Post-Game Grades: Pacers Outlast Wizards in Double Overtime

The Good: The Indiana Pacers are still alive in the hunt for the Eastern Conference’s 8th seed. They have to beat the Memphis Grizzles to pave their own path, or the Brooklyn Nets need to lose to the Orlando Magic today.

The Bad: Indiana’s first-half offense scored only 33 points. That happens when you are shooting 28% from the field through two quarters. The Washington Wizards weren’t exactly killing it either, but their 12 fast-break points in the first half helped them jump out to a 12-point lead at one point. Indiana was keeping the Wizards in a slow, grind-it-out sort of game for the most part, but the lack of offense made it look like Indiana was going to lose in what was practically a must-win game.

MVPs: George Hill carried the team through a slow first half and ended up 1 rebound shy of a triple-double. He hit a clutch 3-pointer in the second overtime to shut the door on Washington. C.J. Miles aggressiveness throughout the game and awareness to slow it down once the rest of the team got going played a large role in the Pacers win.

LVP: Why was Randy Wittman so determined to knock out the Pacers? His players saw extended minutes in a game that really didn’t matter for the Wizards. I get playing hard early on, but to put so much energy in to the game is surprising with the playoffs so close. You have to give Washington credit for pushing Indiana to the brink, and I like the fact they held a grudge. But it just surprised me that the majority of the starters played even more minutes than most of Indiana’s. Even if we aren’t holding that against him, losing the foul count at one point and sending Indiana to the free-throw line when he thought he had a foul to give was a bonehead move.

X-Factor: Roy Hibbert didn’t do a ton offensively but his defense stopped John Wall and company from driving to the basket for easy points. That will always be undervalued when you only score 6 points like he did on Tuesday. The lack of offense is disappointing (10 points from Hibbert is an average night), but he came up with two big baskets late in the game to keep Indiana’s hopes in the game — and the season — alive.

Washington Wizards

95

FinalRecap | Box Score

99

Indiana Pacers

David West, PF 41 MIN | 6-11 FG | 3-4 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 3 TO | 15 PTS | +6 +/-

A steady and mostly unremarkable performance, but he came up big late like many of the Pacers.

Hit his only 3-pointer on the night and played good defense. He’ll be a valuable player coming off the bench next season.

12 rebounds and a pair of clutch baskets, as well as his defense, make up for him only scoring 6 points. He stopped several John Wall drives to earn his keep.

Didn’t disappear like most of Indiana’s offense in the first half and hit a dagger to all but seal the deal in the second OT.

Aggressive and like Hill, wasn’t M.I.A. in the first half. Missed a lot of shots, sure, but no one else deserved to be shooting. He slowed down when the rest of the offense got going (13 of his 22 attempts were in the first half) and hit 50% of his shots after halftime.

Nothing remarkable, but he at least grabbed rebounds.

Didn’t even realize he played, but made the most of his 8 minutes.

Paul George can’t drive to the hoop, but he can shoot. He’s finding a role coming off the bench as he recovers confidence in his leg, and that’s perfectly fine. He tested himself driving a few times, but he didn’t have the explosiveness to get past the defense.

Quiet night, but not bad. Missed a layup terribly in the fourth, forcing Vogel to give him the hook and go back to Hibbert. In hindsight, that miss might have been the best thing to happen on the night since Roy came in and played so well.

Sloan-ish performance.

Didn’t get Godney Stuckey mode, but he showed needed aggressiveness in the second half when Indiana had a cold spell.