INDIANAPOLIS â€" These Pacers know how to hold their punches.
Danny Granger scored 29 points to help Indiana beat the Milwaukee Bucks 118-109 on Thursday night in a game that featured two altercations, four technical fouls, a flagrant foul and an ejection.
The game featured playoff-level intensity. The Pacers needed a win to clinch homecourt advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and the Bucks desperately needed a win to stay in the East playoff race.
"We've got a lot more to lose in that situation if something happens, if anyone throws a punch or anything like that, so we have to have that composure to back away and realize our season is far from over," Granger said.
With just over nine minutes left, Milwaukee's Mike Dunleavy drove to the basket and Leandro Barbosa fouled him hard. Dunleavy fell onto Indiana's Tyler Hansbrough, and Hansbrough and Dunleavy had to be separated. There still was bad blood between the two because Dunleavy broke Hansbrough's nose on March 24. Barbosa was called for a flagrant 1 foul.
"Some words were said, some tempers were lost," Hansbrough said. "It happens."
Later, Milwaukee's Larry Sanders, already called for a technical earlier in the fourth quarter, caused a scuffle while walking away after committing a foul. Sanders talked trash to Indiana's George Hill, pointed at David West, then went after Granger. Sanders' teammates held him back while Pacers coach Frank Vogel stepped in front of West. Sanders was ejected and Granger and West were issued technical fouls with 3:29 remaining.
Bucks coach Scott Skiles had little to say about Sanders' antics.
"No comment," he said. "I will let the league handle that."
The exchange energized Milwaukee, and the Bucks made the game close in the final minutes.
Hill had 22 points and eight assists and West added 21 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists for the Pacers, who won their seventh straight and 11th of 12.
"It's not that we didn't play hard, it's that you need an extraordinary effort against a team like this, not an ordinary one," Skiles said. "It's a great club. They'll be a tough out in the playoffs."
Brandon Jennings scored 27 points and Dunleavy, a former Pacer, added 23 for the Bucks.
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