lead following two free

[jinshuiqian0713]

WASHINGTON -- Paul George forced Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel to leave him on the court. George took -- and made -- the key shots, to the tune of a career playoff-high 39 points. He grabbed rebounds, 12 in all. He guarded the Wizards most dangerous scorer. When there was a loose ball, it was George diving to the floor to collect it. In sum, the tireless George willed the up-and-down Pacers within one victory of a return trip to the Eastern Conference finals, playing every second of the final three quarters as Indiana erased a 19-point deficit to beat Washington 95-92 Sunday night. "I kept wanting to try to get him a rest, and he kept saying, No," Vogel said. "And usually Ill override that, but he kept making big shots, too." Roy Hibbert had 17 points and nine rebounds, continuing his recent surge after a poor-as-can-be, zero-point, zero-rebound showing in Game 1. He responded with 28 points in Game 2, then 14 in Game 3, before helping Indiana win its third consecutive game Sunday, when Hibbert said he got a motivational boost from what he called a heckling fan. "He woke me up," Hibbert said. "He said I was tired. He was saying a lot of obscenities. Im a God-fearing man, so Im not going to go ahead and say what he was saying." After dropping Game 1, the Pacers have won three in a row to go up 3-1 and can close out the best-of-seven series at home Tuesday night. Only eight teams in NBA history have blown that lead. "Weve got a chance to make something happen," said Washingtons Bradley Beal, who was hounded at the defensive end by George and worked hard to get his 20 points. Beal might be right, but Washington better figure out how to limit George, who averaged 14.5 points in Games 1 and 2, but ramped that up with 23 Friday. And he was not about to let Vogel put him on the sideline down the stretch Sunday. In all, George played 46 minutes, and he scored 28 points after halftime. "I already had it in my head that I was pretty much going to go the whole distance," George said. "There was a moment where I was pretty gassed, but that second wind kicked in." The Wizards were up 17 at halftime, then made it 57-38 on Nenes basket to open the third quarter. But Washington showed a propensity this season for blowing double-digit leads -- the Wizards lost 11 games after being up by at least 10 points -- and again fell apart. "We never panicked," Pacers forward David West said. Georges 3 with 5 1/2 minutes left made it 85-79, and another 30 seconds later made it 85-82, giving him seven from beyond the arc, matching a franchise post-season mark held by Reggie Miller and Chuck Person. George also helped the Pacers limit the Wizards to one field goal over the final 7 1/2 minutes. John Wall gave Washington its last lead at 91-90 with about 2 minutes to go. George pushed Indiana back in front with two foul shots, and the Pacers forced a shot-clock violation. Hibbert made a 12-foot turnaround hook shot with 1:02 remaining to put the Pacers up 94-91, and sprinted down the court, his arms spread, his smile wide. Left all alone, Wall passed up an open 3-pointer, instead sending the ball to Beal, who missed a 3 try with under 50 seconds left. "Thats what the play was for, and I made the right decision," Wall said. The Pacers are playing much more like the team that pushed the Miami Heat to seven games in last seasons conference finals, and the one that earned the No. 1 seeding by going 46-13 at the start of this season. Theyre looking less like the bunch that went 10-13 down the stretch this year, then needed seven games to sneak past Atlanta in the first round. "We go through ups and downs, and highs and lows," said Hibbert, who scored two points before halftime, 15 after. Whats clear is this: When Paul is at his best, the Pacers are, too. "Paul is Paul. You know that youre going to get 150 per cent every time hes on the court," Hill said. "He knows hes the go-to guy on this team." NOTES: Georges previous post-season career best was 30 points. ... Wizards coach Randy Wittman likes to call his trio of not-yet-retired reserves -- Andre Miller, 38; Al Harrington, 34; Drew Gooden, 32 -- the "AARP group," but they helped produce a 32-2 bench scoring edge for the hosts. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Although head coach Randy Carlyle jokingly wondered how much actual training Bolland got done while in London. "I dont know how much training goes on when you go back to the junior team that you played for so I wouldnt read too much into that," laughed Carlyle after the Maple Leafs were put through an up-tempo practice that concluded with a 10-minute bag skate on Thursday. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. He spent the rest of the game making up for lost playing time. Green scored a career-high 36 points, including eight in overtime, and the Phoenix Suns beat Denver 112-107 on Tuesday night to hand the Nuggets their fifth consecutive loss. