Five 76ers scored in double figures Monday to make up for Allen Iverson's series-lowest score of 22 as Philadelphia beat the New Orleans Hornets 96-87 to take a 3-1 lead in the playoff series.
The balanced scoring and rebounding effort by the Sixers spoiled a 34-point performance by Baron Davis, who received too little help from the rest of the team to pull the Hornets even in the series.
Eric Snow had 17 points and 12 assists for Philadelphia, while Keith Van Horn scored 13 points. Kenny Thomas, Derrick Coleman and Aaron McKie each scored 11.
PHOTO: AP
Game 5 is in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Kings 99, Jazz 82
In Salt Lake City, Peja Stojakovic scored 15 of his 27 points in the third quarter as Sacramento turned a four-point halftime deficit into a win over Utah.
The win gave the Kings a 3-1 lead in the opening-round series.
Chris Webber had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings, who may be the last team to beat John Stockton and Karl Malone in Salt Lake City if the 41-year-old Stockton retires and Malone leaves as a free agent.
Malone led the Jazz with 24 points, while Stockton had 12 points and seven assists, and Greg Ostertag had 14 rebounds for Utah, which has been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round the last two seasons.
Pacers getting `pierced'
In Boston, the Celtics are hungry to fininsh off Pacers
Unlike the Indiana Pacers, the Celtics plan to take advantage of what they've been given.
The Celtics have won twice after trailing by 16 points. Now, Boston has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series entering Game 5 tonight in Indiana.
"After the game in the locker room, we said, `We have a choke hold on them now, let's finish them,'" Paul Pierce said. "I don't see why not. We need to go to Indiana with the focus of putting the series away.''
History favors Boston, which rallied for a 102-92 victory Sunday in Game 4 of the opening-round Eastern Conference matchup.
Only six teams have come back from 3-1 deficits, two since 1981.
The Pacers are 0-12 after losing the first game of a series. Even a victory in Game 5 would force a return to Boston, where Indiana is 0-4 this season, including 0-2 in the series.
"We have to take care of business here at home and try to take care of our mistakes," Indiana's Ron Mercer said.
Mistakes have cost the Pacers a chance at leading 3-1. They have blown leads by letting their offense become stagnant. There's either too much one-on-one play or too much emphasis on getting the ball to Jermaine O'Neal.
Though O'Neal is averaging 27.5 points and 10.3 rebounds, the Pacers haven't been patient enough to consistently find other scoring options, especially when leads begin slipping away.
While Pierce and his 25.9 average, and Antoine Walker have carried most of Boston's offensive load, Tony Delk and Walter McCarty have helped immensely. The Pacers have noticed.
"That's what we have to do on our end," Mercer said. ``We have to share the ball and get everybody involved like we did at the beginning of the year.
Even for a team that finished the season 11-19, the Pacers collapses have been stunning.
-- In Game 1, Indiana led by 16 points in the third quarter and 13 with 7 1/4 minutes left in the game before Pierce led a comeback. He sank all 11 of his free throws, scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and made the winning 3-pointer with 27.5 seconds left.
-- In Game 3, the Pacers went without a basket for 14:19 over the third and fourth quarters. The Pacers shot 13 percent in the third quarter as Reggie Miller went 0-for-7. Indiana was 8-for-31 in the second half.
-- In Game 4, the Pacers led 52-36 early in the third before the Celtics went on a 37-10 run. Pierce scored the last 11 points of the quarter and finished with 32 in the second half.
ESPN will broadcast the Phoenix at San Antonio (Game 5) live at 7am today. Videoland will broadcast the game Orlando at Detroit (Game 5) live at 8am tomorrow.
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