Indiana Pacers
Miami HeatThe Indiana Pacers stay perfect on Sundays this season by holding off the late charge by the Miami Heat.
The Good: Paul George put up another strong performance, easing our minds after he slumped a bit out of the All-Star break. 28 points and 10 rebounds were a good way to bounce back from his last performance against the Miami Heat — a game where he was ejected — a get a win.
The Bad: The bench saw a lot of Heat shots fall in. Some of that is on them, but some of it was just shots falling for Miami. I’m only really putting them here because we use a template for post-game grades.
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They coughed up the lead despite not really doing a bad job. No one on the bench had anything worse than a +/- of -6.
MVP: Despite Paul George’s numbers, the win was more of the team variety this time. No complaints, though.
LVP: Have you seen Al Jefferson? He is getting paid a lot of money to sit on the bench right now. Good piece in the wrong puzzle, but still frustrating knowing he can’t help this team out. The only good news in this situation is he lost his minutes to Rakeem Christmas, and I only mean that in the sense Christmas earned them.
X-Factor: Myles Turner having his best game out of the last five. His shooting was off, but 15 points and 8 rebounds should kickstart him.