LDN - Sports

Young's last-second shot sends Pacers past Wizards

[December 20, 2016] INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Pacers forward Thaddeus Young proved to be the right man with the right move.

With the game tied with 4.6 seconds left, the Pacers came out of the timeout with the plan to get the ball to their star, Paul George.

"They switched out and denied Paul," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "Thaddeus did what he was supposed to do and come to the ball. With four seconds to go you want to attack the basket. It was the right thing instead of just settling for the hero long jump shot. He put his head down and attacked the basket. I thought he got fouled -- it was an aggressive move by Thaddeus."

Young sank a driving 10-foot jumper with 0.9 of a second left to give the Pacers a 107-105 victory over the Washington Wizards on Monday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

"They took away Paul and I just saw that I had to flash to the ball, which we discussed in the huddle," Young said. "I just made a play, that was the biggest thing. My teammates put me in a position to make that play by having a lot of guys on the court that could space the court out."

Washington's Bradley Beal missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"We talk about switching, something we don't do a lot," McMillan said of defending Beal's shot. "We got hung up and we didn't have communication. It just was a breakdown. He was wide open. I think he was so surprised that he was wide open that a lot of times that's a tough shot to make. It was a breakdown and we got lucky."

Beal said he felt the shot was good.

"It was a tough angle and I'll take the blame for that, but it is definitely a shot that I can make," Beal said.

Wizards coach Scott Brooks was pleased with the look.

"We'll take that shot any day of the week," Brooks said. "We had nine-tenths of a second so the shot had to get up in a hurry. We had plenty of time to catch and gather. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way."

George led the Pacers (15-14) with 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting and teammate Jeff Teague added 23 points.

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Beal hit two free throws to narrow the Pacers' lead to 105-103 with 50.1 seconds left. Pacers center Myles Turner, who finished with 20 points, fouled out on that play. Beal then tied the score by hitting a jumper with 15.7 seconds left.

"Looked like a (3-pointer) to me but the refs thought otherwise, it is what it is," said Beal, who finished with a team-high 22 points.

Wizards center Marcin Gortat contributed 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards (12-15).

The Pacers outscored the Wizards 31-22 in the third quarter to take an 88-79 lead. Indiana made 4 of 7 3-pointers in the third quarter and Washington missed all five 3-point shots.

Washington quickly erased its deficit by scoring the first nine points of the fourth quarter to tie it at 88. George's basket made it 90-88 and halted the Wizards' run.

Beal missed a 3-point attempt at the halftime buzzer as the game was tied at 57. Young's tip-in with four seconds left had pulled the Pacers into a tie.

The Wizards shot 60.9 percent from the floor in the first quarter to take a 36-29 lead. Andrew Nicholson hit a 3-pointer to give the Wizards a 47-40 lead with 8:27 to go in the second quarter. The Pacers answered with a 10-0 spurt to take the lead at 50-47. The game remained tight the rest of the half.

NOTES: Indiana G/F Glenn Robinson III averaged 11.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and shot 42.9 percent from 3-point range in nine previous starts before Monday. Robinson has been starting in place of G Monta Ellis (sore groin). ... Washington G John Wall delivered his 17th double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 assists ... Washington C Ian Mahinmi, who spent the previous four seasons with the Pacers, was sidelined with a sore right knee. Mahinmi has only played in one game this season.

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