Mullin’s Punch Propels Pacers

When the Indiana Pacers acquired Chris Mullin during the offseason, they were looking for some offensive punch.

On Thursday night at Indianapolis, Mullin delivered.

Mullin scored a season-high 27 points and Reggie Miller added 21 as Indiana defeated Vancouver, 106-85, keeping the Pacers undefeated in 14 games against Canada’s two NBA teams since they entered the league in 1995.

Mullin, who was averaging 12.7 points, had season highs of 12 field goals and 19 attempts.

“We were on the attack tonight. We were pushing them back,” said Mullin, whose previous high this season was 20 points. “Our defense triggered a lot of stuff. We got out on the open floor, got some good looks.”

The Pacers scored the first six points and never trailed. They broke the game open by outscoring the Grizzlies, 31-12, in the third quarter, when Miller made three three-pointers and scored 14 points.

The Grizzlies had a season-high 28 turnovers, the most by an Indiana opponent this season, and the Pacers scored 31 points off the turnovers.

The Pacers opened the second half with a 24-4 run, which included three 3-pointers by Miller.

Indiana took an 86-62 lead into the fourth quarter and built its lead to 28 points before pulling its starters with about five minutes remaining.

Rik Smits scored 17 points for the Pacers, while Mark Jackson had 11 assists to move into eighth place on the NBA’s all-time list with 6,924.

Reserve George Lynch led Vancouver with 15 points and Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 14.

NBA Notes

Cleveland Cavalier rookie point guard Brevin Knight is expected to sit out tonight’s game against Charlotte because of a bruised right shoulder.