Post-Game Grades: Pacers Handled by Warriors but Hang Around Honorably

A short-handed Indiana Pacers team managed not to get blown out by the Dubs and that’s somewhat of a moral victory.

The Good: The Indiana Pacers actually outscored the Golden State Warriors, if only by 2 points, over the final 36 minutes of the game. They fell down huge early, as a combination of the emotional life of Steve Kerr’s return to the sidelines and Golden State’s general unbeatableness ran roughshod. But the team’s second unit came on to stem the tide, and the Pacers stayed resilient the rest of the night while, even shorthanded, playing arguably the best team in a generation to a standstill.

The Bad: That there opening. Despite Myles Turner’s excellent play of late, Frank Vogel opted to start Jordan Hill on a night when Ian Mahinmi was out with injury. Now, George Hill was out as well, and the exact personnel on the floor probably didn’t matter considering the mission that the Warriors began the evening on. Regardless of who was out there, even Paul George and Monta Ellis, along with everyone, had no answers and made poor choices on both sides of the ball. It was an ugly first 8 minutes and probably would have been no matter what.

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MVP: Myles Turner. The rookie set a career high in scoring, breaking his previous best that was set just days ago, by scoring 31 points on 17 shots in just 27 minutes. He also hauled in 8 boards and shot 7-for-9 at the line. That type of production alone merits his game ball, but he also ran the floor well, set good screens, and showed a spacial awareness within the offense that proves his understanding of the sport is improving steadily the more he plays. Start him now, Frank Vogel.

LVP: Glenn Robinson, III or C.J. Miles. Pick one. They each only made 1 shot on lots of tries (a combined 2-for-15) and didn’t add many intangible benefits either. With their stat lines, it’s shocking this wasn’t a 25-point game really.

X-Factor: Joe Young. While he was another rookie with excellent production — 16 points on 12 shots off the bench — he also made a lot more mistakes than his taller buddy. He’s a young PG so that is to be expected, however. And his work with Turner in the two-man game showed a lot of promise. They vibed well in an organic basketball-timing sense and created in a manner that belied their ages and meager experience levels together. This was very, very encouraging, even if Young still has a ton of small stuff to fix before he can be a reliable player for long stretches on both sides of the ball.