Pacers and Miller End Their Slump

Larry Brown shuffled his lineup and the Indiana Pacers broke out of their recent funk.

The moves seemed to help Reggie Miller, who shifted to small forward and snapped out of a shooting slump Sunday by making nine of 19 shots and scoring 27 points in a 105-96 victory over Toronto at Indianapolis.

Miller started at small forward because Derrick McKey was sidelined because of a sprained wrist. Travis Best started at point guard and Mark Jackson moved to shooting guard.

“I thought we had a lot of effort out there,” said Brown, who had complained recently about a lack of effort after Indiana lost four of its previous five games.

“And Reggie made some big shots, which was good to see. We needed this win.”

Miller, who was 21 for 76 from the field in his previous three games, had 21 points in the second half--16 in the third quarter.

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Boston 107, New Jersey 106--David Wesley scored on a pull-up jumper from 14 feet with 18 seconds left and New Jersey was unable to get off a final shot as the Celtics beat the Nets in double overtime Sunday night at Boston.

Armon Gilliam scored 30 points and Chris Childs added 15 for the Nets, but both failed to get off a shot in the final seconds and New Jersey lost its fourth in a row.

Greg Minor and Wesley both hit jump shots as the Celtics cut New Jersey’s five-point lead to 104-103 with 1:44 to go.

Pervis Ellison’s layup with 52.5 seconds left put Boston ahead, 105-104.

Gilliam scored on a driving layup with 34.9 seconds left for New Jersey’s final points.

Rookie Eric Williams had a career-high 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting.

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Minnesota 90, Vancouver 85--Tom Gugliotta scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves beat the Grizzlies at Minneapolis to match last season’s victory total with their 21st win.

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Detroit 91, Denver 81--Grant Hill had a triple-double and Allan Houston added 28 points to lead the surging Pistons to a 91-81 victory over the Nuggets Sunday in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Hill had 20 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his eighth triple-double of the season and his second in three games.

The Pistons have now won five straight and nine of 10, while Denver has lost three of four.

Detroit led 47-37 at the half, and the lead moved between eight and 13 points for the third quarter.

Twice, Houston hit buzzer-beaters, one at the horn ending the first quarter and then a 35-foot shot at the end of the third to make it 66-54.

Detroit expanded the lead to 14 before the Nuggets put together a quick six-point surge to pull within 70-62 with 8:07 to play.

Detroit, though, got three-pointers down the stretch from Hill, Houston, Joe Dumars and Terry Mills to quash the Denver comeback.

Houston and Hill led the Pistons in scoring, while Antonio McDyess topped Denver with 20.

Denver got off to a quick start, jumping to a 20-11 lead behind six points from McDyess.

But the Pistons went on an 18-4 run that gave them a 29-24 lead early in the second.

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Charlotte 103, Phoenix 102--Glen Rice scored 26 points as the Hornets edged the Suns at Charlotte, N.C., for their third consecutive victory.

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Cleveland 115, Sacramento 84--Terrell Brandon scored 26 points as the Cavaliers routed the Kings at Cleveland.

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Portland 112, Dallas 86--Rod Strickland had 18 points and 13 assists in only three quarters at Portland as the Trail Blazers won their fifth in a row.