The visiting Pacers lost to the Houston Rockets 112-86 Friday night. The Pacers are now 46-16 while the Rockets are 43-19. The Pacers now have lost three straight for the first time this season after losing by the biggest margin they have all year.
The Big Plays
The Pacers seemed to come out determined at the start of the third quarter after being down 50-43 at the half. Paul George made two quick baskets and it was a three-point game. Then the Rockets went on a 33-6 run, capped by a 3-pointer by James Harden.
The Ups
Nothing. Wait ... no, nothing.
The Downs
1) Where can we start? Defense you say. Well, there was pretty much none of that. It seems like the days when the Pacers defended the 3-point line and were totally committed to stopping the other team's fast breaks were years ago. It was just a couple of months ago actually. It's not the fact that the Rockets were scoring because they are a pretty good offensive team. But when you're not committed to trying to stop them, nights like this happen. Just shameful, really.
2) Let's continue on the theme here. In the last three games now, the Pacers have allowed the Warriors, Bobcats and Rockets to shoot almost 50 percent from 3-point land. Combined, those three opponents went 32 of 66. Sure a team can got hot for a game or two, but really, to allow that to happen three games in a row is a pretty big issue.
Afterthoughts
If this was just one bad game in the midst of what had been some good games, then, hey, this loss is no big deal. But the fact is the Pacers have not played well for a while now. And that includes the five game winning streak they had against some less than stellar teams they struggled to beat. You can see my previous blog post about the Pacers not having that every possession mentality. Maybe they need a bit of a shakeup. Maybe coach Frank Vogel needs to take a page from Bobby Slick Leonard's book, and a host of other famous coaches, and just lose his cool a bit. Vogel's done a great job since he took over this team, but this is going to be a good test for him, to get this team back to where it was in the early stages of the season. They set a high standard early in the season, so they are capable of doing it.
Next Up
The Pacers travel to Dallas to play the Mavericks in a 7:30 p.m. game Sunday night. The Mavericks come into the game with a 37-26 record and are fighting to remain in the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. As usual, they are led by forward Dirk Nowitzki at 21.6 points and six rebounds per game. They also have Monta Ellis at 19 points and 5.8 assists, Vince Carter at 12 points and Shawn Marion at 10.6 points and 6.7 rebounds. The Mavericks defeated the Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse 81-73 back on Feb. 12, in one of the uglier games of the year to watch. The Mavericks broke a four-game losing streak with a 103-98 win at Portland Friday night, a game they were up 30, lost the lead, then still managed to win.
No comments:
Post a Comment