Post-Game Grades: Pacers Out-Score Dubs

This makes five straight wins for the Pacers and five straight wins by double digits. With two 31-point quarters tonight, it also looks like this resurgent (or, I guess, more accurately and less Englishly “surgent”) offense might just be sustainable. The team shot 48.8%, and George Hill and David West hardly missed.

The game was closer than the final score may suggest — it really was a game of runs in a non-cliché sense — and it looked like it could have gone either way for most of it. But the Pacers got it going when it mattered most and bullied the Dubs out of the building — in more ways than one.

The real story of the game may be the little shoving match the two teams got into (or perhaps the other-worldly shooting performance of the world’s best shooter, Steph Curry). That is fun to talk about in a league in which no teams actually fight, but the bigger deal tonight is the Pacers further confirming that they might just be beastly on both ends of the court now.

As the season as progressed and the Knicks have fallen off, it has been chic to say that the Pacers are the biggest threat to Miami in the East. That is obviously an accurate assessment. But it has still largely been a token gesture handed out to a team that has an excellent defense.

But now? Well, I’m not ready to say they are a legit legit threat yet — LeBron is just too good — but if they can continue to beat up on good teams like Golden State and New York while dismantling dregs like Detroit and Charlotte, well, maybe, just maybe, this team can give a Miami team with a healthy Bosh a real scare.

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.

Not an All-Star.Paul George, SF 42 MIN | 9-17 FG | 1-3 FT | 11 REB | 4 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | +21 

He was getting steals by accident and deflecting balls in passing lanes by accident while tripping off balance. He also had some nice finishes down low that he couldn’t have converted as recently as the last time these two teams played.Roy Hibbert, C 28 MIN | 4-8 FG | 5-6 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 5 BLK | 3 TO | 13 PTS | +19 

Was on pace for a double-double before getting tossed for, ironically, tossing the rag doll impersonating Steph Curry off of him.George Hill, PG 38 MIN | 9-14 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 23 PTS | +15 

Make a few more shots why don’t you? Jeez. For a while, it looked, had Hill and Steph played H.O.R.S.E., it wouldn’t have ended until tomorrow.Lance Stephenson, SG 30 MIN | 4-15 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | +11 

Had a pretty sweet pass underneath but also forced a few stepback jumpers.

Said, in an Fox Indiana halftime piece, that Denzel should play him in a movie about his life. Then, after being told that George Hill said Napoleon Dynamite should play Tyler, he said he didn’t know that Hill was “a comedic.”Danny Granger, SF 19 MIN | 1-7 FG | 3-4 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | 0 

Still got a waaaays to go. His first shot hit nothing but backboard while the second one failed to draw iron. Still, he knocked down one nice jumper and got to the line after he realized he couldn’t shoot.Ian Mahinmi, C 20 MIN | 2-4 FG | 3-6 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 7 PTS | -8 

Well done.D.J. Augustin, PG 10 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | -4 

Bench seemed to play very poorly when Hill sat, but Augustin was only a -4, so perhaps my impressions are inaccurate.Orlando Johnson, SG 6 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -10 

Minutes won’t be coming much anymore outside of blowouts.