8 points, 9 seconds
Fansided

Indiana Pacers Dig Hole, Throw Dirt On Themselves in Loss to Celtics

By Ben Gibson

Mar 14, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Rodney Stuckey (2) takes a shot against Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk (41) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Rodney Stuckey (2) takes a shot against Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk (41) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Indiana Pacers gave up their first win to Brad Stevenson in Indiana by having a poor first half and finishing the game with plenty of dumb plays to make sure they couldn’t close the gap. The  Boston Celtics did their part to earn the win, but the Pacers certainly helped them.

At least now Paul George doesn’t have to worry about messing up Indiana’s mojo.

Hey Paul George, you won’t be messing up some team of destiny. Come on back.

— whitney (@its_whitney) March 15, 2015

The Good: George Hill had his highest scoring game of the season, but outside of some average and below average performances by the rest of the team, hard to see a lot of positives.

 

The Bad: Another slow start for the Pacers. The starting five (as a whole) hasn’t been bringing it as of late. Roy Hibbert looked good early, but again the starters had the team in a hole that the bench had to try to dig out of. The problem was in the first half, the bench didn’t do that either. In the second half, they managed to screw up at every turn when they had a chance to get back in the game. Dumb passes, bad bounces, and falling asleep in the final minutes doomed the comeback effort.

Celtics deserved to win with the way they played the 1st half, but the Pacers have done everything in their power to lose it in the 2nd. — Ben Gibson (@CowboyOnPatrol) March 15, 2015

Indiana had a chance to push for the 6th seed with a win tonight, but a game like this makes you worry the recent streak of wins was an anomaly more than what this team is capable of. I don’t think it isquite that bad, but it has you thinking.

MVP: George Hill had his personal best of the season with 30 points. We saw him both facilitating (8 assists) and leading the way and being the “aggressive” George Hill that had resurrected the Indiana Pacers season. Not as good as his triple-double earlier this year, but the best Pacer on the night.

LVP: Solomon Hill had 0 points. Good defense, but not much else.

X Factor: C.J. Miles was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc, which might have mattered if Jae Crowder didn’t have a strong 16 point performance off the bench for Boston. For the most part though, it was an even-handed effort by the Celtics.

And here are the grades…

Boston Celtics93FinalRecap | Box Score89Indiana Pacers
David West, PF 30 MIN | 4-9 FG | 3-3 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 11 PTS | +14 +/-West had an average night with some bright spots. I would have given him a B- if he wasn’t responsible for one or two of the miscues down the stretch.
Solomon Hill, SF 25 MIN | 0-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +2 +/-Not a total failure tonight… much not much better.
Roy Hibbert, C 24 MIN | 2-6 FG | 1-2 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | +3 +/-Hibbert didn’t do much to impress considering his previous success against the Celtics, but since he’s coming off an injury, I can’t be too harsh.
George Hill, PG 35 MIN | 11-18 FG | 6-6 FT | 5 REB | 8 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 30 PTS | +7 +/-Most points for George Hill this season one of the few starters to do better than average. Hill had several plays where he pushed the tempo and that led directly to Pacers’ points.
C.J. Miles, SG 30 MIN | 5-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 13 PTS | +8 +/-Great shooting from deep, struggle from closer in, but not a bad outing. One really dumb pass late though.
Luis Scola, PF 19 MIN | 2-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -19 +/-Scola’s streak of double-doubles (2) comes to an end.
Damjan Rudez, SF 11 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | -5 +/-Oh, he played tonight?
Ian Mahinmi, C 22 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | -10 +/-Typical Mahinmi, but a few mistakes late hurts his grade.
Rodney Stuckey, PG 24 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 12 PTS | -13 +/-No Godney Stuckey tonight, but an average performance from Stuckey is still a good one.
C.J. Watson, PG 20 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | -7 +/-One heat check 3-pointer.
Frank Vogel
I don’t think the loss goes on the coach considering the plays were more of boneheaded decisions by experienced players.

 

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