Many Happy Returns

Jalen Rose scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and Indiana capitalized on a big advantage from the free throw line to defeat Washington, 96-81, Friday night in the first game of the abbreviated NBA season.

A sellout crowd of 16,621 was treated to a show of depth by the Pacers, who had 10 players score. The fans showed no signs of unhappiness over the lockout, and the play wasn’t too sloppy as the teams combined for 25 turnovers.

The Wizards made all of their free throws, but Indiana had a 29-9 advantage from the line.

Indiana used its bench liberally and built its biggest lead of the night as reserves played the entire fourth period, starting with a 10-2 run. Rose had four points in the run, giving Indiana its biggest lead of the night up to that point at 79-61, and his three-pointer later put the Pacers ahead 94-74.

Chris Mullin had 15 points for Indiana, including the first 10 as the Pacers took a lead they never lost.

Juwan Howard led Washington with 16 points. Tracy Murray and Rod Strickland, who re-signed with the Wizards on Wednesday, had 12 apiece off the bench.

Indiana, which finished at the bottom of the league statistics in rebounding last season, recorded a 45-31 edge on the boards.

Antonio Davis led Indiana with eight off the bench and Sam Perkins had seven in his Pacer debut.

Mullin made his first four shots, including two three-pointers, as the Pacers built a 20-10 lead. Indiana led 30-23 at the end of the first quarter, having hit 10 of 15 shots from the field. The Pacers went on to lead by 12 twice in the second quarter, but the Wizards cut their halftime deficit to 47-44 by scoring the last seven points of the period.

Washington cut its deficit to one twice in the third quarter, the last time at 49-48 on a short jumper by Calbert Cheaney with 9:24 left in the period.

Rik Smits then scored nine of his 11 points as Indiana opened a 69-59 lead, and Antonio Davis then made a layup to begin Indiana’s 10-2 run.