Pacers rout Cavaliers 123-109 to end 4-game skid

Paul George scored 29 points and C.J. Miles added 21 in Indiana Pacers' 123-109 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, without LeBron James on Wednesday.

Indiana ended a four-game losing streak in the series and still leads eighth-placed Detroit by a half-game.

Ninth-placed Chicago, still vying for one of the final two playoff spots in the East Conference, is now three games behind the Pacers.

The Cavaliers played without James, who rested after playing in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Kyrie Irving had 26 points and six assists. Kevin Love scored 23.

In Boston, Isaiah Thomas scored 32 points to help the Boston Celtics fend off the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans 104-97.

Jae Crowder added 14 points, Avery Bradley finished with 13 points and six rebounds, and the Celtics beat the Pelicans for the fourth straight time.

Toney Douglas led the Pelicans with 19 points, and Tim Frazier added 18 points and six assists. Six New Orleans players finished in double figures.

In New York, Kemba Walker scored 34 points, Al Jefferson had 24 and the Charlotte Hornets bounced back from consecutive losses to the Eastern Conference's top teams by beating the New York Knicks 111-97.

Walker scored 13 points in the first quarter and Jefferson helped Charlotte break it open by scoring 10 points in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter.

Derrick Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Carmelo Anthony returned from a game off to rest and scored 15 points.

In Washington, Ramon Sessions scored 18 points and had a season-high 13 assists while starting in place of the injured John Wall to help the Washington Wizards defeat the Brooklyn Nets 121-103.

Bradley Beal scored 25 points, and Marcin Gortat had 16 points and 12 rebounds as Washington remained at least mathematically alive in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

Wall sat out for the first time this season with a sore right knee for the 10th-placed Wizards (38-40), who remained three and half games behind Detroit for the final postseason berth.

Thomas Robinson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Nets, who have lost six straight games by an average of 19.3 points.

In Orlando, Reggie Jackson scored 24 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18 to help lead the Detroit Pistons over the Orlando Magic 108-104.

The win kept the Pistons (42-37) in contention in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They remained a half-game behind Pacers for the No. 7 spot.

The Magic's three-game home winning streak ended. They held a 96-92 lead late in the fourth quarter, but then saw it slip away. Endit