Pacers edge Suns, end three-game skid

[January 20, 2016]  PHOENIX -- Even with a 16-point, fourth-quarter lead against a slumping, injury-riddled Phoenix Suns team, the Indiana Pacers weren't taking anything for granted Tuesday.

It was a good thing, because the Suns never stopped fighting.

Guard Monta Ellis scored 20 points, forward Paul George added 19 and the Pacers snapped a three-game losing streak by outlasting the Suns 97-94 in a game that unexpectedly went down to the final second.

Forward Myles Turner contributed 15 points and guard Joe Young backed up a career-high 15 points on Sunday with 11 more off the bench for the Pacers, who hadn't won since beating the Suns 116-97 in Indiana on Jan. 12.

The Pacers (23-19) led by as many as 20 and by 16 with 4:43 to play. However, the Suns fought through 22 turnovers, injuries to three power forwards and a 36 percent shooting night to claw within three points with 3.8 seconds left. Two free throws from Ellis subsequently iced the game.

"This was all about getting a win and getting back to playing winning basketball," George said. "The fourth quarter is where we're struggling. We've lost three games in a row, so we've been in a fog.

"That's what it's going to take for us, doing a better job on defense, My opinion, it was poor closing this game out."

Rookie guard Devin Booker had a career-high 32 points including six 3-pointers for the Suns, who lost their fifth in a row and 14th in the last 15 games. And got things even worse for Phoenix on Tuesday.

Already without leading scorer Eric Bledsoe and backup point guard Ronnie Price, the Suns (13-30) lost three power forwards over the space of an hour.

Jon Leuer experienced back spasms in warmups and couldn't play. Markieff Morris sustained a right shoulder strain in the second quarter, and Mirza Teletovic was lost to an ankle sprain in the third quarter.

P.J. Tucker finished the game at power forward, contributing 12 points and 10 rebounds and playing a role in the comeback.

Phoenix committed 22 turnovers that led to 27 Indiana points. Guard Brandon Knight had 21 points but has as many turnovers as baskets (eight).

"They had 97 points, and 27 of them came off turnovers," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "If we eliminate the turnovers, I thought our half-court defense was much better."

The Suns trailed 71-51 in the third quarter and 86-70 with 4:43 left after a layup by forward C.J. Miles. Tucker hit a 3-pointer and Booker made two more, cutting Indiana's lead to 90-85 with 55.5 seconds left.

Ellis used the shot clock and ended the 15-4 Phoenix run with a 19-footer with 39.4 seconds to go. The Suns pushed back within 95-92 on a 3-pointer by guard Brandon Knight (21 points) with three seconds left.

Ellis sealed the game by sinking two free throws with two seconds to go.

"We came up short, but the team showed a lot of fight which we have been doing in past games," said Booker, who hit nine of 16 shots and bested his career high by 11 points. "As the season goes on, I'm getting more time, more experience and learning things every day."

Indiana coach Frank Vogel was impressed by Booker.

"We threw some different guys on him and tried to our bigs up on him more, but he had a special performance," Vogel said.

The Suns (13-30) scored the first basket of the game -- a 3-pointer by Booker 33 seconds in -- but the rest of the half was a titanic struggle. They had more turnovers (13) than baskets (12) and shot 32 percent from the field in the opening two quarters.

"That was our main focus today; we had to get back to playing defense," Ellis said. "We set the tempo at the beginning of the game, and we were able to get out and run, make some shots and get a comfortable lead.

"They made their run, but we were able to hold them off and close them out."

NOTES: Indiana G Glenn Robinson III started in place of George Hill, who missed the game for personal reasons. Robinson scored 10 points. ... Suns F Mira Teletovic has made 91 3-pointers off the bench this season, tops among NBA reserves. Teletovic is on pace to break the franchise record of 150 set by Danny Ainge in 1992-93, when the Suns reached the NBA Finals. ... The Suns got C Alex Len back after he missed three games with a left hand sprain, but Tyson Chandler started in the middle. Len scored six points in 21 minutes. ... Phoenix allowed an average of 113.4 points over the previous seven games. ... Indiana lost C Ian Mahinmi when he aggravated a left ankle sprain late in the second quarter.

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