Post-Game Grades: PG Drops 48 and Jazz Drop Pacers in OT
By Ryan Barth
118. Final. 119. 100. 122
The Indiana Pacers came back from being down 17 points, but couldn’t finish off the Utah Jazz on a night where Paul George scored 48 points.
Career high’s and emotional low’s left and right tonight. The Indiana Pacers just couldn’t close out the Utah Jazz despite leading by 5 in the last minute of regulation. Paul George goes off for a career-high 48 points, Rodney Stuckey has a season high 23, but it was unfortunately wasted on a night when the inability to finish was ultimately their undoing. All in all it was a decent 2-2 west coast road trip, but it certainly feels like the Pacers let one get away tonight.
The Good: Great comeback. The Pacers found themselves down by as many as 17 in the 3rd quarter when Raul Neto of all people caught fire and it seemed they would go quietly into the night. Then Paul George and Rodney Stuckey got angry. Good to see the offense keep humming with another 100+ point performance, their 8th consecutive game to hit the century mark.
The Bad: Second chance points doomed the Pacers again as they couldn’t box out on the defensive glass, giving the Jazz 19 offensive rebounds and 37 free throw attempts. The defense couldn’t figure out the pick and roll with Derrick Favors, resulting in mulitple fouls and/or easy baskets almost every time down the floor. You have to know not to foul under 20 seconds and leading by 3 when the play takes place right under the basket. Absolutely no excuse for that one Frank.
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MVP: Paul George. Good to see him bounce back from his outlier performance in Portland with a new career high and a renewed swagger. You start to feel bad for the poor sap who is forced to guard him in games like this. He’s officially moving forward on his quest for world domination.
LVP: Lavoy Allen. Outworked and outhustled once again. He wins the award for mental mistake of the game as well when he fouled Derrick Favors under the hoop on the unfortunate and-1 opportunity that ultimately sent the Jazz to overtime.
X-Factor: Rodney Stuckey. The second unit started to get out of the way and just let Stuck go to work once he got hot. His killer instinct and bull rush mentality are simply keeping this team in games when things start to look bleak.
Power Forward. Indiana Pacers. PAUL GEORGE. A+. <p>Welcome back Paul, we missed you. You get the feeling he’ll be topping his new career high (48) two or three more times this season at this rate.</p>
C-. <p>Poor shooting (2-11) and lead the team in turnovers (3). Good to see him back after exiting the game against Portland. You certainly wouldn’t have blamed him for sitting this one out if he wasn’t 100%. Vogel went with the hot hand (Stuckey) instead of Monta late in the game, which says a lot for Godney and his performance as of late.</p><p><span style=. Shooting Guard. Indiana Pacers. MONTA ELLIS
B. <p>Great open look from three to try and tie the game in overtime, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Filled the passing lanes on defense snagging 4 steals and added 5 assists.</p>. Point Guard. Indiana Pacers. GEORGE HILL
<p>Good thing he was hitting his free throws (7-8), because he couldn’t hit anything while actually being guarded. He contributed on both ends of the 7 fouls that were committed on three point attempts – a weird occurrence throughout the game.</p>. Shooting Guard. Indiana Pacers. C.J. MILES. C
D+. <p>He spent a majority of his time fouling Derrick Favors and eventually fouled out late in the 4th quarter. 5 rebounds just won’t cut it. You’d expect him to be practicing the box out drill in practice next week.</p>. Center. Indiana Pacers. IAN MAHINMI
<p>He’s becoming so explosive in his drives to the basket and put up his 4th straight double figure game. A filthy pirouette in the 4th quarter that shook everyone on the court (including the offense). Keep grinding man.</p>. Point Guard. Indiana Pacers. RODNEY STUCKEY. A
JORDAN HILL. B. <p>10 points and 8 boards – continues to deliver when called upon, but certainly played a part in the defensive letdown on Favors.</p>. Center. Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers. LAVOY ALLEN. D+. <p>Although he was caught out of position on the Jazz’ last possession in regulation, you have to let Favors get the layup and move on.</p>. Power Forward
C. <p>Nice athleticism out of nowhere on the alley-oop dunk from Monta and solid rebounding (6), but just couldn’t seem to get in the flow of the game.</p>. Small Forward. Indiana Pacers. CHASE BUDINGER