Pacers 129, Nets 105
INDIANAPOLIS -- For the fifth time in six seasons, the Indiana Pacers have qualified for the NBA playoffs.
Indiana led 39-19 after one quarter and 69-41 at halftime on its way to a 129-105 victory against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, securing a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
With two regular-season games to play, Indiana will face either Toronto or Cleveland in the opening round.
The Pacers are the No. 7 seed in the East at the moment. Detroit and Indiana are both 43-37, but the Pistons currently are the East's No. 8 seed because Indiana owns the tiebreaker.
Myles Turner led Indiana with 28 points and 10 rebounds, and George Hill had 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Ian Mahinmi finished with 16 points and six rebounds, Paul George had 15 points, five rebounds and six assists, Solomon Hill contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds, and CJ Miles had 11 points. Indiana shot 55.3 percent (48 of 86).
Brooklyn, which has lost eight in a row, got 26 points from Sean Kilpatrick, 19 from former Pacer Donald Sloan and 16 from Shane Larkin.
The Pacers, who missed the 2015 playoffs, scored a season-best 39 first-quarter points on Sunday, replacing the 36 they scored against Cleveland on April 6. Indiana made 13 of 17 first-quarter field-goal attempts (76.5 percent) and was 26 of 43 (60.5 percent) through 24 minutes.
At the half, the Pacers had 32 points in the paint, and Brooklyn had 10.
Indiana opened the third quarter with a 14-2 burst, increasing its lead to 83-43 with 8:59 remaining in the period, prompting a Brooklyn timeout. The Pacers led 104-72 through three quarters.
Turner had 12 first-half points, George and Miles each had 11 and Mahinmi contributed 10. The Pacers outrebounded the Nets 27-16 during the opening half. Indiana's non-starters contributed 33 first-half points, three more than Brooklyn got from its bench.
NOTES: Brooklyn rested leading scorer C Brook Lopez (20.6 points per game) and No. 2 scorer F Thaddeus Young (15.1) ... The Nets also played without C/F Willie Reed (4.7 points), who was out for personal reasons ... Among those who started for the Nets, only G/F Bojan Bogdanovic (10.9) came in averaging in double figures ... Indiana continued its recent trend of starting F/C Lavoy Allen (5.3 points) in place of rookie F Myles Turner (10.1), who has struggled defensively of late ... The Pacers came into the game 6-4 in their 10 most recent games, including a 111-98 defeat on Friday at Toronto ... Indiana entered Sunday's game ranked second in opponents' 3-point field goal percentage (33.3 percent) ... The Pacers are 3-1 against Brooklyn, losing 120-110 on March 26 in Brooklyn.