George-led Pacers defeat Suns
PHOENIX -- Paul George scored 25 points and the Indiana Pacers pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 109-94 win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
Myles Turner had 20 points and Jeff Teague added 19 for the Pacers (11-11), who rebounded from a 36-point loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday by splitting the season series with Phoenix.
George sat out the 116-96 loss to the Suns in Indiana on Nov. 18 with an injury but collected 13 rebounds and capped off the win by banking in his only 3-pointer of the night with 14 seconds left.
Eric Bledsoe had 15 points and Devin Booker had 13 for the Suns (6-15), who have lost five of their last six games and are 2-7 since beating the Pacers. Tyson Chandler added 10 points and 10 rebounds in his 1,000th NBA game.
George had eight points in the first quarter for Indiana, but the Pacers committed nine turnovers. Booker had seven points for the Suns, who closed to 23-22 on a Bledsoe layup with 2.3 seconds left.
The Suns got an early second-quarter lift from Leandro Barbosa, who had eight points in seven minutes. Three-pointers by Marquese Chriss and Booker were followed by Booker's alley-oop pass to Chandler to cap an 8-1 run and give the Suns a 47-40 lead with 2:02 left.
But Turner scored all eight of his first-half points in the final 1:46, and his 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds left pulled the Pacers within 53-49 at the break.
The game stayed tight through the third quarter. Thaddeus Young had seven points for Indiana and Jared Dudley had six for the Suns, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to keep the Suns within 82-80.
But the Suns are 0-13 when leading after three quarters and the Pacers pulled away with a 9-1 run midway through the quarter, with Teague scoring five, including two free throws, to make it 97-87 Indiana with 5:50 left.
NOTES: Suns C Tyson Chandler played in his 1,000th NBA game on Wednesday night. He is the 122nd player in league history to reach that milestone. Among that 122, he is the 28th who has played at least one game with the Suns but only Chandler, Danny Ainge and Steve Nash played in their 1,000th game as a Sun. ... Pacers coach Nate McMillan said of moving past the 142-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday night in which Klay Thompson scored 60 points for the Warriors: "We did look at the film and it wasn't a good film to watch. We talked about it, but we do have to move on. We have a chance to still make this a special trip." ... Suns coach Earl Watson on the bench wiping out a 23-point deficit in the fourth quarter before losing, 112-105, to Utah on Tuesday night: "They played with so much passion; you almost have to leave them out there. They deserve that. Our second unit was amazing." ... The Phoenix bench scored 78 points in a 116-96 win over the Pacers in Indianapolis, the most scoring by any bench in the league this season.