Post-Game Grades: Pacers Beat the Heat on New Year’s Eve
By Jared Wade
The Good: The runaway. After about 30 minutes of uninspired play that yielded poor results, the Pacers flipped a switch. They out-scored the Miami Heat 19-3 over the final 5 minutes of the third quarter as they pulled away for a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. C.J. Miles was a catalyst — hitting a pair of 3-pointers — but the team also benefitted from a defensive effort that held Miami to 1-for-9 (11.1%) shooting over the stretch. By the time David West hit a quarter-ending triple, the Pacers were up 78-70 and would only push the lead further as the game wore on.
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The Bad: The effort for much of the first half. George Hill and his best-on-the-team-this-year dunk aside, the team looked listless. It wasn’t so much that they were playing badly as we’ve seen in the past as it was that they just looked like they didn’t really want to play on New Year’s afternoon.
MVP: George Hill. Miles did more scoring, but Hill had the dunk of the game and netted two giant 3s down the stretch to ensure Miami wouldn’t ever really challenge the home team as this one wound down.
LVP: Nobody. Everyone played fairly decent.
X-Factor: Danny Granger. He scored 14 points on 9 shots in the first game he has ever played in The Fieldhouse while not wearing a Pacers jersey. Miss ya, Danny.
 | David West, PF 31 MIN | 4-7 FG | 1-1 FT | 6 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +13Was quite bad and non-impactful in the first half, but turned it around after the break. Scored 8 of his 10 points and grabbed 5 of his 6 boards in the final two quarters. Plus he nailed that awesome 3. |  |
Solomon Hill, SF 25 MIN | 1-4 FG | 6-6 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +1Probably won’t be starting much longer.
Roy Hibbert, C 29 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 10 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +4Some good, some bad.
Rodney Stuckey, PG 19 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | 0Didn’t seem to affect the game much. Perhaps he didn’t do much or perhaps George Hill and C.J. Miles stole the show. But certainly nothing great from Stuck tonight.
George Hill, PG 31 MIN | 7-14 FG | 4-4 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 20 PTS | -2Best performance of the year. The player we saw tonight is one that can lead this team to a playoff berth.
Luis Scola, PF 17 MIN | 2-8 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | -2Was all over the court and a ball of energy even while he was missing shots.
Lavoy Allen, PF 19 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +7Meh.
Chris Copeland, SF 14 MIN | 3-8 FG | 0-1 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | +13Got some points. Nice follow on his own layup miss.
C.J. Watson, PG 21 MIN | 3-4 FG | 4-4 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 11 PTS | +10Brought energy, lead a good bench performance.
C.J. Miles, SG 34 MIN | 6-16 FG | 8-10 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 25 PTS | +11A revelation when he plays like this.