Paul scores 29 as Clippers beat Pacers 99-91
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Los Angeles Clippers went from looking like they were on their way to an easy victory midway through the fourth quarter to having to hold off the Indiana Pacers down the stretch.
The Clippers' 17-point lead was trimmed to four in their 99-91 victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Thursday.
"It was a good, solid win for us," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We made it a little more difficult for ourselves down the stretch giving up two 3's in about 30 seconds."
All-Star guard Chris Paul led the way with 29 points and eight assists for Los Angeles, which has won seven of its last eight games.
David West led the Pacers with 22 points and Paul George added 20. It was just the third loss in the past 12 games for Indiana.
"The Clippers played an excellent game and took us out of a lot of our stuff with their pressure," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.
The Pacers were missing center Roy Hibbert's inside presence. He was suspended for the game for getting into an altercation during Tuesday's game against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers took advantage by scoring 50 points in the paint. Hibbert, who is averaging almost three blocks a game, would have altered some of the Clippers' shots or made them think twice about attacking the basket.
Thursday was just the fifth time that the Pacers have given up at least 50 points in the paint.
Hibbert will be back in the lineup Friday when the Pacers play at Toronto.
"Roy Hibbert makes a big difference with our team," Vogel said. "Everybody wants to talk about he's having a terrible year; he's having a great year. Leading the No. 1 defense in the NBA. We missed him tonight."
The Pacers also didn't help themselves by turning the ball over 20 times.
"We know it's an issue for us," Vogel said. "We're working on it every day. (The Clippers) are No. 1 in the league in forcing turnovers. We got out there in the first half and impacted us. It built a hole for us."
The Clippers got their biggest lead of the game, 17 points, midway through the fourth quarter, but the Pacers quickly got it down to nine with back-to-back 3-pointers from George and George Hill and a driving layup by Lance Stephenson.
George added another 3-pointer and two free throws to get the Pacers to within four points with a little less than three minutes left.
Paul hit a tough driving layup to push the Clippers' lead back up to six with 1:57 left. West then drove and tried to dump the ball off to Hill, but the ball went out of bounds.
Paul scored the final eight points for his team.
"We've sort of been a team that has to been able to get a big lead in the fourth quarter and every now and then, not always, we have let teams back into the game," Paul said. "Those guys went on a 13-0 run or something, but we were able to close it out."
NOTES: Ian Mahinmi started at center against the Clippers in Hibbert's place. ... Pacers guard Lance Stephenson was fined $35,000 for his part in Tuesday's incident against the Warriors. Hibbert said he's going to pay Stephenson's fine since he came to his defense during the incident. "That means a lot, it means we're together," Stephenson said. "I was willing to help him, so he felt like he wanted to help me. I really appreciate it." ... Clippers backup guard Eric Bledsoe was back in the lineup after missing Tuesday's game with a sore left calf. ... The Pacers have committed at least 20 turnovers in three of their last five games. ... Danny Granger had his best game since returning to the lineup, scoring 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting off the bench.
