Post-Game Grades: Pacers Don't Lose to Wizards

Good job not losing to the Wizards. Its always nice to get a win on the road, so kudos. But again. Wizards. Don’t come looking here for a lollipop for holding on to win a game late that should have been a 30-point margin. If not for a long stretch of futility when DC got hot late in the third, going on an 18-2 run, there would have been no need for David West to put the whole team on his back. Again. In crunch time. When everyone else on offense — save for Roy Hibbert — continued to be harmless at best and downright destructive at worst.

George Hill and Sam Young, who had some good moments, threw away two amateur-looking cross-court passes to keep the Wizards’ hopes alive. I will fully admit that Shaun Livingston, and Kevin Seraphin to a lesser degree, made a few nice plays in the third to organically cut into the Pacers’ lead. But that happens and it was no excuse for the teamwide meltdown, led by the bench. They went fetal and let Washington nearly get close enough to win its first game of the year.

West and Hibbert were both great for most of the game. Just look at their stats. And Roy made some excellent passes early while both bigs protected the paint. Hibbert seemed to have some of the Wizards scared to even enter. So, long-term, that’s probably the takeaway from this game: Roy Hibbert has played one full game in which was not only not a disaster — but actually looked like an All-Star.

Then again … just look at the lines of Hill and Paul George. Really discouraging stuff. Each threw up what looked like a punt at the rim on open three-point looks late. PG was again hesitant and sloppy on most of his attempts to create with the ball. Really, aside from some nice energy plays from Young, not much to be happy about from the perimeter. Gerald Green played well overall. But as a collective … So many turnovers. So many fouls. So little execution.

Helluva a first half, at times (if you ignore the turnovers and all the fouls), and a win is a win, I guess.

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 37 MIN \| 10-14 FG \| 10-10 FT \| 8 REB \| 3 AST \| 30 PTSPimp slapped the world with the hand of Vulcan.
	Paul George, SF 24 MIN \| 2-7 FG \| 1-2 FT \| 5 REB \| 2 AST \| 6 PTSWhat’s the opposite of what I wrote about David West? Figure it out and apply it here. This is getting really worrisome. They need to start running some real plays for him rather than relying on him to create stuff out of nothing. Right now, I’m not sure he’s up for that.
	Roy Hibbert, C 33 MIN \| 8-10 FG \| 4-5 FT \| 12 REB \| 3 AST \| 20 PTSThe guy was really, really good on both ends — the passing, the rim protection, the efficient makes. But this Schuhman tweet was the best: RT @johnschuhmann: Sucks for the Wiz that tonight was the night Roy Hibbert made his 2012-13 debut.
	George Hill, PG 36 MIN \| 2-11 FG \| 8-8 FT \| 3 REB \| 5 AST \| 12 PTSTwo of the FTs were intentional and another was for a technical. Take those away and you mainly just have his second straight horrific shooting night. 4-for-20 in his last 69 minutes, including 2-for-12 from three.
	Lance Stephenson, SG 16 MIN \| 1-1 FG \| 0-1 FT \| 3 REB \| 4 AST \| 2 PTSAnother game where he had little impact in few minutes, although this fortunately had more to do with playing time than bad playing. He looked good early but mysteriously didn’t get burn in the second half.

Tyler Hansbrough, PF 11 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS

Probably the game he has had the smallest influence on this season.Sam Young, SF 35 MIN | 4-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS

Still makes me cringe at times. That late turnover … yeesh. But he hustled back and prevented the damage and made a tip in not long after that came when nobody but David West looked alive. If you want the positives he can bring — which seem to be stuff that nobody else on the team can give — I guess you have to live with the uglier stuff.Gerald Green, SF 17 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS

Just the type of stuff they need from him.Ian Mahinmi, C 15 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS

I dunno.D.J. Augustin, PG 16 MIN | 1-5 FG | 2-3 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS

Do know. This isn’t going well.

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	David West, PF 37 MIN \| 10-14 FG \| 10-10 FT \| 8 REB \| 3 AST \| 30 PTSPimp slapped the world with the hand of Vulcan.
	Paul George, SF 24 MIN \| 2-7 FG \| 1-2 FT \| 5 REB \| 2 AST \| 6 PTSWhat’s the opposite of what I wrote about David West? Figure it out and apply it here. This is getting really worrisome. They need to start running some real plays for him rather than relying on him to create stuff out of nothing. Right now, I’m not sure he’s up for that.
	Roy Hibbert, C 33 MIN \| 8-10 FG \| 4-5 FT \| 12 REB \| 3 AST \| 20 PTSThe guy was really, really good on both ends — the passing, the rim protection, the efficient makes. But this Schuhman tweet was the best: RT @johnschuhmann: Sucks for the Wiz that tonight was the night Roy Hibbert made his 2012-13 debut.
	George Hill, PG 36 MIN \| 2-11 FG \| 8-8 FT \| 3 REB \| 5 AST \| 12 PTSTwo of the FTs were intentional and another was for a technical. Take those away and you mainly just have his second straight horrific shooting night. 4-for-20 in his last 69 minutes, including 2-for-12 from three.
	Lance Stephenson, SG 16 MIN \| 1-1 FG \| 0-1 FT \| 3 REB \| 4 AST \| 2 PTSAnother game where he had little impact in few minutes, although this fortunately had more to do with playing time than bad playing. He looked good early but mysteriously didn’t get burn in the second half.