Post-Game Grades: Paul George Is the Mayor of Los Angeles

The Indiana Pacers picked up their second win in as many games on their current West Coast road trip, and Paul George has been burning down his home city in the process as the Pacers beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

The Indiana Pacers didn’t let a revenge game from Lance Stephenson stop them from picking up their 6th straight win and the second in Los Angeles on this road trip. The Clippers and Lakers may call the Staples Center home, but the past few days Paul George has elected himself mayor of the City of Angeles.

He’s scored 70 points in the two wins against Los Angeles’ teams this week.

The Good: The Indiana Pacers were on the road and put way the Los Angeles Clippers on the road. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but once C.J. Miles drained a 3-pointer at the end of the 3rd quarter, the momentum starting to swing squarely in the Pacers favor. The Pacers knocked down 50% of their shots in the fourth while keeping the Clippers shooting 38.9%. Another factor in Indiana’s favor during that period was the winning of the free throw battle as the Pacers went 11 and 14 compared to the Clippers 6 of 8. The turnover battle was also won by the Pacers, 3 to 8, all of which added up to a comfortable finish for Indiana.

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

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• Handing out early-season grades for Pacers’ Bruce Brown, Obi Toppin
• 3 positives, 2 negatives in Pacers In-Season Tournament win vs. Cavaliers
• 2 positives, 3 negatives from first week of Indiana Pacers basketball
• Should Isaiah Jackson’s days with Indiana Pacers be numbered?

The Bad: That Pacers looked like crap for a very long stretch in this game. From half way through the second quarter to half way through the third quarter, Indiana went 5 of 18 and only scored 17 points. The Clippers were equally as bad though, scoring 21 points over that stretch and allowing Indiana to keep the game close on the road despite the inability to score and 6 turnovers during that stretch.

MVP: Paul George again, of course. With 31 points, PG was 5 of 9 from beyond the arc (9 of 23, 8 of 10 FTs on the night) while gathering 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Bonus MVP: This.

LVP: DeAndre Jordan only scored 2 points as Blake Griffin was tasked with doing everything he could to keep the Clippers afloat. DeAndre may have had 15 rebounds, but Ian Mahinmi’s 14 points and 7 rebounds erased the effort.

X-Factor: Rodney Stuckey had a pair of plays where he looked more like Mike Alstott than a basketball player, but that aggression was part of the reason why he was second on the Pacers in scoring with 18 points. He’s seeing less time than last season, but he’s still igniting the Pacers bench with his play.

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