a Pacers win in their matchup next Wednesday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse would move the tiebreaker to the criterion of in-conference record, where the Pacers currently have a two-game lead.
The Wizards still look headed for a first-round matchup with the Toronto Raptors, but the team has concerns far more serious than their seeding. While Wall was fantastic (34 points and six assists, plus a bunch of highlights) and Gortat was quite good (16 points on 7-of-10 shooting), Washington continues to get few contributions from secondary players. To make matters worse, shooting guard Bradley Beal sprained his right ankle late in the first quarter on Wednesday and did not return. This struggling squad cannot afford to play without such a major player right now, especially when Beal's last extended absence coincided with another rough period of the season. The Wizards don't look in danger of falling too far in the standings, but it's hard to say that they're impressing in the stretch run.
- - - - - - -
Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
