The Big Picture
If there was ever a trap game on the schedule this was it. The Pacers certainly were ready for the Bulls as they won on Wednesday night. The next so-called big game on the schedule is at Brooklyn Saturday night. In between, there was this contest with the Raptors. And while the Pacers did look a little flat early on, they showed their maturity by starting the second half with a 10-0 run and never trailing again.
Likes
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| Paul George had 17 points in the third quarter and has scored 20 or more in six games. |
2) The Pacers have become an outstanding team defensively since coach Frank Vogel took over a little under four seasons ago. Part of it is having good individual defenders like George and center Roy Hibbert, but a big part of it too is the team's willingness to help on defense when needed. The Raptors have some athleticism and there were a few occasions where a Raptor player would beat his man off the dribble, only to find another Pacer standing in the way.
3) OK, the one issue I have with Vogel is that he doesn't always call a timeout to set up a play if the Pacers have the ball at the end of the first half. In the previous two games, the Pacers had the ball at the end of the half, but there was no timeout and no basket. Friday night they had the ball again with 22.5 seconds left and it was a clearout for George. Even as good as George is, I still hate that play. Luckily, he missed and the Pacers got the ball back with 1.9 seconds left. So Vogel calls the timeout and while a Roy Hibbert 15-footer from the line probably wasn't the first option, he was open and he hit it. So, there.
4) The bench has been a bit inconsistent at times, but give them credit here. It was mostly the second group that helped turn a 10-point deficit in the first quarter into a close game. Hibbert's basket to end the half cut the Raptors lead to two.
Dislikes
1) The passes into the post continue to be an issue. Once in the first half Lance Stephenson didn't wait for the offense to cycle through and when he threw the ball into Hibbert, it was an easy blind side steal for the Raptors. Another time in the second half George Hill threw an errant pass into the post the that got tipped away and led to a fast break for the Raptors. Paul George threw one out of bounds when he was trying to hit David West late in the third quarter and C.J. Watson and West threw errant post passes that resulted in turnovers in the fourth quarter.
2) Yes, this a bit picky here, but the Pacers were up by 16 points early in the fourth quarter and you could feel a slight drop in intensity. Was it the end of the world? No. Was it a little something they can learn from? Yes. Vogel sensed this and called a good timeout midway through the quarter.
Afterthoughts
1) This is not so much a second guess, but rather an affirmation of what looks to be a good decision. The Pacers decided not to bring back Tyler Hansbrough after four seasons. Hansbrough had hoped to start in Toronto and that hasn't happened. And while he was his usual aggressive self when he got in the game Friday night, he was not a big factor in the decision. The player that eventually replaced Hansbrough, Luis Scola, played well again Friday off the bench.
Next up
The second big game of the season happens Saturday night in Brooklyn. The Nets made changes to go for the title this year and feature one of the deepest teams in the league. It will be one of the better big-man match-ups you'll see this year with the Pacers' Roy Hibbert going against Brooke Lopez. It might help that the Nets were on the road Friday night and were taken to overtime by the Wizards before losing 112-108.
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