Indiana Pacers defeat Washington Wizards 93-80, Win series 4-2 to advance to conference finals.
For the second consecutive year, the Indiana Pacers are headed to the conference finals. In comparison to last season however, the hungry group from Indy has home-court advantage this time around against the world champion Miami Heat. Tonight, the Pacers avoided a game 7 defeating the Washington Wizards in a tough fought 93-80 victory in game 6.
Prior to tip-off, the Verizon Center in DC was heavily-anticipated their team to take the court and potentially send the series back to Indy forcing the distance. Sadly, the air became really thick with fans treating the affair like a regular season game, and reflected how their home team played in the early stages of the game. More on the story after the jump
Washington would see their biggest hole in the game down 14 points heading into halftime, but would inch closer with Marcin Gortat and Nene Hilario leading the way for them in the third. Bench production on both sides was really awful, but the story of this game was the no-show of John Wall and Bradley Beal, who had impressive outings in game 5 to extend the series.
In the 4th quarter, Washington would inch closer even taking a lead early on; but the Pacers would go on a 20-6 run to seal the deal for a trip back to conference finals. David West was the most consistent player for the Pacers and in our opinion has been their MVP for their post-season. He led all scorers with 29 and Lance Stephenson was right behind adding in 17.
We’re really going to miss seeing John Wall “Pull up, DRANK”.
Washington has nothing to be ashamed of getting to within 2 games of the conference finals. We expect the young core of Wall and Beal to be back next season and be a legitimate championship contender after gaining experience this post-season against Indiana.
The Indiana Pacers now have their wishes granted, after losing game 7 on the road in Miami last year and will be looking to avenge their defeat they pondered on visibly all summer and season-long. The Pacers host game one of the Eastern Finals this Sunday against the Heat.