Pacers finish Washington, headed to conference finals
TYLER SMITH
ISL Correspondent
After another home letdown in Game 5, the Pacers knew they were in for a battle going back to Washington for Game 6. They were up for the challenge, winning their fifth straight playoff road game by a score of 93-80 to close out the series.
It was another strange series with the road team winning five of the six games.
The Pacers built a 16-point lead Thursday night — and then watched it completely disappear with a few big Wizards runs in the second half. Playing for their lives, the run was expected. How the Pacers would respond was the question. As he’s been his entire Pacers career, David West was the great stabilizer. He scored back-to-back buckets after the Wizards took a fourth-quarter lead. It led to a 17-2 Pacers run, ending the Wizards’ season.
West finished with 29 points, including 18 in the second half.
“I just didn’t want to lose this game,” he said. “I told Coach we weren’t losing this game.”
Paul George had his second straight off night (12 points on 4-of-11 shooting), which added to the importance of West and others. Lance Stephenson had a solid game with 17 points and eight assists. He was big in a second-round, Game 6 clincher last year as well, scoring 25 against the Knicks.
The stingy Pacers defense showed up big-time in this game, holding the Wizards to just 39 percent shooting. The atrocious Game 5 rebounding margin was long forgotten in this one, as the Pacers were only outrebounded by two.
The Pacers have won all five games this postseason when coming off a loss. They now have another date with the Miami Heat. This is the series we thought we’d see all along.
It’s just the third time in franchise history that the Pacers have made the Eastern Conference finals in consecutive seasons. This is the most successful stretch the team has had since 1998-2000.
Now things really get fun for Pacers fans.
Follow Tyler on Twitter: @sports_tys_20
Editor’s Note: Coming soon to IndySportsLegends.com is a full Pacers-Heat series preview.
