Then he smiled.

No way the Atlanta Hawks forward was getting out of those duties. Not after the way he played Monday night.

Smith scored a career playoff-best 29 points as the Hawks built a 17-point lead at halftime, then withstood an Indiana comeback to even the series with a 102-91 victory in Game 4.

“You da one, Smoove,” teammate Dahntay Jones said as he walked by Smith’s locker. “You da one.”

The one, indeed. After struggling much of the second half, the enigmatic Smith made every big play down the stretch. He swished a rare 3-pointer, came up with an offensive rebound to set up a 3 by Kyle Korver, and finished off a fast break with a right-handed dunk. Plus, he did another stout defensive job on Indiana star Paul George, who had to work for every one of his 21 points.

“When he plays like that,” Hawks guard Devin Harris said of Smith, “we’re a very good team.”

With George scoring 18 in the second half, many on very difficult shots, the Pacers made a game of it. But they couldn’t come all the way back from a 57-40 deficit at the break. Indiana got as close as four in the third quarter, and was within five numerous times in the final 10 minutes. But the Pacers expended so much energy getting back in the game they just didn’t have enough to complete the comeback.

Tied at two wins apiece, the teams return to Indianapolis for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

“This is going to be one heck of a series right now,” Pacers center Roy Hibbert said. “I thought we’d be able to at least split down here.”

Korver added 19 points off the bench, most of them coming on his specialty: the 3-pointer. He knocked down five from outside the arc, including the biggest one with 2:33 remaining after Al Horford threw up a wild shot that missed. Smith snatched one of his 11 rebounds and spotted Korver lurking all alone on the outside.

“Energy and effort,” Smith said. “If we play with those two words and play together — I take that back, make it three words — we’re a pretty good basketball team.”

Horford chipped in with 18 points, and Anthony Tolliver made all three of his shots from beyond the 3-point line, providing a big boost every time the Hawks needed one.

But it was Smith who made sure the Hawks got the game they absolutely had to have before going back on the road.

“Just his energy,” Horford said. “When he plays with that level of energy, it makes such a difference. I’m not saying he doesn’t do it all the time, but when he’s so engaged and doing the little things, it makes a big difference to us.”

Indiana was better offensively than Game 3 but still struggled to make shots, finishing at 38 percent on a 32-of-84 performance. George came alive after halftime, connecting three times from beyond the stripe, while every other starter was in double figures.

It wasn’t enough.

The Hawks beat Indiana for the 13th straight time at Phillips Arena, a streak that dates to 2006. But the Pacers can take solace with not having to win in Atlanta, as long as they take care of business on their home court.

“That’s a great Atlanta team over there,” George Hill said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy series. We knew they weren’t going to lay down. It’s always tough for us to play here. It’s good we have two more games on our home court if necessary.”

Then again, Indiana must be wondering how the series got to this point after the Pacers dominated the first two games in their building, averaging 110 points and a 16-point margin of victory.

The Hawks turned the momentum with a 90-69 blowout in Game 3. They did enough good things in the first half and the closing minutes to get the series back where it started as they head back to the heartland.

“We contested pretty much every shot they took,” Smith said. “That’s what it’s going to take (to win at Indiana). ”

The Pacers played with much more effort than they did Saturday, but it didn’t matter in the second quarter. Not with the Hawks gunning away from the outside — they went 7 of 8 from 3-point range in the period — and running the court with so much abandon that coach Larry Drew had to call a 20-second timeout late in the first half just to allow his players to catch their breath.

Atlanta appeared on the way to a second straight blowout. Not so fast.

Indiana turned up the defensive pressure, while the Hawks began walking the ball up and the court and getting sloppy. The Pacers ripped off a 15-1 spurt that nearly wiped out an 18-point deficit, holding Atlanta without a field goal for a good chunk of the third quarter. After Horford’s dunk with 10:05 left in the period, the Hawks didn’t make another basket until Harris’ nifty dash from one end of the court to the other for a layup with 1:34 remaining.

