Coach Frank Vogel had to be enduring some sleepless nights lately with the Indiana pacers playing some of the worst defense in the league the last three games.
It all came to a head when the Golden State Warriors put up 79 in the 1st Half on Tuesday night. Hopefully, those days are over and we can all get back to normal now. Tonight, the Miami Heat didn’t score 79 points until midway through the 4th quarter and did next to nothing the rest of the way. The Pacers forced 19 turnovers including 12 steals (4th in the league overall) and suffocated Miami all game long. On a night when the offense wasn’t clicking (shooting just 33% in the first half), the D had to be there and it was consistent throughout.
The Good: The Pacers did a great job of closing out on the perimeter and playing aggressive trapping defense without fouling. Chris Bosh (23 points) and Dwayne Wade (20 points) got theirs, but that was about it for the Heat. No passing lane was safe and they made the Heat work for every basket.
The Bad: 21% (6-28) from 3-point land (started the game 0-10) was hard on the eyes and rims. Shooting three air balls in the first half made Quinn Buckner wonder if a wind tunnel was the culprit. It’s hard to say if the strategy of allowing Gerald Green to shoot open three’s was a good or bad idea, but oddly enough he was able to knock most of them down. Let’s all just agree the Gerald Green era in Indiana was bad and leave it at that.
More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds
- 2 Studs, 1 dud from gut-wrenching Indiana Pacers loss to Charlotte Hornets
- 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?
MVP: Monta Ellis went and got his tonight which was LONG overdue. You could feel it coming after he failed to show up against the Warriors of all teams. He hadn’t scored double digits in the last 3 games and he’s just too good of a scorer for that nonsense. His 6 steals lead the team as well which propelled the fast break and kept the game close when the shots just weren’t falling for his teammates. Good to see someone else take the scoring load off Paul George. This is just the 3rd time this season someone besides PG has led the team in scoring.
LVP: CJ Miles just wasn’t feeling it tonight, hitting only 1-10 from long range. He didn’t necessarily take a lot of bad shots, but perhaps he was a little off his game and out of rhythm coming off the bench as opposed to starting.
X-Factor: Ian Mahinmi shot 100% (4-4) from the free throw line, put up his 2nd double-double of the season (18 points, 12 rebounds) and made us all think about whether the Pacers would have made the playoffs last season, if he had started at center and Roy, came off the bench. We’ll never know…