By Johnnie Clay - Pacers Insider.
December 12, 2003 - 9:45 pm

The Indiana Pacers extended their Eastern Conference lead this evening with a resounding 103-92 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Conseco Fieldhouse tonight.

Led by Jermaine O'Neal's 20 points, the Pacers never trailed as they completely dominated the Hawks up and down the court.

The Pacers shot 51% for the night, as long range bombers Reggie Miller and Fred Jones, shot holes in the Hawks defense, scoring 13 and 18 points respectively.

Pacers center Jeff Foster, was in foul trouble early on but no need to worry, Austin Croshere stepped up nicely, scoring 9 points and pulling down 8 rebounds.

Jones, stepped in as Al Harrington went down in the third quarter with a bruised right cheekbone. At the time, Harrington was playing well, scoring 9 points and 3 assists. Harrington was taken for precautionary X-rays after colliding with Hawks guard Stephen Jackson under the basket shortly before halftime. Harrington clutched his face and fell to the floor after hitting Jackson while trying to block his shot.

O'Neal and Ron Artest, (who scored 17 points and 7 rebounds) helped the Pacers get out of the gates early. Leading by only 8 points (25-17) at the end of the first quarter, the Pacers offense went into high gear, going on an 14-2 run early in the second quarter to put the game away quickly.

The Pacers defense slowly began to put the clamps down on the Hawks as they led at halftime, 52-35.

An early run by the Hawks in the third quarter managed to cut the Pacers lead down to 11 points, 59-71 at the end of the thrid, but it was short-lived as the Pacers blasted more holes into the Hawks, extending the lead back up to 17 midway through the final period.

The Pacers offense played extremely well tonight, only turning the ball over nine times this evening as compaired to twelve by the Hawks.

The win tonight was the Pacers second in a row for this month. Last month, the Pacers put together multiple winning streaks of five and eight games.

The Pacers get on a plane tonight and head out to Chicago for an 8:30 tipoff tomorrow night against the Bulls. The Pacers have yet to see this incarnation of the team. The Bulls traded former Pacers star Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter to Toronto for former Pacers star and Raptors All-Star center Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Chris Jefferies on Dec. 1. Bill Cartwright was fired as coach and replaced by Indiana native and former Pacers point guard (1987-89) Scott Skiles on Nov. 28.

Gametime Saturday is at 8:30 pm (EST)