“That was a real gutsy performance by our team,” Drew said.

Atlanta was able to stick with its big lineup after 7-foot center Johan Petro dashed back from Miami on a private jet sent by the team owners after witnessing the birth of his first child. Jacob Petro was born about 2 p.m. and his father hustled off to the airport, making it to Phillips Arena about two hours before tipoff.

If the birth had taken longer, Petro was planning to stay in south Florida. Instead, he played 22 minutes with hardly any sleep the past two days, contributing four points and eight rebounds.

Atlanta dealt with an old bugaboo in the second half: free throw shooting. At one point, the Hawks had made just 8 of 18 before Horford knocked down five of six to make the percentage look a little more respectable. Still, they finished 25 of 38 at the line, squandering a chance to put the Pacers away earlier.

Game notes

Smith appeared to be standing even farther behind the line than usual on free throws. It didn’t help his percentage, as he made 9 of 16. … Harris was late coming back out for the third quarter. Apparently suffering from dehydration, he took an IV in the locker room as a precaution before returning to the game midway through the period. … The Hawks’ bench outscored the Indiana reserves 30-19.

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Serge Ibaka added 17 points before fouling out late while helping the Thunder improve to a league-leading 33-9 and expand their lead in the Western Conference standings to 1½ games over the Clippers, who were without All-Star Chris Paul and fell to 32-11.

Blake Griffin had 31 points and 11 rebounds, and Jamal Crawford added 14 points off the bench. Eric Bledsoe scored 12 points starting in place of Paul, who missed his fourth game because of a bruised right kneecap. He missed three road wins last week, then played the next two games but it was obvious Paul wasn’t himself so he was held out Tuesday.

The Clippers had won four straight at home against the Thunder, and they led much of the first quarter before giving up the lead for good early in the second.

Los Angeles made a run to start the fourth, with Grant Hill and Crawford combining to score seven in a row and close to 82-75. That was as close as the Clippers came in losing their second straight.

Durant keyed a 3-point barrage over the next nearly 4 minutes, making three of them himself while Westbrook added one and Ibaka had another to extend the Thunder’s lead to 99-82 — their largest of the game. Durant scored on a driving dunk to make it 101-85, then punctuated it by punching his right arm in the air.

The Clippers cut their deficit to 105-97. After Westbrook missed, Griffin raced down court and proceeded to throw the ball into the seats. He bent over with his head in his hands.

Having beaten the Clippers in overtime in November, the Thunder won the season series, with one game remaining on Jan. 22.

Oklahoma City pulled away to a 77-61 lead in the third on a 3-pointer by Thabo Sefolosha and a fast break dunk by Westbrook. The Clippers cut it to nine on seven straight points, including four by Crawford, before the Thunder scored the last five points to lead 82-68 going into the fourth.

The Thunder controlled the second, taking their first lead of the game on Kevin Martin’s 3-pointer 45 seconds in. That launched a 13-2 run that gave the Thunder a nine-point lead, their largest to that point. Griffin scored the Clippers’ final six points to help them close to 49-45 at halftime.

The Clippers led by eight before the Thunder closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 22-all.

Game notes

It was Paul’s bobblehead night. … Clippers F Caron Butler swatted away a shot in the second quarter and the ball hit referee Derek Richardson in the head, knocking him backward to the court. He wasn’t hurt. … The Thunder improved to 2-1 on their season-high six-game trip. … The Clippers agreed to a 10-year extension of their lease at Staples Center, where they are one of the arena’s original tenants. The extension takes effect at the end of this season, and will keep them in the arena through June 2024.

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Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21 points and Trey Burke had 18 points and nine assists to help No. 5 Michigan stave off No. 9 Minnesota 83-75 on Thursday night, after falling at rival Ohio State four days before.

“We came out with a higher intensity than last game and set the tone first,” Burke said, adding: “We got our confidence back, and that’s important.”

