Tuesday, February 18, 2014

George returns to form and so do Pacers

The Pacers defeated the visiting Atlanta Hawks 108-98 Tuesday night in their first game back from the All-Star break. The Pacers are now 41-12 overall and 26-3 at home while the Hawks are 25-27.
The Big Plays
There were a couple of key stretches in this game. In the first quarter the Pacers went on a 16-0 run to turn a 6-5 lead into a 22-5 advantage, and eventually led 31-9. Then after the Hawks fought back and cut the Pacers lead to 52-49 with a minute left in the half, the Pacers finished the half with five straight points and kept it going in the third quarter to extend that run to 19-5 by midway through the third quarter, capped by a Paul George 3-pointer. The Hawks were never closer than seven points the rest of the way.
The Ups
 Paul George hit his first six shots and finished with 26 points Tuesday night.
1) It's too early yet to say that George has completely emerged from what has been a month long shooting slump, but he did take a significant step in the right direction. George hit his first six shots of the game, so that was good. And he did finish with 26 points in the game to lead the Pacers, and that too was good. But after that hot beginning, where he scored 14 points in the first quarter, he hit just 2 of 12 shots the rest of the way, forcing some of them, and that was not good. Playing in the All-Star game may have done George some good on the offensive end, helping him remember how to relax when he shoots the ball. The Pacerx will still need him to be their biggest threat later in the season, so hopefully the overall performance Tuesday is a sign of better things to come.
2) Hawks forward Paul Millsap definitely deserved to be an all-star, but when he faces the Pacers he looks like anything but one. It's a credit to Pacers power forward David West here, too, in that Millsap has scored four, seven and seven points on 6 of 31 shooting from the floor in three games against the Pacers this year. This may have been as big a reason as any as to why the Pacers won this game. If Millsap has his normal 17 to 20-point game, this could have been a nail-biter.
3) It was good and appropriate the the Pacers took time out in the second quarter to recognize former Pacers coach and current radio analyst Bobby Slick Leonard for being named as an inductee into the National Basketball Hall of Fame. Leonard, in the last 20 years or so, has been known more for his "Boom Baby" calls when a Pacer hits a 3-pointer. But he should also be remembered for being an outstanding coach in his heyday. And maybe the best thing about his style is he wanted his teams to play fearless. He understood the value of being a good 3-point shooting team long before it was in vogue. Slick will always have a special place in the hearts of Pacers fans, and it was great to see that he will have a special place that will be duly noted in professional basketball history as well.
The Downs
1) While the start of the game was nice and all, the Pacers didn't really assert themselves in portions of this game. After being up by 22 in the first quarter, the Hawks had cut that lead to three points with a minute left in the first half. Yes, the NBA is a game of runs, where the other team will mostly likely make a big effort to comeback from a deficit, but the Pacers have had a habit of letting big leads slip away. That's something they need to fix in the last third of the season.
Afterthoughts
This was not an earth shattering win, but since the Pacers had lost two of three games heading into the all-star break, and they were both games they should have won, it was important for them to start the post-break schedule with a victory, too. The Pacers have a chance here to add to their victory total and possibly regain that best record in the league status as Atlanta was the first of seven straight opponents they face with a record of below .500. So, a good first step, but still a lot of work to do, too.
Next Up
The Pacers turn right around and play at Minnesota at 8 p.m. Wednesday in an ESPN game. The Timberwolves are 25-28 and had Tuesday night off. They are led by power forward Kevin Love at 25.8 and 13 rebounds per game, Kevin Martin at 19 points, center Nikola Peckovic at 18 points and nine rebounds, guard Corey Brewer at 11.6 points, point guard Ricky Rubio at 8.7 points and 8.3 assists and reserve guard J.J. Barea at 8.7 points. The Timberwolves are averaging just over 105 points this season while allowing 101, so it would seem they should be in line for more wins. However, they allow opponents to shoot nearly 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range, while shooting just 43.6 percent overall and 34 percent from 3-point range. They had lost four in a row before defeating Denver 117-90 in their final game before the break last Wednesday.

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