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Wednesday, Apr. 19 8:00pm ET
Pacers are East's best; Hawks lottery-bound | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Jalen Rose hopes the Indiana Pacers can keep their momentum going as they head into the playoffs. Rose scored 19 points as the Pacers closed out their regular season by beating the Atlanta Hawks 111-92 Wednesday night. Travis Best scored 14 and Reggie Miller 13 as eight Pacers reached double figures. Rose finished with a higher scoring average (18.213) than Miller (18.148), who had led the team every year since 1988-89 when Chuck Person led the Pacers with a 21.6 average. "We were picked to finish fourth or fifth in the conference. We've responded with a great regular season," Rose said. "We just hope we can continue in the playoffs. We swept them (the Milwaukee Bucks) last year. They'll remember that. We have to elevate our game." Indiana opens the playoffs against Milwaukee this weekend. With the Eastern Conference's best record in hand, Indiana coach Larry Bird played his starters in the first and third quarters only, giving the bench players extended minutes. The Pacers never trailed. "We got a lot of guys who worked hard all year long and hadn't played much. They got to play some tonight," Bird said. "Donnie (Walsh, club president) said he wanted to get younger with this team, and I think we are well on our way to the future, but we are worried about the present right now." Lorenzen Wright led Atlanta with 23 points and Jim Jackson scored 16. The Hawks lost their last 14 road games of the season, going winless away from home since Feb. 25. Seventh-year Atlanta coach Lenny Wilkens wasn't sure if this was his last game for the Hawks. "This was not a very good year for us. Our chemistry never happened," said Wilkens, 310-232 with Atlanta. "There were a lot of distractions. ... I don't know. They always look to blame someone and it usually ends up being the coach. Whatever happens, happens." Game notesHawks center Dikembe Mutombo, who played just one minute into the second quarter, grabbed five rebounds to finish as the NBA leader in that category with an average of 14.1. He finished second in blocks (3.3) and in field-goal percentage (.563). Mutombo scored five points and blocked two shots in 13 minutes. ... Pacers center Rik Smits blocked two shots, giving him 100 this season. It's the first time since 1991-92 that he's reached the century mark. ... Atlanta's 54 losses are the most in franchise history since the team moved from St. Louis in 1968. The Hawks lost 24 of their last 30. ... Indiana, which has homecourt advantage through the Eastern Conference finals, won its last five games at Conseco Fieldhouse for a 36-5 home record, best in the conference. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Atlanta Clubhouse Indiana Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 112 New York 85
Indiana 111
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