Robinson goes from warming bench to clutch performer

Indianapolis (AFP) – Glenn Robinson usually plays in the shadow of superstar teammate Paul George.

But the 22-year-old has spent too much time this season sitting on the Indiana Pacers’ bench to let this opportunity go to waste.

Robinson played in place of injured George for the second-straight game and scored 17 points to lead the Pacers to a 91-70 win over the second place Los Angeles Clippers.

George has been sidelined with a left ankle injury and a sore back.

“We have shown that when we don’t have our best player, it is a must for the rest of us to come together,” said Pacers Al Jefferson.

That’s exactly what happened Sunday night as Myles Turner also scored 17 points and the Pacers’ defense shut down the high-flying Clippers. The 70 points was the fewest by the Clippers in coach Doc Rivers’ four seasons there.

The previous low was 80, and the previous low this season was 83.

Indiana won its second in a row, also getting 16 points from Jefferson, while Rodney Stuckey had 12 and Thaddeus Young had 11.

“We protected the paint and showed a wall on defense,” said Jefferson, who added eight rebounds.

The Clippers lost their second contest in a row on their six-game road trip. They got 16 points from Blake Griffin, 13 from Chris Paul and 12 from Jamal Crawford. The Clippers shot only 31.4 percent overall, including four-of-24 from three-point range.

The Clippers’ starting five combined for only 47 points and shot 34.2 percent.

“So far, we would play a good game, and then I would not recognize our team the next night,” Indiana coach Nate McMillan said.

“I don’t want us to take steps backward after we win a game, and tonight we outhustled them and forced a good team into 20 turnovers.”