the Premier League in recent seasons after missing out on the top

ATLANTA -- The Indiana Pacers have changed who they are, going to a different style in hopes of surviving the opening round of the playoffs. No matter what, they can always count on David West. With the top-seeded Pacers poised for an early summer, West fearlessly led a 16-4 run to end the game, extending the season with a 95-88 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night. "Hes our rock," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. "Theres no other way to put it." Trailing 3-2 after losing at home for the second time in the best-of-seven series, Indiana was in big trouble when the Hawks pushed out to an 84-79 lead with just over 3 minutes remaining, cheered on by a raucous crowd that barely sat down in the second half. But, for the fourth time in this back-and-forth affair, the road team won. West seemed to make every big play down the stretch, scoring four straight points and forcing a huge turnover to begin the turnaround. He hit two more baskets in the final minute to wrap things up, finishing with 24 points. Game 7 is Saturday in Indianapolis. "When a team is making runs like that, an eight seed trying to knock off a one seed in their building and the place is erupting on every play, we have a guy with the composure to settle everyone down," Vogel said. Paul George also scored 24 points for the Pacers, making four straight free throws to help fend off a team that was trying to become only the sixth No. 8 seed to win a playoff series. The Pacers went with a smaller-than-usual lineup much of the game, hoping to match up better with Atlanta spreading the court and shooting a bunch of 3-pointers. Roy Hibbert remained the starting centre, but played only about 12 minutes for the second game in a row. Ian Mahinmi played nearly twice as long, giving Indiana more mobility in the lane, while C.J. Watson and Chris Copeland also got extensive minutes. It worked. Atlanta bogged down offensively and made only 9-of-35 from beyond the arc. "We tried some different lineups," West said. "Coach rolled the dice." West came up big all over the court, also leading the Pacers with 11 rebounds and six assists, not to mention a couple of steals. "I told the guys, If worse comes to worse, weve got to play park basketball," he said. Atlanta, playing perhaps its biggest home playoff game since the 1980s, looked as if it was on the verge of a huge celebration when the defence sagged and Jeff Teague knocked down a jumper with 3:16 to go. But, led by West, the Pacers showed some of the resolve theyve lacked in a late-season swoon. After swishing a pair of free throws, he hustled back to swat the ball away from Atlantas Pero Antic. Making sure Indiana took advantage of the turnover, West calmly made a jumper from the top of the key. Paul Millsap missed at the other end, and George Hill burst into the lane to drop one in. Just like that, the Pacers were back up 85-84 with 1:58 remaining. Antic tied it for the final time, 85-all, on a free throw with 1:24 remaining. But that was it for the Hawks. West hit another jumper to put the Pacers ahead for good. Then, coming off a timeout, Lou Williams drove under the basket and tried to throw an outlet pass to Teague; instead, the ball went right to George. He was immediately fouled, made both free throws, and Teague missed again for the Hawks after a brilliant night to seal it for the Pacers. Teague scored 29 points, nearly pulling out a victory on a night when Atlanta shot just under 36 per cent. "Nobodys going to lay down and just allow their season to be over with," Williams said. "Especially with the type of basketball team that they are. I think they just did a great job of just fighting at that three-minute mark and made the plays that we didnt." The bruising series nearly turned ugly near the end of the first half. Scott doled out an elbow to Hill, and the Pacers guard responded with a shove. The refs jumped in quickly and no punches were thrown. After initially calling a foul on Hill, the officials got together and changed it to Scott. The crowd booed lustily, but it appeared to be the correct call. Replays appeared to show a couple of Indiana players stepping beyond the bench area, but they didnt get involved and Vogel said he didnt expect any discipline from the league for Game 7. Notes: Millsap and Williams were the only other Atlanta players in double figures, both with 16 points. ... Lance Stephenson scored 21 points for the Pacers. ... Millsap had 18 rebounds. Mitch Garver Twins Jersey .Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems to be leaning the fiscally responsible way.Let me put it like this: Its going to be a challenge, Jones said of re-signing both of Dallas biggest potential free agents. Minnesota Twins Gear .com) - Maria Sharapova reached her 10th career grand slam final after beating Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets at the Australian Open on Thursday. https://www.cheaptwins.com/2092t-devin-smeltzer-jersey-twins.html . As for regular Olympic spectators, theyre being warned that most travel insurance policies wont cover acts of terrorism or war. The Games in southern Russia, which run from Feb. 7-23, are being staged amid unprecedented security and under global warnings of danger. Taylor Rogers Twins Jersey . THE THUNDER & PACERS BENCHES: In a nutshell, not impressive at all. Kirby Puckett Jersey . The Rainbow FlickNext up is the Rainbow Flick, or as you probably know it, the trick that everybody at soccer camp thought they knew how to do.History was made in the Football League play-off semi-finals as all the best-placed teams were beaten for the first time. Brighton, Walsall and Accrington Stanley all suffered play-off heartbreak, losing to Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and AFC Wimbledon respectively.The Seagulls had finished 15 points ahead of Wednesday in the Championship, Walsall 10 points ahead of Barnsley in League One and Accrington 10 clear of the Dons in League Two. But, for the first time in the play-offs, none of the three teams who finished highest made the final.The last third-placed team to miss out on the Championship final was Nottingham Forest in 2009/10 while in League One it was MK Dons in 2008/09, with the final for the last five seasons being contested by third vs fourth.The previous two sides to finish fourth in League Two (where there are three automatic promotion positions) had made the final, but the five before them had all missed out. Watch highlights as Brighton drew with Sheffield Wednesday in their second leg Since the introduction of the play-offs in 1987 there have been several examples of teams missing out on promotion after finishing well ahead of their rivals in the regular season.However, the stats before this years play-offs favoured progress for at least one of Brighton, Walsall or Accrington.In fact, 39.5% of the teams that had finished in the top play-off place across the three divisions had been promoted. Barnsley reached the League One final after a thumping win over Walsall Only 21% of teams in the second play-off spot had been successful while those in the bottom two places went up 19.dddddddddddd8% of the time.In the Championship, 37% of the sides who had finished third were promoted, with Norwich, West Ham and Swansea all going up to the Premier League in recent seasons after missing out on the top two.A good omen for Sheffield Wednesday is that the last three sides to finish sixth and reach the final have all gone on to win promotion, while only once in the last 17 seasons has the team finishing fourth - Hull this year - gone up. AFC Wimbledon made it past Accrington in League Two In League One, where Walsall missed out on second place by a point, the play-offs have proved more unpredictable in the past.Before this year, teams in third had gone up 33.30% of the time, a slightly better success rate than those in fourth (25.90%), fifth (18.50%) and sixth (22.20%).But Accrington had more reason to be optimistic as almost half (48.10%) of the teams that had finished fourth in League Two had gone up through the play-offs.Those in fifth (18.50%), sixth (14.80%) and seventh (18.50%) had not enjoyed anywhere near as much success.Who will win promotion this year from the play-offs? Watch all the finals live on Sky Sports, starting with Hull v Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, May 28. Also See: FL proposes shake-up Proposals explained Lower-league clubs criticise FL Live on Sky ' ' '