Given the disastrous start to their four game road trip, a 2-2 split for the Indiana Pacers began to sound incredibly appealing given the opportunity to get those two wins against playing opponents. The Pacers responded, defeating Milwaukee on Friday and following that up with an encore performance against the Washington Wizards, a hard-fought wire-to-wire victory.
While the Pacers never trailed, they still needed some luck in coming away with the win late. The Pacers led by double figures in the first and third quarters, as many as 17 late in the third, but each time the Wizards would climb back in the game, taking every advantage they could against Indiana’s bench.