In the biz, that’s what you call doing work. Pacers came out the gates putting it on the Heat and while Miami did quickly return the favor, Indy got back up big in the third quarter and never relented on their way to an easy 105-90 win. The Pacers starters outplayed the Heat starters and their bench followed suit, led by a huge second half from the newest Pacer, Leandro Barbosa.
Danny Granger led the way scoring-wise, but six guys finished in double figures and Darren Collison was stellar on both ends. Roy Hibbert had some highlights and protected the paint on a night when Indiana caught Miami flat-footed.
This certainly wasn’t the best Heat team that’s ever lost a game. They coughed up the ball 17 times, missed 14 free throws and only scored 4 points on the break. And while Dwayne Wade made some threes, LeBron seemed off in his approach and Bosh missed the bulk of his shots. Really not their best execution or cohesion. But you have to think that a lot of that disjointed feel was due to some good play by Vogel’s crew, who cared not about Miami’s slump and were gangbusters from the first tip to the final whistle.
This makes three wins in the last four games for the Pacers.
Here is how each guy played individually tonight. Agree? Disagree? Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me (@8pts9secs) or Tim (@TimDonahue8p9s) on Twitter.
| David West, PF 31 MIN | 5-8 FG | 12 REB | 4 AST | 10 PTS Really nice game from West, who can have trouble guarding Bosh off the dribble at times. | ||
| Danny Granger, 8-19 FG | 6-7 FT | 9 REB | 3 AST | 25 PTS He is really finding his role on the team: be the most aggressive scorer out there but don’t overdo it. Was a perfect blend between attack and pass off tonight. | ||
| Roy Hibbert, C 36 MIN | 4-9 FG | 3-6 FT | 9 REB | 11 PTS Big fella dunked over LeBron and swatted his layup. That’s enough for an A even before you factor in the other blocks, the boards, the put-back, the alley-oop dunk and not getting torched by Bosh. | ||
| Darren Collison, 7-12 FG | 4-4 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 20 PTS Arguably the best game he has played in some time. Key steals, pushed the tempo and got everyone involved. When your point guard scored 20 and 5 other guys drop double digits, the offense is flowing. | ||
| Paul George, SG 37 MIN | 7-14 FG | 10 REB | 3 AST | 16 PTS Nice little outing. Some highlights. Some OK defense. Shot well. |
| Dahntay Jones, SG 6 MIN | 0-2 FG | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 PTS Lost his early 4th quarter rotation to Paul George, who played in an interesting Hill/Barbosa/George perimeter lineup effectively. | ||
| Leandro Barbosa, SG 15 MIN | 5-11 FG | 1 REB | 14 PTS Perhaps the MVP as he hit 3 threes in the 2nd half and also curl-cut his way into the lane for a bucket and a foul. The sparkplug this team badly needs. 14 pts in 15 mins. | ||
| Louis Amundson, 12 MIN | 0-1 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 1 PTS Not much in terms of productivity. | ||
| George Hill, SG 15 MIN | 0-2 FG | 1 REB | 3 AST | 0 PTS Nothing too good, but certainly didn’t hurt the team. | ||
| Tyler Hansbrough, PF 18 MIN | 1-3 FG | 6-8 FT | 1 REB | 8 PTS Got to the line. That’s nice to see when he isn’t playing particularly well otherwise. |