INDIANAPOLIS -- Roy Hibbert had 24 points and 11 rebounds to help Indiana beat the Toronto Raptors 104-93 Monday night in Frank Vogel's debut as Pacers interim coach.
The 37-year-old Vogel replaced Jim O'Brien, who was fired on Sunday. Vogel said he would allow Hibbert to play through his mistakes, and the seven-foot-two centre rewarded his new coach with his highest-scoring game since Nov. 28.
Darren Collison and Paul George scored 16 points and Tyler Hansbrough added 14 as the Pacers extended Toronto's losing streak to 12 games. The Raptors gave up 100 or more points for the eighth straight contest.
Amir Johnson led Toronto with 18 points, and Jose Calderon and Ed Davis added 13. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto's leading scorer this season, finished with 12 points on 3-for-15 shooting.
An off night by Danny Granger, Indiana's top scorer, didn't slow the Pacers. Granger scored 11 points, but the Pacers outrebounded the Raptors 56-38 to make up for committing 25 turnovers.
Indiana led 48-28 in the second quarter before the Raptors went on a 13-0 run that helped them trim the Pacers' advantage to 51-45 at halftime.
Toronto scored the first six points of the second half to tie the score at 51, but Hibbert made two straight baskets to give Indiana the lead again. Granger scored seven points in a run that pushed the Pacers' lead to 67-59. The Pacers led 75-70 at the end of the third quarter.
Hibbert scored in close, then made two free throws to extend Indiana's lead to 91-82 with just under six minutes remaining. A long pass from Josh McRoberts turned into a dynamic one-handed alley-oop jam by George that pushed the lead to 11 points.
The crowd, sparse because of a winter storm, gave the Pacers two standing ovations in the final minute.
Notes: Attendance was officially 10,258, but far fewer than that number actually showed up. ... Indiana shot 57 per cent in the first quarter to lead 32-21. ... Toronto missed all four of its three-point tries in the first half and made just one in the game. ... Pacers G Brandon Rush sat out with a sprained right ankle. ... Hansbrough played after missing the past two games with pneumonia.
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