Post-Game Grades: Pacers Starters Dig a Hole Too Deep to Climb Out of vs Clippers
By Jared Wade
The Good: The fight of the Indiana Pacers reserve. Of course it helps that these guys came in to play mostly against the Los Angeles Clippers’ backups, but nevertheless, the bench took what should have been a blowout loss and gave Indiana a chance to win this one late. I mean, just look at the insanity of this plus/minus, with the top five being the starters.
Come on, now. This needs to change, Frank Vogel. Put a point guard on the floor with the starting five.
Vogel on starters: "That group's not clicking."
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) December 11, 2014
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The Bad: David West and Roy Hibbert. They were awful. It’s easy to point out the smaller issues that went wrong with the staring unit, but when your two best players score 6 points on 11 shots combined, you’re just not going to beat the Clippers.
MVP: DeAndre Jordan. He put his impact all over the game and was a beast on the glass, grabbing 19 boards, including 6 on the offensive end, and blocking 3 shots.
LVP: David West. What a disappointment.
X-Factor: C.J. Miles. It’s a shame Indiana wasted his first truly excellent outing of the year. He was the only reason the Pacers didn’t lose by 25 — or more.
 | David West, PF 25 MIN | 1-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -28 |
Unacceptable.
Chris Copeland, SF 18 MIN | 3-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | -30Hit a few shots, and 10 points in 18 minutes is more than fine, but feel like he hurt as much as he helped. Has a Tyler Hansbrough streak about him in the sense that every time he touches the ball it feels like any fluidity stops.
Solomon Hill, SF 17 MIN | 1-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -25He is either in big-time slump or just isn’t a good offensive player. Solo is now 6-for-25 (24.0%) over his last 3 games.
Roy Hibbert, C 12 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -20Really?
Rodney Stuckey, PG 32 MIN | 4-11 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 6 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | -25Not a point guard, didn’t play well even considering other things.
Luis Scola, PF 22 MIN | 5-10 FG | 2-2 FT | 14 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | +21Nice little outing. A +21 in 22 minutes on a night when single-game plus/minus is actually meaningful.
Lavoy Allen, PF 36 MIN | 7-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 13 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 14 PTS | +13Bench mob lunchpail carrier.
Damjan Rudez, SF 16 MIN | 0-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +18Didn’t have much individual impact. Made a few nice entry passes, which was nice and rare to see on a Pacers team.
C.J. Watson, PG 28 MIN | 1-7 FG | 6-8 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +18Yikes. Maybe I should stop talking about him starting so much. Can Vogel just start 4 guys?
C.J. Miles, SG 34 MIN | 11-22 FG | 1-4 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 30 PTS | +23Did You Know?
C.J. stands for Colossal Juggernaut.
