Pacers 92, Hawks 80
Paul George piled up 30 points and 11 rebounds as host Indiana knocked off pesky Atlanta in Game 7 to move on to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Lance Stephenson collected 19 points and 14 rebounds and Roy Hibbert had his most productive game of the series with 13 points, seven boards and five blocked shots for the Pacers, who will take on No. 5 seed Washington in the semifinals. George Hill added 15 points and David West hauled in 13 rebounds and had six blocks as Indiana became the first team in the series to win back-to-back games.
Kyle Korver scored 19 points to lead the Hawks, who shot 30.4 percent from the field. Jeff Teague scored 16 points and Paul Millsap struggled to 15 on 6-of-21 shooting but grabbed 17 rebounds and four steals for Atlanta.
Stephenson was hit with a technical foul with 10:56 left and Korver hit the ensuing free throw to pull the Hawks within nine, but George scored on two straight possessions and C.J. Watson’s transition layup pushed the Pacers’ lead out to 79-64 with 9:34 to play. The advantage reached 18 points on George’s free throws with 5:16 remaining and Atlanta never managed to get it to single digits again.
The Hawks were up one point midway through the second quarter but went the rest of the half without a field goal as the Pacers closed with a 14-2 burst to take a 47-36 lead into the break. A 10-0 run early in the third spread the lead out to 17 points but the Atlanta reserves got hot from beyond the arc in the final minutes of the period to cut the deficit to 71-63 heading into the fourth.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Hawks fell to 0-9 all-time in Game 7s on the road. … Atlanta’s 44 3-point attempts marked a single-game playoff record. The Hawks’ 230 3-point tries in the series marked the most in a playoff series in NBA history. … Indiana held a 55-38 advantage on the glass and got to the free-throw line 13 more times than Atlanta, hitting 23-of-29 attempts.