Hardaway hit four 3-pointers in the first half for the Wolverines (17-1, 4-1 Big Ten), who held the lead for the final 33 minutes of the game and finished with 13 steals to fuel their fast break. Nik Stauskas added 11 points, and now Michigan has a week to rest before a home game against Purdue.

“When you don’t lose very often, they really hit hard,” coach John Beilein said. “I think it’s important for your mental health.”

Austin Hollins led the Gophers (15-3, 3-2) with 21 points and four steals, and Trevor Mbakwe had 13 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Andre Hollins was drawn into early foul trouble, but he came alive after halftime to finish with 13 points and four assists.

The Gophers crept back in the game after falling behind by 19 points early in the second half but squandered some opportunities to really make the Wolverines worry. Joe Coleman missed three of four free throws in the final 4 minutes.

Rodney Williams cut the margin to 77-70 with 2:40 remaining and the Gophers got the ball back, but a 3-pointer by Williams rolled off the rim and Andre Hollins had his put-back attempt blocked underneath.

Burke stretched the lead to nine points with two free throws with 43 seconds left, effectively sealing another signature victory for the Wolverines.

“We’re going to have to do something out of the ordinary to be in the Big Ten hunt,” Beilein said. “Every team is going to have to do that.”

Michigan moved into a four-way tie for second place in the stacked conference behind surprisingly unbeaten Wisconsin. Minnesota lost its second straight game after falling 88-81 at Indiana last Saturday. The Wolverines have beaten the Gophers in eight of their last nine meetings.

“It’s very big, especially for our young guys,” Hardaway said. “It shows that they can win through adversity and they can limit mistakes. It shows that we can trust them and we know that they can handle it.”

This was the first game at Williams Arena pitting two top-10 teams in The Associated Press poll since Michigan visited Minnesota in 1977, and the fans at “The Barn” raised the noise level to the occasion. In the first 4 minutes, Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins both swished 3-pointers and Mbakwe blocked two turnaround shots by Jordan Morgan, just the right way to rev up the crowd.

The Gophers are built around an aggressive, athletic defense that coach Tubby Smith has long employed, but the Wolverines can guard people, too, and they made the Gophers pay nearly every time they made a rushed, forced or panicked pass under heavy ball pressure. The Wolverines entered the game with the fewest fouls in the nation at 11.6 per game, and they emerged from this physical contest with ripped jerseys by three players (Burke, Stauskas and Morgan) and more moxie for the rest of the way.

“Got cuts and everything. But it’s great. That’s Big Ten basketball,” Hardaway said. “Just trying to embrace it as much as possible.”

Hardaway knocked down his share of shots to deflate the Gophers defense and keep the fans from overtaking the game.

“He’s got a presence on this team, both offensively and defensively,” Beilein said. “That is really making our guys go.”

Austin Hollins, the Gophers’ best defender, slowed him down after halftime, but the damage was done.

“He’s a talented player,” Hollins said, adding: “I did what I could. He made a lot of tough shots.”

The Wolverines, who matched the best start in program history at 16-0, fell behind by 21 points in the first half of their 56-53 loss to the Buckeyes last Sunday. This time they took better care of the ball and forced enough misses and turnovers by the Gophers to ignite their breath-taking fast break.

Minnesota’s backups collectively struggled, and the Wolverines took advantage during a 2-minute stretch in the middle of the first half after Andre Hollins picked up his second foul. Julian Welch, the one second-stringer who contributed, scored eight points in the first half.

Burke found Hardaway streaking ahead of him and zinged a perfect lob pass for a dunk with 3:11 left in the half. That came right after the Gophers cut the lead to two, the closest they came in the final 33 minutes.

Then the duo did it again shortly after halftime, pushing Michigan ahead 42-32. The Wolverines put together a 20-7 run to stretch the lead to 56-37, punctuating the takeover with a steal by Glenn Robinson III near midcourt from Williams and a 360-degree dunk on the other end.

With his team trailing 36-30 at halftime, Smith expected the second-half surge to come right away.

“It was just the opposite. Usually we respond much better than that, but I don’t know what happened there,” he said.

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