Already down by Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, Jeremy Lamb, and Edmond Sumner, the injury-riddled Pacers, who sustained yet another injury when Malcolm Brogdon exited the game and never returned with back soreness after playing just nine minutes, somehow led by as many as nine in a contest that saw 13 lead changes.
Unable to hold onto a 9-point lead with five minutes to go in the second quarter after surrendering a 16-2 run to close the half, Indiana clawed out of a 10-point, third-quarter hole to take a four-point lead in the fourth, but 14 unanswered points from Houston left them trailing the rest of the way.