Pacers have no magic in loss to Wizards

The visiting Pacers lost to the Washington Wizards 91-78 Friday night. The Pacers are now 52-21 while the Wizards are 37-35.
Forethoughts

Paul George had a tough night hitting just six of 22 shots from the field.

This had all of the makings of a let down game after Wednesday's big win over Miami for the Pacers and it sure turned out that way. It was OK to win ugly against the Heat and it actually would have been OK to win ugly against the Wizards. But instead, it was just ugly. Period. The tone was set early when the Pacers had seven turnovers in the first quarter and shot just under 35 percent. It would have been even worse if Luis Scola had not gone 4 of 6 from the field. So, it was a disappointing effort all the way around. Those big time third quarters where the Pacers just used to take over games now seem like a thing of the distant past. The Wizards outscored the Pacers 30-19 in the third and that was pretty much the game.
The Ups
1) Not many good things here. Donald Sloan did come off the bench and score seven points. Roy Hibbert had five blocked shots. There was 12-0 run in the later stages of the second quarter to cut the lead to four. But that was really about it.
The Downs
1) Wizards center Martin Gortat is a decent player, but when he goes for 17 points and 12 rebounds and Hibbert goes for eight points and two rebounds, no matter what the blocked shots are, that's just not a good thing. Hibbert needs to play like he's playing the Heat every night, I guess.
2) Let's just do a little roll call here: Paul George 6 of 22 from the field five turnovers; Evan Turner zero points; Lance Stephenson was 3 of 13 from the field, but he did get 14 rebounds, so there was that.
3) The Pacers never led in this game. Not once.
Next Up
The Pacers come back home Sunday and play host to Cleveland in a 3 p.m. game. The Cavs have struggled throughout this season. They Cavs are 29-45 after losing Friday night at Brooklyn.
The Cavs had won three straight before Friday even though they have been without top scorer in Kyrie Irving, who is averaging 21.2 points and 6.2 assists, for the last six games due to a biceps injury. The Cavs also have Dion Waiters at 15.3 points, Luol Deng at 14.7 points, Spencer Hawes at 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds, Tristan Thompson at 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds and C.J. Miles at 9.9 points.