Stephenson regains his form in win at Boston

The Pacers moved to 11-1 on the season with an 97-82 win at Boston Friday night.
The Big Picture
This is one of those road games that the Pacers are supposed to win and they closed the third quarter with a 12-2 run to pull away and take the lead for good. The 4-10 Celtics are undermanned, but give former Butler coach Brad Stevens some credit for at least keeping them competitive as they are missing their best player, point guard Rajon Rondo, who is recovering from a knee injury and has yet to play this year.

Lance Stephenson earned his
second career triple-double Friday night.

The Ups
1) Lance Stephenson had struggled a bit since getting his first career triple double four games ago. So to break out of what might have been termed a mini-slump, he,as they say, messed around and got himself another triple double Friday night. He finished 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. And he even threw in four steals. But the numbers were not the most impressive part of his game on this night. From the beginning, Stephenson was mostly under control. What I also liked about this game in what has become a bit of trend, is that Stephenson is running the point more often. And when he plays a bit calmer, he's without question the best passer on the team as he found teammates in a variety of scoring positions both in the set halfcourt offense and on the fastbreak. It's no secret he's a very good player, it's just a matter of consistency now.
2), Well we've seen this before early in this season and we'll probably see it again, but the third quarter was the Pacers' friend once again. They outscored the Celtics 25-8 in the quarter and that was pretty much the game. The Pacers remain one the of the best second half teams in the league and I guess if you have to pick a half to be at your best, you'd have to take the second half. The Pacers scored 55 points in the second half using a 10-0 run in the third quarter and a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter. That's pretty difficult for any team to overcome.
3) Even though they spent some minutes on the court together Friday night, the power forward combination of David West and Luis Scola had an efficient game. They each scored 17 points and combined to shoot 14 of 23 from the floor and they also combined for five steals. Scola in particular looked more confident in his jump shot and really is becoming a legitimate and consistent weapon off the bench that the Pacers never had last year. It seems that point guard George Hill and Stephenson are recognizing were Scola likes the ball and he was in position to step into some shots Friday night.
4) This play occurred early in the fourth quarter when Stephenson penetrated then found himself trapped in the lane. He was stuck and tried to get the ball to Paul George. But the pass was a bit off target and as he has done other times this season, George went on the floor to get the ball and when he couldn't come up cleanly with it center Roy Hibbert followed also going to the floor. That's two all-stars going all out. It wasn't a defining moment in terms of changing the game around, but it does define what this team is all about.
The Downs
1) That second quarter issue came up again in this game as the Pacers were outscored 25-20. That doesn't seem like a disaster, but they were down three after the first quarter, so they went into the lockerroom down 50-42. Once they recognized that maybe somebody should guard Jordan Crawford, it was a little too late as he had the hot hand and hit his first nine shots of the game. That was one of the problems that was corrected in the second half, when Crawford was a non-factor scoring just five of his 24 points in the final 24 minutes.
Afterthoughts
The Pacers went out and won a game the way the way there were supposed too. Once they built a nine-point lead in the third quarter it was never close. The one interesting thing is again, George scored over 20 points, netting 27, meaning the Pacers are 11-1 when he scores 20 or more. Yes, this would have been a bad loss had they somehow not asserted themselves in the second half, but really, no worries in this game.'
Who's Next
The Pacers host the Philadelphia 76ers tonight and yes, it's another game they should win. But the Sixers can be a bit dangerous as they started the season 3-0, which included wins over the Heat and the Bulls. They have a respectable starting five, but their bench is week. They won in overtime Friday night over the Bucks, 115-107 and were led by forwards Evan Turner with 27 points and Spencer Hawes with 25 points. They also have a legitimate rookie of the year candidate in point guard Michael Carter Williams, whose hit some big shots and has a knack for the ball on defense too. He had five steals Friday night. So, it will be important not to go to sleep on the Sixers. Most thought they would be lucky to win 15 games this season, but they've already got six wins.