INDIANAPOLIS — Jay Huff scored 29 points and posted nine rebounds to lead the Pacers to a 127-119 win over the Pelicans on Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in a battle between the last place teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences.
With the win the Pacers improved to 10-32. The Pelicans fell to 10-34 and leave with the worst record in the NBA.
All-Star forward Pascal Siakam scored 27 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists. Guard Andrew Nembhard had 19 points and 10 assists. Zion Williamson led the Pelicans with 27 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Here are three observations.
Jay Huff posts career-high … but misses reverse dunk
Jay Huff has scored exactly 20 points three times this year and has seemingly hit a wall every time he’s got to that mark. Against the Celtics on Monday he hit 20 points in the third quarter but didn’t get a single field goal attempt in six fourth-quarter minutes and ended up stuck at 20.
But on Friday, Huff finally broke that seal with not only his highest scoring game of the season but the highest scoring game of his career. Huff hit three 3-pointers on six attempts, but he was even more deadly around the rim, taking advantage of the constant level of attention on Pascal Siakam to get easy opportunities for dunks and layups. He also ran the floor hard in transition and got opportunities that way. He was 13 of 17 from the floor and nine of his makes were within 5 feet of the basket.
Huff did leave two points on the table, though, when he tried to reverse a dunk when he didn’t have to. He had a clean lane for an easy dunk in the third quarter and he apparently decided to try to twist right at the last second before he threw down and lost control of the ball. However, he made a more practical reverse dunk just a few plays later.
Pacers ride best offensive first half of the season to win
The Pacers took control in the first half with their highest scoring half of the season
With a 31-point first quarter and a 42-point second quarter that matches their highest scoring quarter of the year, the Pacers scored 73 points to surpass their 72-point second half against the Nuggets on Dec. 3 for their highest scoring quarter. They shot 30 of 55 from the floor and 11 of 22 from 3 in the period and turned the ball over just twice, posting a healthy 1.40 points per possession. The Pacers also won on the glass and outscored the Pelicans 36-30 on points in the paint and 10-2 on second-chance points.
Pascal Siakam scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half and Jay Huff scored 18 of his 29 then.
T.J. McConnell joins elite club in strong performance
WIth two assists in the first quarter, veteran point guard T.J. McConnell became just the second player in NBA history to register 3,000 career assists off the bench. Lou Williams finished his 17-year NBA career with 3,262 assists off the bench. McConnell is catching up to him in his 11th season.
McConnell put some work in on eventually taking over the record after picking up those first two. He finished the evening with nine assists against just one turnover, helping the Pacers stave off a number of near Pelicans comebacks. He also had his mid-range jumper working as usual with eight points on 4 of 8 shooting with all four field goals coming between 6 and 18 feet.
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers win matchup of two worst teams in NBA, 127-119 over Pelicans
