Hibbert scored a season-high 29 points to help Indiana beat the Utah Jazz 97-86 Monday night, ending the Pacers’ six-game losing streak.

A.J. Price had 22 points and Lavoy Allen added 12 — also season highs for both players — as the Pacers won for the first time since the season opener. Allen also had 15 rebounds and Hibbert grabbed five.

“I was just trying to be aggressive, my teammates found me in spots and I tried to establish myself early,” Hibbert said. “Lavoy played an awesome game and A.J. was the reason why we won this game.”

Price, playing on a 10-day contract with the Pacers granted a roster exemption due to their injuries, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers during a 13-2 run that gave Indiana an 87-79 lead midway through the period.

“I’m playing for my life,” Price said. “That’s what it’s been for the last couple years for me. I am staying until they tell me to go. I’m going to keep playing as hard as I can.”

Solomon Hill added 13 points for the Pacers, and his dunk on Indiana native and former Butler star Gordon Hayward in the third quarter may have been the turning point for Indiana.

The Pacers were trailing 60-57 with a little more than 5 minutes left in the third when Hill drove to the rim.

“It was just being aggressive,” Hill said. “I feel like they don’t have too much depth at the wing spot so you have to attack the guys that are out there. You want to get him (Hayward) tired, you want to wear him out. He can’t be a guy off a back-to-back that plays 40-plus minutes.”

Hayward scored 30 points to lead Utah. Enes Kanter had 18 points and Derrick Favors added 13 points and eight rebounds.

“Hibbert was a monster tonight,” Hayward said.

Indiana played without injured starters David West (sprained ankle), George Hill (bruised knee) and Paul George (leg).

Hayward scored 13 points in the third quarter as the Jazz used a 19-4 run to take a 60-53 lead midway through the period.

The Pacers clamped down in the fourth quarter, holding Hayward to four points while outscoring the Jazz 25-17 in the period.

All six of Indiana’s losses during its skid were by 10 points or fewer and the last four defeats were all two possession games, including an overtime loss at Washington.

“I look at us as a young team just because everybody is new to their role, any kind of success can be a confidence builder,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “Build on the things we are doing well. Just understand that we can be better and correct the things we are not doing well enough.”

TIP-INS

Jazz: Hayward handed out roughly 50 tickets to Monday’s game. “Anytime you get to come back (home) and get a chance to have people you grew up with come watch you play is pretty special,” Hayward said.

Pacers: Price’s 22-point effort against the Jazz makes him a valuable piece to the Indiana picture right now.

BALL SECURITY

Indiana’s seven turnovers were a season-low. The Pacers did not commit a turnover in the first quarter, their first 12-minute stretch of the season without a giveaway.

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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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He made sure that prediction came true Sunday.

Following the best season of his three-year career, George opened the playoffs by producing the first postseason triple-double of his career — 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists — and led the Pacers out of their late-season funk and past Atlanta 107-90 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Suddenly, all those problems ailing the Pacers have been forgotten.

“I know what the team will expect from me now,” George said. “But, again, I like the pressure.”

He can expect to be dealing with even more of it in the best-of-seven series.

There were plenty of questions after Indiana coach Frank Vogel gave four of his starters — George, George Hill, Roy Hibbert and David West — a three-day break this week. The move meant those four came into the opening game without playing a minute since last Sunday’s loss at New York sealed Indiana’s fate as the East’s No. 3 seed.

Outsiders wondered whether those off-days would rejuvenate the Central Division champs, who looked so good from mid-December through early April, or whether would be rusty after stumbling to five losses in their last seven regular-season games.

Those inside the locker room said that the extra rest would be beneficial. Sunday’s performance left no doubt as fans repeatedly waved the gold towels the Pacers handed out before the game.

While George went 3 of 13 from the field, he made his first 17 free throws, tying Reggie Miller’s single-game playoff mark for best percentage. George missed his 18th and final attempt with 2:35 to go. It was about the only thing that went wrong for the All-Star forward who had Indiana’s first triple-double in the playoffs since Mark Jackson on May 13, 1998, against New York.

Indiana also has a 1-0 lead for the first time since beating the New Jersey Nets 90-88 in 2006.

“It was huge for our confidence,” George said. “We got back to playing our style of basketball.”

George had plenty of help, too.

Hill, who sat out parts of practice Friday and Saturday with an injured left groin, made his first six shots and finished 7 of 10 from the field with three 3-pointers and 18 points. And Hibbert added 16 points and 11 rebounds on a day the Pacers outrebounded Atlanta 48-32 and limited the Hawks to 14 fast-break points.

Vogel couldn’t have designed a better script.

“You have to stick to who you are and play your style of play, which I think we did,” Vogel said. “We have to play with passion. When we play with passion and energy on both ends of the court we’re pretty good. ”

Atlanta found out the hard way.

Indy native Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 21 points and seven assists, while Josh Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds. The only other Atlanta player to reach double figures was Al Horford with 14 points.

Most of the Hawks’ players were upset about the wide free throw discrepancy.

Indiana was nearly flawless from the line (30 of 34), while the Hawks spent most of the second half in foul trouble and made seven of the 14 free throws they got.

“I felt we like earned the opportunity to shoot a little bit more free throws than what we did, but it is what it is,” Smith said. “We have to make sure next game that just one player on the opposing team doesn’t shoot more than the whole entire team.”

