Indianapolis, IN

Paul George recorded his first career playoff triple-double as the Indiana Pacers rolled to an easy 107-90 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

George tallied 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds and tied a franchise playoff record with 17 free throws made to lead the Pacers to victory.

"I don't want to be labeled as a scorer or a defender. I want to be a ballplayer," George, who clinched his second career triple-double and the Pacers' first in the playoffs since Mark Jackson against the Knicks in 1998.

"He was all over the place tonight. That's who Paul George is. He's one of the most complete players in the game," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said of George.

"He impacts the game in so many different ways -- defense, rebounds, steals, blocks, 3-point shooting, getting to the free throw line, making the extra pass," he added.

George Hill scored 18, Roy Hibbert had 16, Lance Stephenson and David West tallied 13 apiece and Gerald Green contributed 11 for the Pacers, who outscored Atlanta, 30-7, from the charity stripe.

The Pacers also outrebounded the Hawks, 48-32, resulting to a 19-7 advantage in second-chance points.

"They outworked us. They just clearly outworked us. If you're going to be good in any series you have to have a blue-collar mentality and we didn't display that tonight," said Atlanta coach Larry Drew.

Jeff Teague recorded 21 points, Josh Smith had 15, Al Horford scored 14 and Ivan Johnson had 10 for the Hawks.

Green buried a triple to give the Pacers an 87-71 lead early in the fourth but the Hawks bounced back with a 10-2 run to trim the gap to 89-81.

Hill and Tyler Hansbrough responded with three points apiece to pad their lead to 95-86 as the Pacers were never threatened the rest of the way.

 

Paul George Triple-Double Lifts Pacers over Hawks

 

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