Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Pacers flip the switch a little late in loss

The Pacers lost to the visiting Golden State Warriors 98-96 Tuesday night. The Pacers are now 46-14 while the Warriors are 37-24. The Pacers also fell to 29-4 at home.
The Big Plays
Without a doubt the biggest play in this game came with 10.9 seconds left, when Warriors guard Klay Thompson got the ball on a post up against the shorter Pacers guard George Hill and sank the game-winner with 0.6 seconds left. The Pacers did call timeout and ran an inbounds play for Paul George who had a decent look, but missed about a 28-foot attempt from the left wing off the back rim.
The Ups
1) It looked like the Pacers were done in this one, down 94-82 with just over four minutes to go. But they went on a 12-0 run to tie at 94-94 on two George free throws, and again at 96-96 on two more George free throws. So, even though this was a loss, it was still good see the Pacers not give up when they easily could have. It went from being a game that most probably thought they had no chance to win, to a game they very easily could have won.\
Paul George finished with 26 points, but hit just 2 of 10
shots from the field in the second half of Tuesday's loss.
2) David West keeps bringing it for the Pacers as he had 27 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field and made all seven of his free throws. In his last five games, West is 43 of 79 from the field. So it's good to see the power forward be a big part of the offense, especially in some of these close games lately when they need him. West, too, also made a key steal and dunk in that 12-0 run Tuesday night that was impressive because it was against Warriors point guard Stephen Curry.
3) And lastly, this isn't necessarily a big thing all the time, but the Pacers did use their free throw shooting to stay in this one, hitting 21 of 22 on the night, the only miss by George in the third quarter. It was one of the reasons they were in this game at the end and almost able to comeback and win it.
The Downs
1) One of the things you can't help but be concerned about when playing the Warriors is their 3-point shooting. If a team does nothing else on defense against them, it at least has to guard the 3-point line. It's long be no secret that the Warriors have sharp shooters out there. So the Pacers went  out and allowed Golden State to hit 10 of 20 from 3-point land. That's simply not acceptable for a team like the Pacers that supposedly prides itself on defense. It's just been a bit of trend lately, with the Kevin Love going crazy in Minnesota and the Brandon Knight outburst in Milwaukee.
2) It's not often that I second guess coach Frank Vogel, but there is something he could have done different on that final defensive possession against the Warriors. With the bigger and pretty good defensive player Evan Turner on the bench, it would have been nice to see Vogel put the 6-foot-7 Turner in for the 6-3 Hill to guard Thompson on that possession. Thompson is an excellent shooter, and may have found a way to hit the shot anyway, but it would have been a little more difficult for him to make it over Turner rather than Hill.
3) The Pacers made the deal for Turner to strengthen their bench and it has worked in the games before Tuesday night. However, Turner went scoreless in this one on 0 for 5 shooting and the Pacers bench was outscored 34-11. Turner will have to learn this team doesn't play meaningless games and while there are nights he might have it, he still has to find a way to put some points on the board.
Afterthoughts
With the way the Pacers have played lately, sort of struggling to beat some less than stellar teams in what was a five-game winning streak, it was no surprise to see them struggle a bit against the Warriors. The Pacers had been outplayed for much of the second half, until the late rally, where we saw a sense of urgency that has been missing as of late. Sure, it's a long season and the playoffs present a different type of game on most nights, but in this final quarter of the season now, the Pacers need get back to the style that got them off to that fast start. It's not easy to just flip the switch when the playoffs come. It often takes several games to flip that switch all the way, so the Pacers need to start doing that now.
Next Up
The Pacers turnaround and play at Charlotte in a 7 p.m. game Wednesday. The Bobcats are tied with Atlanta for seventh in the Eastern Conference with a 27-33 record. The Pacers won at Charlotte 99-74 back on Nov. 27 and 99-94 at home on Dec. 13. The Bobcats are led by center Al Jefferson at 20.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, guard Kemba Walker at 17.8 points and 5.5 assists, and newly acquired Gary Neal at 10.2 points. The Bobcats also have former Pacers forward Fred McRoberts, who is averaging 8.3 points, 5 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Expect the Bobcats to come out and play hard as they are just three games behind Brooklyn for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, which would allow them to avoid either the Pacers or Heat in the first round. And since the Bobcats gave up 61 points to Lebron James in a loss to the Heat Monday night, they did not play Tuesday, so will have an extra day of rest on the Pacers, too.

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