Bewerbung » Keshi, whose side won last years Africa Cup of Nations. "

INDIANAPOLIS -- The hard part for the Indiana Pacers isnt over. It takes time to climb out of a slump. "Once youre not playing well and you finally get a win, the hardest part is maintaining that consistency," Paul George said. "You have to understand that its going to be different every night, but you got to find a way to build off the first win." George had 27 points and 13 rebounds, David West scored 15 points and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game skid with a 101-94 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. George hit a 3-pointer from 35-feet to give the Pacers a 94-90 lead with 3:19 remaining and Indiana never trailed the rest of the way. Josh Smith scored 15 of his 24 points in the first quarter and finished with five rebounds, and Greg Monroe added 16 points for the Pistons, who have lost four of their last five games. Brandon Jennings hit a 3 to get Detroit within 94-93 before George scored, forced a turnover and West hit a jumper to give the Pacers a 98-93 lead with 1:35 left to play. "We were locked in really early in this game," George said. "They made a late push when we were up a good eight points, they made a pretty good push. But I felt our guys were locked in throughout this whole game." Georges two free throws with 8:54 left in the third gave Indiana a 58-50 lead. The Pistons bounced back with a 9-0 run and Rodney Stuckey hit a 3-pointer to give Detroit a 74-73 lead with 13 seconds left in the third. The Pacers gave fans mixed signals. At times Indianas sluggish play showed signs of a team that continues to struggle with chemistry, shooting and turnovers. The Pistons scored 17 points off 10 Indiana turnovers. At other times the Pacers looked like the same old team fans were used to before the All-Star break. Bankers Life Fieldhouse was abnormally silent when the Pistons went on an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter and took a 23-14 lead after Monroe scored with 4:19 left in the opening quarter. Then the Pacers showed signs of life. They went on a 12-2 spurt to close out the first. George scored to give the Pacers a 28-27 lead with 20 seconds left in the first. Evan Turner dunked and West scored to give the Pacers a 35-32 lead with 8:03 remaining in the second quarter. "We had good pace, we threw it up the floor, we attacked," Pistons interim coach John Loyer said. "I cant fault the way our guys played. They competed their butts off against the best team in the East." The Pistons went on an 8-0 run to take 40-35 lead with 5:13 left in the second quarter. Stephenson then sparked a 10-0 surge with a one-handed dunk and George closed it out with a 3 to give the Pacers a 45-40 advantage with 3:20 left in the half. Georges free throw with 31 seconds left in the second gave the Pacers a 50-46 lead at halftime. The Pistons handed Indiana its first home loss of the season, 101-96 back on Dec. 16 -- one of the few positives for Detroit this season. The Pacers won twice in Detroit, including a 112-104 overtime win on March 15. Indiana hopes Wednesdays win over the Pistons is the start to getting back to playing at the level they were. "You get a win, but you have to string a couple together," Pacers centre Roy Hibbert said. "Winning is hard work. We have to see if we can keep it going." It wont be easy. The Pacers play three of their next four games on the road. They go to Toronto on Friday and will host Atlanta on Sunday before going on the road to Milwaukee and Miami next week. They host Oklahoma City on April 13 in Indianas final home game before the playoffs. NOTES: Detroit G Chauncey Billups was out after left knee surgery. ... Pistons G Josh Harrellson was out with a knee injury, C Andrew Bynum was out with a sore right knee and G C.J. Watson was out with a right hamstring straight. ... Hibbert left the game with 1:21 left in the first quarter after he hit the back of his head falling to the ground on a Flagrant 1 foul called on Charlie Villanueva. Team officials said Hibbert has questionable with a sore neck, but he started the second half. . The Pistons shot 44 per cent in the first quarter and led by as many as nine points, but went 23 of 68 (33.8 per cent) in the final three quarters. Brayden Point Jersey . Thats 14 consecutive losses to the two-time defending champs, and most of them were over before they even began. Result notwithstanding, Sundays game had a very different feel to it. Andrei Vasilevskiy Jersey .Y. -- Syracuses streak lives on -- barely. http://www.lightninghockeystore.us/Tyler-Johnson-Jersey/ .Kraft says Goodell realized before seeing a video showing Baltimore running back Ray Rice striking his then fiance that domestic violence was very serious for society in general. Ondrej Palat Jersey .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. Ryan Callahan Jersey . A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position. CURITIBA, Brazil -- Nigeria and Iran delivered the first draw of the World Cup on Monday as they ground out a scrappy 0-0 stalemate in their opening match in Group F. The draw at the Arena da Baixada in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba followed 12 mostly high scoring and attacking games. After a first half in which Nigeria failed to capitalize on its dominance, chances were few and far between in the second. In the early passages of play, Nigeria had shown menace, with much of its attacking thrust coming down the left with Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses combining to cause problems for the defensively-minded Iran side. Nigeria came closest to scoring in the seventh minute when an Ahmed Musa goal was disallowed after John Obi Mikel was adjudged to have fouled Iran goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi at a corner. Iran grew more confident as the game progressed and came close to scoring in the 34th when a Reza Ghoochannejhad header required a sharp save from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. In the second half, both sides were guilty of sloppy passages of play, to the growing annoyance of the mainly Brazilian crowd. Players from both sides snatched at chances, and neither goalkeeper was troubled despite some frantic late pressure in the final minutes. "They had 11 people behind the ball, which made it hard for us to create chances," Mikel said. "Its frustrating because they sat back." Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi said his team became anxious when it failed to score during a dominant opening 25 minuutes.dddddddddddd. But he added: "Respect to Iran, they had their game plan to sit back and defend and they did well." Keshi, who played for Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup, is already anticipating a backlash after the draw. "Win or lose Im criticized," said Keshi, whose side won last years Africa Cup of Nations. "A draw now, Ill be criticized. Its part of the game. In my country, its win at all costs and sometimes it doesnt go that way." The best chance either side has to progress in the tournament is to beat debutant Bosnia-Herzegovina, as Argentina is the firm favourite to top the group. Lionel Messi scored one of the tournaments best goals in Argentinas 2-1 victory over the Bosnians on Sunday. Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said the result was "fair" and that his players deserved "sympathy and respect" for performing on the biggest stage despite the impact of economic sanctions on the country -- which made it difficult to arrange friendlies. "Were not here to perform the role of the happy loser," Queiroz said. "The fans need to know the conditions we have endured for three years to get here." Queiroz wouldnt talk about the teams next game against Argentina. "Now Im so tired just let me enjoy this point we collected from Nigeria," he said. The draw means the winless World Cup runs of both teams continues, dating back to France 1998. For Iran, though, this was the first time it had not conceded a goal at the World Cup finals. ' ' '