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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Howard was blocked by the Suns’ Shannon Brown with 6:57 remaining in the fourth as he tried to bring the ball from his waist up to the hoop following an offensive rebound and went down to the floor in pain.

Howard checked out of the game and did not return as the Suns finished on a 19-8 run without him. Howard’s shoulder will be re-evaluated Thursday after the team flies to Minneapolis and his availability for Friday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves will be determined.

“It’s real sore,” Howard told reporters after icing his shoulder and applying kinesiology tape to the joint following the game. “Everything on (the right) side (of my body) is hurting pretty bad right now.”

Howard originally injured his shoulder during a Jan. 4 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and sat out three games to try to strengthen the muscles surrounding his shoulder. He re-injured it in the second quarter of the Lakers’ 106-93 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last week and sat out the second half, but did not miss any subsequent games.

The All-Star center said Wednesday’s aggravation was the worst pain he’s had since the original injury occurred against the Clippers, and he will have to consider resting again to help it heal.

“I’m going to try as much as I can but I don’t want to cause more damage to my shoulder,” said Howard, who finished with nine points and 14 rebounds in 29 minutes against Phoenix. “I don’t want to (miss any games), but we’ll see.”

When Howard was asked whether he would have to consider surgery to repair his shoulder, the big man replied, “Not right now.”

Kobe Bryant said he has played through shoulder injuries in the past and it will be an adjustment that Howard has to make.

“I’m not worried about it,” Bryant said. “It is going to be an all-season thing. That’s how those types of injuries are with the labrum. I’ve had them before. Lamar (Odom) when he was here had them before. It’s one of those things when you get banged like that going up, you’re going to get that stinging sensation. That’s just how it’s going to be.”

What Bryant was worried about was how the Lakers performed defensively in the fourth quarter without Howard, allowing the Suns to score 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting (68.8 percent), while outscoring the Lakers 10-4 in points in the paint.

“We played well defensively outside of a stretch at the end of the ballgame when we let (Michael) Beasley get to his strong hand and get all the way to the rim with no support,” Bryant said. “That’s not acceptable. We had been playing solid defense all night long.”

Beasley scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter.

“They started getting to the rack a little too easy,” Howard said. “There was really no defensive presence in the paint, so Beasley got opportunities to just go down the lane and finish. So it was tough to watch.”

Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni hoped that Howard would not be watching from the sidelines for too much longer as he deals with the injury.

“I think it’s the same as always in terms of it hurts a lot, and hopefully by (Thursday) the pain goes away and he can play the next game,” D’Antoni said. “It’s my understanding that it’s something that will hurt, go away, and then he plays when it goes away.”

Howard, who missed the final portion of last season in Orlando because of debilitating back pain, said that his shoulder injury is “nothing” compared to his back injury that required offseason surgery.

“Two years of having injuries is not something that’s easy to deal with, but I won’t lose my spirit and I just got to continue to do whatever I can to get my shoulder strong,” Howard said.

With the loss, the Lakers fell to 20-26 and are four games behind Houston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

The post Dwight Howard: Shoulder ‘real sore’ appeared first on IdealCapper.

Following one missed shot, the ball rolled between forward Carlos Boozer’s legs as he fell on his backside, yet he still managed to scoop it up and feed a teammate for two more second-chance points for Chicago.

Dominating on the glass and the hardwood, the Bulls became only the third visiting team to win in Miami this season, beating the Heat 96-89 on Friday night.

Chicago outrebounded Miami 48-28. The Bulls had 19 offensive rebounds to four for the Heat.

“Everybody in both locker rooms understands what the overwhelming key to the game was,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They were throwing it up there and playing volleyball against us.”

The Eastern Conference-leading Heat fell to 15-3 at home. Their other home defeats came against the Knicks and Warriors.

“It always feels good to beat the Heat,” said center Joakim Noah, who had 12 rebounds. “And we get a night out in the city, so we’re hyped right now. We haven’t been playing great basketball and this is probably our biggest win of the year against the defending champs. It feels good.”

The first meeting between the teams this season was a bruiser, and the Bulls repeatedly outfought and outfoxed Miami on the boards.

The Heat, who are last in the NBA in rebounds, had won four games this season when outrebounded by 15 or more. But this time the disparity beat them.

“It’s just the will of going to do it,” LeBron James said. “It’s a reoccurrence. You give a team like this extra possessions, they’re going to capitalize.”

James scored 30 points, extending his streak of scoring at least 20 points to 31 consecutive games this season, and 52 games in a row overall when including last year’s playoff run. He has scored at least 25 in eight consecutive games.

But he had just six rebounds, which led the Heat. Boozer had 12 rebounds for Chicago, and Taj Gibson added nine in 17 minutes.

The Bulls’ final offensive rebound helped seal the win. Jimmy Butler grabbed it and fed Boozer for a layup with 46 seconds left to put them up 93-86.

Chicago had 20 second-chance points to seven for Miami.

“It’s killing us, plain and simple,” said Heat center Chris Bosh, who had one offensive rebound in 38 minutes. “Is it scheme? Is it mental? We’d better figure it out.”

Boozer scored 27 points after totaling a season-high 31 on Wednesday at Orlando. Noah, back after missing one game with flu-like symptoms, had 13 points.

They set the tone with their physical play.

“I don’t know if that small ball is going to work against us,” Noah said. “Not with guys like Carlos Boozer in the game.”

While the Heat were often on their heels, they kept coming back. A jarring foul by Kirk Hinrich near the sideline staggered James and he collapsed on the Bulls bench, then was helped to his feet by coach Tom Thibodeau.

Seconds later, James sank a 3.

Noah drew a flagrant foul when he tackled James around the neck with one arm to stop a drive early in the fourth quarter. The violation led to a four-point possession for the Heat, with James sinking four consecutive free throws.

The next time Miami had the ball, James drove for a dunk that cut Chicago’s lead to 75-72. But the Heat got no closer.

“We understand how important rebounding is,” Thibodeau said, “and it showed tonight.”

Chicago won with more than mere muscle. The Bulls’ 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson made a leaping interception of a James pass, then smartly bounced the ball off Miami’s Shane Battier to avoid traveling. The ball dribbled out of bounds, allowing Chicago to keep possession.

Robinson’s 3-pointer with 6 1/2 minutes left gave the Bulls their biggest lead, 83-73.

The Bulls pounded the boards from the start and scored the final 10 points of the first quarter for a 26-22 lead. Butler’s buzzer-beater to end the first half put them up 49-48.

Marco Belinelli sank a 3-pointer to put Chicago up 75-66 after three quarters.

The Heat had won their past two games, both in overtime, but the Bulls wouldn’t let them get to OT.

Game notes

Regarding All-Star voting, James said with a chuckle: “It looks like I’m going to be a starter. Surprising.” … The Bulls are 9-8 home and 9-5 on the road. … Chicago improved to 8-1 on the road against the Eastern Conference.

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