By Howard Fendrich
In sum, the tireless Paul George willed the up-and-down Pacers within one victory of a return trip to the Eastern Conference finals, playing every second of the final three quarters as Indiana erased a 19-point deficit to beat Washington 95-92 Sunday night.
Roy Hibbert had 17 points and nine rebounds. He responded with 28 points in Game 2, then 14 in Game 3, before helping Indiana win its third consecutive game Sunday, when Hibbert said he got a motivational boost from what he called a heckling fan.
WATCH: Roy Hibbert’s Game 4 at Wizards – 17 Points, 9 Rebounds
“He woke me up,” Hibbert said. “He said I was tired. He was saying a lot of obscenities. I’m a God-fearing man, so I’m not going to go ahead and say what he was saying.”
After dropping Game 1, the Pacers have won three in a row to go up 3-1 and can close out the best-of-seven series at home Tuesday night. Only eight teams in NBA history have blown that lead.
The Wizards were up 17 at halftime, then made it 57-38 on Nene’s basket to open the third quarter.
But Washington showed a propensity this season for blowing double-digit leads – the Wizards lost 11 games after being up by at least 10 points – and again fell apart.
George’s 3 with 5 1/2 minutes left made it 85-79, and another 30 seconds later made it 85-82.
Hibbert and he Pacers limit the Wizards to one field goal over the final 7 1/2 minutes.
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