Pacers Post-Game Grades: Pacers 108 – Nets 94
By Jared Wade
New Jersey managed to stay somewhat competitive for the first three quarters but Indiana outclassed them throughout, finally pulling away in the fourth for an easy 108-94 win. It was a refreshing turn of events for a Pacers offense that had been disastrous through its first four games. Tonight was the exact opposite as the team shot 52.6%, including 13-for-21 (61.9%) from three.
(Read quarter by quarter reports here: 1st Quarter, Half-Time, 3rd Quarter)
More than the accuracy, however, it was the ball movement that was encouraging. The team shared the ball to the point that Danny Granger even passed up two could-be shots in transition in favor of a more-open teammate. The half-court had its flaws still (finishing in the paint for example), but there were enough positive pick-and-rolls, post-ups and timely swing passes to alleviate the fears of Pacers fans who were dreading that the 2011 offense is what they would see all year.
Sure, it’s the Nets, but this was the first game since the opener that the team can really walk away feeling good about. Here is our assessment of each player’s game tonight.
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Indiana Pacers 108 – New Jersey Nets 94
| DARREN COLLISON 2/4 FG | 9 PTS | 7 AST | +15 If DC is destined to be a distributor who can lead the pick and roll but not take many shots, so be it. He tallied 7 dimes tonight in just 25 minutes. Defense was a chore as he was continually out-muscled by DWill, but that is more a credit to Deron than anything | |
| PAUL GEORGE 8/10 FG (5/5 3PT) | 21 PTS | +2 The Paul George everyone like from the first two games returned tonight, pushing the passive rookie-looking version to the wayside. Some of his team-leading 21 pts came late in garbage time but a put-back dunk and one in transition high-lighted the win. | |
| DANNY GRANGER 4/14 FG | 15 PTS | 6 REB | +21 Granger again shot bad but was a much more willing passer tonight, twice giving up the ball in transition to a more-open player. He missed 4 shots in the paint, but found his stroke in the third knocking down a few threes and played good defense much of the first half. | |
| DAVID WEST 6/10 FG | 13 PTS | 5 REB | 4 AST West is still waiting for a break-out night but he, at times, looked like the dynamic offensive cog Larry Bird expected. He made 5 of his first 7 shots and again showed that when it comes to the pick-and-roll, his ability to execute is head and shoulders above any other Pacer. | |
| ROY HIBBERT 4/8 FG | 9 PTS | 6 REB | 3 TO | +14 After showing some early promise Hibbert never really got back involved in this game, which the refs allowed to be a trench war in the paint. The result was the second straight single-single for the big fella, who only played 21 mins. |
| TYLER HANSBROUGH 5/11 FG | 12 PTS | 7 REB | 3 BA Tyler has struggled to finish in the paint this season and that problem wasn’t solved tonight. He had his shot blocked (officially) 3 times. But he did enough good things on both sides of the floor, including hitting some shots, to have helped the team while playing starter minutes. | |
| DAHNTAY JONES 5/6 FG | 11 PTS | 3 REBs Mr. Jones loves a home-coming. The once-seldom used wing scored 18 in his native New Jersey last February and made all but one of his shots on the way to double-digits tonight. It was his two dunks in the 4th that ended any hope the Nets may have still had. | |
| GEORGE HILL 3/5 FG | 8 PTS | 2 AST | +13 Hill made no major impression. Other than one weird possession discussed here and one nice pass to set up George for a three, the only thing I really recall is that he was on the court for some of the game. He yelled a ref once after being called for a charge. | |
| LOU AMUNDSON 3/6 FG | 7 PT | 6 REB | 2 AST Lou had a sick dunk. More than anything, this just proves that the Nets deserve an F for this game. | |
| LANCE STEPHENSON 0/2 FG | 0 PT | 1 AST | 1 TO | -7 I feel like Lance will get a lot of Cs this year due to so few minutes. Nothing too great tonight. Nothing too bad. | |
| AJ Price 1/2 FG | 3 PT | 2 AST Welcome to the 2011-12 Indiana Pacers season, AJ. Nice shot. |