George Hill (L) of the Indiana Pacers Roy Hibbert woke from his slumber to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 86-82 win over the Washington Wizards in game two of their second round NBA playoff series. Hibbert, who went without a single point or rebound in game one, scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Indiana who levelled their best-of-seven series at 1-1 on Wednesday.
Hibbert said all it took for him to clear his head, and break out of his funk, was to go on a fishing trip with his teammate Paul George.
"Paul took me out on his boat we fished a long time. We didn't talk about basketball," said Hibbert, who made the all-star team this season.
Game three will be played on Friday in Washington.
Hibbert scored 17 points in the first half, more than he had in the previous four games combined, leaving in the final minute of the second quarter to cheers.
"I was just trying to be aggressive and make smart decisions," Hibbert said. "Tonight I just felt like I had one thing on my mind and that was to help this team win."
Hibbert has two other zero point games in the playoffs.
George Hill added 14 points and Lance Stephenson scored 12 for the Indiana in front of a crowd of 18,165 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena.
"When George and Roy are playing like they did tonight, we've got pretty good balance," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel.
"We know we have to be at our best to beat them, especially heading into their building."
Marcin Gortat had 21 points to lead the Wizards, who won game one on Monday 102-96.
After a gruelling seven-game series in the first round with the No. 8 seed Atlanta Hawks, the Pacers are trying to find their form in this series.
Washington is now 4-1 on the road during these playoffs while Indiana is 3-3 as the host in the playoffs after going 35-6 at home during the regular season.
Source: AFP