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . -- Adrian Peterson remained in a walking boot to treat a high ankle sprain on his left leg on Wednesday, and coach Leslie Frazier said he will not play on Sunday against Atlanta if he cant hit the practice field in the next two days. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . The roster changes have been constant and continuous since late last year, but even with their 46-man roster set for the start of the season, the banged-up Bombers will be kicking off Week 1 with a handful of fresh faces and back-ups in the starting lineup. NEW YORK -- Carmelo Anthony had plenty of help against the struggling Philadelphia 76ers. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 28 points as the New York Knicks had four players score 20 or more points and defeated Philadelphia 123-110 on Monday night, sending the 76ers to their 17th straight loss. Amare Stoudemire added 23 points to tie a season high, and Anthony and J.R. Smith each scored 22 as the Knicks won their fourth game in a row and fell just short of their season-high points total. "I love nights like this," Anthony said. "Four guys with 20-plus points. Sharing the ball. Making plays. Having fun out there. Taking the load off me. I love nights like that." Hardaway did most of his scoring in the fourth quarter, opening the period with a 3-pointer and making five of his eight shots, including three 3-pointers as the Knicks six-point lead entering the final quarter grew to as many as 21. Overall, he scored 13 in the final 12 minutes. "I was just trying to get myself open," Hardaway said. "I just came in today and I just started hitting my shots. Everyone was moving the ball and taking open shots. Stat got us going. J.R. was getting going and then Pablo (Prigioni) and everybody started finding me, so I just wanted to get myself going." Stoudemire started his fifth straight game for the Knicks. He had come off the bench in all but one other game this season. "It feels great, Stoudemire said. "I have been working extremely hard to get back to my normal self. My confidence is there. It never left." Michael Carter-Williams recorded a triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for Philadelphia, mired in its longest skid since the 1972-73 season. "I am trying not to think about it," Carter-Williams said. "We lose and we have to move on to the next one. People are writing about it and thats fine, but we are going to stay focused as a team." Philadelphia did get off to a good start, taking a 29-17 lead on James Andersons 3-pointer with 2:45 left in the first quarter. Smith scored 12 of his points in the opening quarter. "We were just trying to chip away at it,&quoot; Smith said.dddddddddddd. "Weve been in that situation numerous times this year, so we just tried to chip away at it and not hit any home-run plays." The Knicks did pull to within five at the end of the quarter and were even at 61 at halftime. The 76ers took a 67-66 lead following two free throws by Jarvis Varnado with 10:22 left in the third quarter, but the Knicks scored the next eight points to take a 74-67 lead. The lead was short-lived, however, as Philadelphia countered with its own 8-0 run to reclaim a one-point lead. After Thaddeus Youngs short jumper gave Philadelphia a 79-78 lead, the Knicks went on a 9-0 run with Anthony scoring the final five points to give the Knicks the lead for good. "We finally got solid defensively in the third quarter and, in the fourth, we brought it home," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "We made shots. That has been a key to our four-game winning streak." New York held a 91-85 lead after three quarters and went on to take its biggest lead of the game, 110-89, on the fourth of Hardaways five 3-pointers with 7:37 left. The Knicks never led by less than 12 the rest of the way. Raymond Felton added 13 points for the Knicks. Tony Wroten also scored 23 points for Philadelphia. Young finished with 18 and Anderson had 17 for the 76ers. "Tim Hardaway is a good player. Carmelo is Carmelo," 76ers coach Brett Brown said. "You look around the gym and you have to pick your poison. They really have a lot of offensive firepower." NOTES: The Knicks highest points total of the season came in a 125-96 win over Charlotte on Jan. 24. ... The last time the Knicks had four 20-point scorers in a game was against the Celtics on April 12, 2012 (Anthony 35, Steve Novak 25, Smith 25, Tyson Chandler 20). ... Chandler was not with the Knicks due to "personal reasons." ... The Knicks have purchased a NBA D-League team which will play its home games in White Plains, N.Y., beginning next season. The teams nickname has not yet been decided. ... Shannon Brown and Earl Clark were both signed to second 10-day contracts by the Knicks on Monday. ' ' '