Post-Game Grades: Paul George Carries the Indiana Pacers Past the Miami Heat
By William Furr
87. 110. 90. 100. Final
The Good: PG. 36 points, 1 non-ref related tech, attacking big men off the bounce and at the rim, this is the PG the state of Indiana missed.
The Bad: Rodney Stuckey went down with an ugly looking ankle injury. After all the bad injury luck this team had last year, Stuck is the 3rd rotation guy (after Ian Mahinmi and C.J. Miles) to go down with injury, and his looked a good bit more serious that Ian or C.J.’s. Hoping for a speedy recovery for Godney.
MVP: Paul George. 36 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 52% shooting. He’s a bad, bad man.
LVP: Myles Turner. Rookies are gonna have good days and bad days, and this wasn’t a day Turner will look back on fondly. He wasn’t awful, but he didn’t do much to help.
X-Factor: Jordan Hill. After 2 games, I was begging for the Pacers to trade Jordan Hill for a towel boy and a case of off brand “Waterade”. Now? 5-of-10 shooting, 10 points, 10 rebounds, a HUGE tip in with the clock winding down.
A+. <p>He’s back. Had his first 30 point game since March of 2014, attacked everyone in sight, hit jumpers, made plays, and generally looked like Paul George. Welcome back, PG!</p>. Small Forward. Indiana Pacers. PAUL GEORGE
Shooting Guard. Indiana Pacers. MONTA ELLIS. C+. <p>Monta had 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and not much else. Shot 25% from the field, and didn’t seem to look to score much in the 2nd half.</p><p><span style=
B. <p>The Hometown Hero went 3-of-4 from deep tonight, with 4 assists and 12 points. He’s shooting 50% from deep for the year. Played solid D, and “got away with a little bump” on D-Wade at the end.</p>. Point Guard. Indiana Pacers. GEORGE HILL
Power Forward. Indiana Pacers. LAVOY ALLEN. C-. <p>4 points and 5 boards in 23 minutes. Hit two mid range jumpers, missed two awkward half-floaters around the rims. He did put in some solid work on defense against Miami’s varied set of big men.</p>
IAN MAHINMI. C+. <p>Ian Mahinmi, doing Ian Mahinmi things. 6 points, 8 rebounds. Flashed some more of his mid range game, looked awful in 2 attempts at the line, had 3 blocks. Solid effort, through and through.</p>. Center. Indiana Pacers
Inc.. <p>Get well soon, Stuck.</p>. Point Guard. Indiana Pacers. RODNEY STUCKEY
Center. Indiana Pacers. JORDAN HILL. A. <p>10 points and 10 boards off the bench, including 2 of the biggest points of the game. I am officially on team Jordan Hill.</p>
D. <p>Reminded us that he’s still a 19 year old rookie. Didn’t have any awful gaffes, but didn’t do too many helpful things.</p>. Center. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER
C-. <p>Gets a passing grade due to his beautiful inbound pass that led to PG free throws at the end of the game. 60% from the line and and 0-of-2 from deep won’t cut it for a guy whose main reason for getting minutes is to space the floor.</p>. Small Forward. Indiana Pacers. CHASE BUDINGER
B. <p>Lil Dog can play. The only reason he didn’t get an A here was the inbounds play where Spoelstra and Tyler Johnson made him look silly. He played excellent otherwise; a few buckets, some nice passing, and a big, big offensive rebound.</p>. Small Forward. Indiana Pacers. GLENN ROBINSON