WASHINGTON -- With an emphasis on defence, Paul George, Roy Hibbert and the rest of the Indiana Pacers are suddenly performing the way they did at the start of the season. And they dont care how ugly the product might look. Playing precisely the way they did to earn the No. 1 seed -- before a late-season swoon -- the Pacers held the Wizards to a franchise-low scoring total Friday night to win 85-63 and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series. "Listen, we dont worry about if were looking good for TV. The other teams can do that, can fill that void with fancy basketball. We dont worry about that," Indiana forward David West said. "Were OK with this. We can win games in the 80s." Set aside Georges 23 points, and neither team looked good on offence. Not at all. It was 17-all after the first quarter, and the Pacers led 34-33 at halftime, only the 13th time teams combined for 67 or fewer points in a playoff game in the shot-clock era, according to STATS. After allowing 102 points in Washingtons Game 1 victory, Indiana has won two in a row, including holding the Wizards to 82 in Game 2. Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday night in Washington. "This was probably the ugliest game of the post-season thus far. This is our style of basketball," said George, who helped limit Bradley Beal to 6-for-19 shooting. "Thats what we do. Whether you like it or not, are a fan of watching our games or not, defence is what we hang our hats on." Washington made only 24 field goals, a team post-season worst, on 73 attempts, 32.9 per cent. That included 4 of 16 on 3s, and it didnt get much better on free throws, where the Wizards were 11 of 21. "A clunker," Wizards coach Randy Wittman called it. The Wizards never had scored fewer than 75 points in a playoff game -- the previous low came in a first-round series-ending victory against Chicago 1 1/2 weeks ago -- or fewer than 64 in a regular-season game. The 63 points also matched the fourth-lowest total by any club since 1954-55, according to STATS. "They took us out of our comfort zone offensively," Wizards forward Drew Gooden said. "We were overly confident. ... This is a humbling experience for us." So much for the bandwagon-hopping in Washington. There were boos on occasion, and most of the fans started heading to the exits after Georges 3 with 3 1/2 minutes left made it 75-58. The 7-foot-2 Hibbert was again a factor for Indiana at both ends, coming up with three blocks and forcing Washingtons players to alter other shots. He also contributed 14 points and five rebounds. Before tip-off Friday, Pacers coach Frank Vogel was asked if he sensed which version of Hibbert would show up -- the zero-point, zero-rebound disaster of Game 1 or the 28-point, nine-rebound dominator of Game 2. Vogels reply, offered with a smile: "Probably somewhere in the middle of Game 1 and Game 2." Turned out to be exactly right. "In the past two games," George said about the All-Star centre, "hes been great at just defending our basket." Beals perspective? "Im 6-3, 6-4. Hes 7-2," Beal said. "So you do the math." John Wall, Washingtons point guard, had five turnovers in his previous four games, but he had seven Friday, to go along with 15 points and six assists. Trevor Ariza had 12 points, but zero in the second half. Marcin Gortat scored four points one game after having 21. And Nene had eight points on 3-of-14 shooting and only three rebounds. "Johns got to go out and play aggressive," Wittman said. "I thought he had some indecision in transition -- Do I go? Do I dont go? -- which gets you caught up in the air and some turnovers that way." Washingtons woes shouldnt have been too surprising, given that the Pacers ranked No. 2 in the 30-team NBA in team defence during the regular season, allowing only 92.3 points per game. Not only that, but Washingtons two lowest-scoring games all season -- 66 points in one, 73 in the other -- came in losses to Indiana. And now that version of the Pacers might be back. "It feels like it," George said. "Gradually, were taking baby steps." NOTES: Pacers F Luis Scola was called for a technical foul for shoving Martell Webster in the back as the ball went out of bounds early in the second quarter. ... NBA Commissioner Adam Silver attended the game. Larry Nance Jr. Jersey . And, just for good measure, lets say the lottery team finishes the game short-handed because two starters come down with the very same injury. Roy Hinson Jersey . The club says Fridays surgery was successful. Holiday, a former Eastern Conference All-Star acquired from Philadelphia last summer, has not played because of the shin injury since Jan. https://www.cheapcavaliers.com/532q-derek-anderson-jersey-cavaliers.html . Samir Nasris 88th-minute equalizer at Etihad Stadium will be of little consolation to City, which is now six points behind league leader Liverpool and four points behind second-place Chelsea. Third-place City has a game in hand but the surprise result against Sunderland, coupled with Sundays 3-2 loss at Liverpool, may be a setback too far in its bid for a second championship in three seasons. Ron Harper Jersey . -- Justin Verlander took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his fourth straight decision, leading Detroit over the Kansas City Royals 9-4 Sunday and extending the Tigers winning streak to a season-high five games. LeBron James Jersey . Tristan Jackson returned a missed field goal 129 yards early in the fourth quarter as the Roughriders beat the B.C.Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Pavel Datsyuk and Gustav Nyquist both scored in the shootout as the Detroit Red Wings denied the Minnesota Wilds comeback bid with a 5-4 win on Tuesday. After Zach Parise missed high for Minnesota, Datsyuk was on point with his backhander as he lifted the puck over Darcy Kuempers glove and into the net. Petr Mrazek stayed with Mikko Koivu and stopped his attempts before Nyquist swerved in from the right side, caught Kuemper moving and slid the puck between the netminders pads for the win. Nyquist finished with a goal and an assist, Teemu Pulkkinen scored his first NHL goal and Jonathan Ericsson and Xavier Ouellet also scored for the Red Wings, who won their fifth straight game Henrik Zetterberg tallied three assists and Mrazek made 34 saves in the win. Parise scored twice, Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist and Koivu also scored for the Wild, who have dropped two straight. Kuemper made 14 saves after taking over for Devan Dubnyk, who allowed four goals on just 10 shots. Trailing 4-1 in the third, the Wild got within a goal after Parise skated behind the defense up the left side and shot the puck into the net at 6:01, then Vanek scored on a backhander four minutes later for a 4-3 game. Ericssons clear attempt from behind the net was knockeed down by Parise in front.dddddddddddd Mrazek made the initial stop, but Parise knocked in his own rebound for a tie game with 6:39 remaining. Early in the extra session, Mrazek made a sharp blocker save on Parises wrister off a 2-on-1. Each goaltender made three saves in overtime. Detroit opened the scoring 9:09 into the contest on Pulkkinens milestone marker. Stephen Weiss skated up to the right circle and backhanded a pass to Pulkkinen, who ripped a shot from the slot past the blocker of Dubnyk. Seven seconds into a Detroit penalty, Koivu tied the game with a wrister through the pads of Mrazek at 13:22. The Red Wings reclaimed the lead just over a minute later on Ericssons blast from the left point. Nyquist made it a 3-1 game by deflecting Nicklas Kronwalls point shot under the glove of Dubnyk for a power-play goal 3:41 into the second. Ouellet jumped on a loose puck in the high slot and snapped a shot that was deflected off Wild forward Justin Fontaines skate for a three-goal Detroit lead at 7:25. Game Notes Parise has scored in four straight games ... Kuemper returned after missing six games with a lower-body injury ... Mrazek made his fifth consecutive start ... The two teams will meet again on April 4 in Minnesota. ' ' '