NBA: Bobcats beat Pacers
Published 12:00 am Saturday, December 30, 2006
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Adam Morrison scored a career-high 30 points and the Charlotte Bobcats held off a second-half rally to beat the Indiana Pacers 113-102 on Saturday night.
Emeka Okafor finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Matt Carroll scored 18 points for the Bobcats (9-21), who won consecutive games for the first time this season. Charlotte beat the Lakers 133-124 in triple overtime on Friday.
Raymond Felton had 19 assists. He had 15 in Friday night’s game.
Jermaine O’Neal had 27 points and 12 rebounds, Danny Granger scored 17 points and Jamaal Tinsley chipped in 15 for Indiana (17-15), which lost at Conseco Fieldhouse for the third time in its last four games.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle was ejected following his second technical foul with 10:14 left in the third quarter. Carlisle was arguing a technical that had been called on Pacers guard Stephen Jackson after a hard foul on Morrison.
The Pacers fought back in the third quarter after Primoz Brezec’s jumper with 8 minutes left gave Charlotte a 13-point lead. Tinsley scored seven straight points, including a steal and layup to bring Indiana within 69-65.
Indiana took a 72-71 lead following O’Neal’s free throw, but Charlotte jumped back in front 79-75 on Derek Anderson’s two free throws late in the period.
The Pacers started the fourth quarter with five straight points to take an 82-79 advantage. The Bobcats responded with the next seven points to open a four-point lead.
Charlotte began to pull away following Okafor’s dunk and Sean May’s jumper with 5 minutes left, putting the Bobcats ahead 98-90. Morrison’s 3-pointer with 3:25 remaining gave Charlotte a 101-92 lead.
Behind Morrison’s 17 points in the first half, the Bobcats took a 54-50 advantage into the break. Charlotte took its biggest lead of the half, 49-41, following a pair of free throws by Morrison with 3:37 left in the second quarter.
The Bobcats improved to 3-11 on the road. Their other wins were at San Antonio and New Jersey.