Coach Larry Drew had bigger concerns.

He was disappointed with how the team responded to the calls and with the effort, too. He hopes both will be fixed when the series resumes Wednesday in Indy.

“We didn’t come up with the big plays, we didn’t come up with the hustle plays, the energy plays,” he said. “I thought right when we were, I believe it was a nine-point game, them shooting a free throw, they come up with the offensive rebound off the free throw, kick it out, swing it around, they get a 3. That’s just getting outworked. They just clearly outworked us.”

It wasn’t a perfect game for Indiana.

Again, the Pacers got off to another rocky start by giving up the first six points. But unlike the previous six games when they dug themselves into 20-point deficits in each game, Indiana wasted no time charging back.

The Pacers used a 9-0 first-quarter run to take a 19-13 lead, extended it to 34-26 after one and never trailed again.

While the Hawks tried valiantly to rally, cutting the deficit to four late in the second quarter and trimming Indiana’s 15-point lead to eight with 7:23 to go, Indiana never let the Hawks get any closer and eventually pulled away.

Just like they were doing in the middle of the season.

“We got back to playing our style of basketball,” George said. “They came out and hit shots, but what we did a great job of was not letting them string some of those baskets together. We kind of ended their momentum and that’s what it’s going to take.”

Game notes

The Hawks dropped to 0-3 this season at Indiana but have won 11 straight in Atlanta over the Pacers. … This is only the fourth time these teams have met in the playoffs. Atlanta holds a 2-1 advantage and won the last postseason matchup 3-2 in 1996. … Hibbert played with the phrase “B Strong” written on his white shoe Sunday, a message to the people of Boston from the bombings earlier this week. … The Hawks went home after the game and will practice there Monday and Tuesday before returning to Indy on Wednesday.

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The Warriors’ David Lee, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson also were called for technicals, along with Indiana forward David West, after the brief scuffle during the fourth quarter of the Pacers’ 108-97 win.

It began when Lee and Hibbert exchanged shoves under the basket after a missed shot with 6:10 remaining. Curry tried to push Hibbert away and was shoved to the court.

No players left the bench. Hibbert said he believes he will face a suspension.

“Seriously, I didn’t even feel him,” Hibbert said of Curry. “I saw some light-skinned guy. I don’t know if it was Klay Thompson or Steph Curry, I just knew there was a light-skinned guy by me.”

Curry scored a season-high 38 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Warriors saw their three-game winning streak end. The Pacers built a 95-85 lead midway through the fourth quarter, and not even the scuffle shook them up as they ended a three-game skid against Western Conference teams.

“There were two or three guys coming after [Hibbert],” said West, who led the Pacers with 28 points. “We preach and talk about togetherness, so that’s part of what we’re going to do. We’re going to defend one another. They came after him too many times.”

When play resumed, Ian Mahinmi made a free throw, West added three baskets, Lance Stephenson hit a 3-pointer and Paul George scored on a jumper to give the Pacers a 104-87 lead with 3:28 left to play.

“It was just physical play,” Curry said. “Teams are gearing up for playoff basketball and amping up the intensity a little bit.”

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The Pacers (22-14) have won 12 of 15 and have swept the other two Eastern Conference division leaders — Miami and the Knicks — this week.

New York (23-12) was led by J.R. Smith with 25 points and Tyson Chandler had 12 points and 15 rebounds, but they clearly missed Anthony’s presence. The NBA’s second-leading scorer was banned by the league for Monday’s postgame confrontation with Boston’s Kevin Garnett.

Without Anthony, one of the league’s highest-scoring and best shooting teams, hardly resembled itself. New York finished with a season-low point total, nine fewer than its previous low, and shot just 34.8 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range.

But Smith kept the Knicks close for three quarters.

After falling behind 49-38 early in the third quarter, Smith scored eight points during a 13-3 run that got the Knicks to 52-51. And he closed the quarter by scoring the last four points to give the Knicks a 60-58 lead.

That’s when George poured it on.

He drove in for a layup, then stole the ball and drove in for a dunk to tie the score at 62. After Gerald Green’s 3-pointer broke the tie and Ian Mahinmi hit a 20-foot jumper, George came up with another steal and layup. Mahinmi finished the run with a dunk that gave Indiana a 71-62 lead with just under 5 minutes to play.

The Pacers never trailed again, and the Knicks never seriously challenged again.

Indiana won despite playing without the still injured Danny Granger, losing Roy Hibbert twice with a back injury and with George Hill playing with bronchitis.

New York lost Marcus Camby in the second half after he re-injured his left foot, and Amare Stoudemire played 21 minutes, 31 seconds after doctors told coach Mike Woodson to limit his playing time. Stoudemire is trying to work his way back from surgery on his left knee.

But it was a game that was definitely played at the Pacers tempo.

After New York jumped to an 11-4 lead in the first 5 1/2 minutes, the Knicks managed only three points the rest of the quarter. Indiana led 16-14 after one.

Things weren’t much better the second quarter. After New York closed to 24-23 with 6:27 to go, the Pacers extended the lead to 39-31. Jason Kidd’s 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds left, New York’s first 3 of the game, made cut the deficit to 39-34 at the half.

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