Pacers score over Heat

INDIANAPOLIS: Paul George had 29 points and 11 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers held the Miami Heat to a season-low point total in an 87-77 win Tuesday in Indianapolis.
George made four 3-pointers to get the best of his matchup with LeBron James. David West added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Lance Stephenson chipped in with 13 points for the Pacers (21-14), who have won 11 of 13 games.
Dwyane Wade scored 30 points, and James had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Miami (23-10), which still has the best record in the East.
It was the first time the teams had met since Miami beat Indiana in six games in the conference semifinals last year.
George, 22, has moved from shooting guard to small forward and has become a primary scoring option with Danny Granger, Indiana’s leading scorer last season, out all season because of a knee injury.
“The simple fact that Danny Granger is hurt has created this opportunity for him to show what he can do,” James said. “He’s doing everything. He was a good player last year, but we weren’t able to see it because he wasn’t a featured player.”
The Pacers outrebounded the Heat, 55-36, to help make up for 36 percent shooting.
Miami entered leading the N.B.A. in field goal percentage, while Indiana led the league in field-goal percentage defense. The Heat scored 35 points in the second half, their lowest-scoring half of the season.
Rockets 125, Lakers 112: James Harden scored 31 points and Chandler Parsons 20 to lead host Houston to its fifth straight victory. The Rockets trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half but took control with a 38-26 run through the third quarter.
Metta World Peace had a season-high 24 points and Kobe Bryant added 20 for the Lakers, whose top three big men — Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill — were out with injuries.
Bucks 108, Suns 99: Brandon Jennings scored 29 points as host Milwaukee gave Jim Boylan a win in his first game as coach. The Bucks parted ways with Coach Scott Skiles on Monday in what was called a mutual decision, and Boylan, Skiles’s top assistant, was promoted to replace him.
General Manager John Hammond played down the notion that Skiles had lost control of the locker room or otherwise felt friction with management.
“Scott and I did not have a frosty relationship; Scott did not hate this team,” Hammond said.
This is the second time Boylan has succeeded Skiles at midseason. He took over the Bulls when Skiles was fired in December 2007.
T’wolves 108, Hawks 103 Nikola Pekovic had 25 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, and Andrei Kirilenko added 21 points for host Minnesota. Coach Rick Adelman missed the game because of unspecified personal reasons.
Josh Smith had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawks.