PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Indiana Pacers used stifling fourth-quarter defense to overcome a second-half deficit and remain unbeaten on the road.
The Pacers held the Philadelphia 76ers scoreless for the first six minutes of the final quarter and rolled to their fourth straight road victory, 85-74.
Ron Artest scored a season-high 30 points and had 10 rebounds for Indiana (6-1), which has won five in a row overall. Jermaine O'Neal added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers.
"We played together,"Artest said. "We were good in the first quarter, but then we stopped playing defense. In the fourth quarter we buckled down on defense."
Allen Iverson beat the third quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer to build a 64-59 lead for the 76ers. But costly fouls and turnovers allowed the Pacers to open the final period with a 14-2 run, making it 73-66 with 4:05 to go.
"We keyed our defense on Iverson," O'Neal said. "He is hard to keep up with. We slowed him down, and made other players take shots. We tried to wear him out and let the others try to beat us."
"We just didn't take care of the ball," Iverson said. "(The fourth quarter) is the time when you really want to take care of the ball the most. That's the time when you try to get the best shots you can."
Iverson led the 76ers with 37 points, scoring eight of their 10 points in the fourth quarter. Derrick Coleman and Samuel Dalembert were the only other Sixers to score in double figures with 10 points apiece. Dalembert also added a career-high five blocks but it was not enough as Philadelphia lost its second consecutive home game.
"We were shooting a lot of jump shots," Iverson said. "It's hard to win games when you shoot a lot of jump shots. You don't get the ball to the basket and try to get fouled."
"You have to be aggressive in this league," Iverson added. "Get in there and get fouled, regardless if they are tough fouls or not."
Glenn Robinson had just six points for the Sixers, but his five rebounds helped him surpass 4,000 in his career.
Artest had 12 points in the fourth quarter but he paid a small fee. He lost a tooth went Coleman sent him crashing to the floor on a dunk attempt with 4:23 remaining.
Coleman received a flagrant foul on the play.
The Pacers forward sat on the floor for a few minutes before getting up and hitting two free throws to make it 71-66.
"I just think Derrick Coleman was just doing what he was supposed to do," Artest said. "Him being the enforcer for his team. He knocked my tooth out. It just hurt. Stuff like that is going to happen."
"I went for the block," Coleman said. "I didn't intentionally try to hurt Ron. I just went straight up to try to block the shot."
Pacers veteran guard Reggie Miller thought the usually volatile Artest is learning how to handle adversity better.
"I think tonight was a great indication of the new and improved Ron," Miller said. "I think last year, Ron probably would have taken out a few fans in the front row and went after Samuel Dalembert.
"He hasn't gotten a technical this year and he's not getting any credit for that. Last year when he got a technical foul it was headline news."
Philadelphia shot just 33 percent (5-of-15) in the fourth quarter, 42 percent overall (30-of-72) and committed nine turnovers.
Indiana shot 46 percent (34-of-74) from the field.
The Sixers seemed to miss the presence of forward Kenny Thomas in the paint. Thomas sat out the game with a contusion of his lower back and Indiana hammered the 76ers on the backboards, 45-29.
"When you get outscored and outrebounded the way that we got outrebounded, 45-29, it's hard to win any games," Iverson said.
Iverson refused to blame the Sixers' rebounding deficit on the absence of Thomas or the lack of size in the frontcourt.
"I don't really think about size when I play this game, or when my teammates play this game, because it's about the size of your heart," Iverson said. "The guys that we have are capable of rebounding the basketball, so there is no excuse for it. You just have to rebound with the guys you have."
Indiana outmuscled Philadelphia in the paint early and jumped out to a 19-6 lead with 5:48 left in the first.
Indiana led 38-26 with 5:28 left in the second. But Philadelphia closed the half with a 15-5 run to cut the deficit to two points.
Philadelphia struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 38 percent but they capitalized on 11 turnovers to stage a comeback.
Iverson's jumper over Anthony Johnson with 1:19 left in third gave the Sixers their first lead of the game, 59-58.
