Post-Game Grades: Indiana Pacers Beat Atlanta Hawks With Unlikely Duo

All hands on deck: Unlikely duo of Chase Budinger and Solomon Hill leads Pacers to victory

The Good: The second quarter. The Indiana Pacers responded to a poor first quarter effort by submitting one of their best twelve minute stretches of 2015. Indiana outscored Atlanta 31-13 in the quarter, taking advantage of some stellar play from their bench unit. Chase Budinger and Solomon Hill were especially effective, both scoring in double digits and posting exceptional plus/minuses throughout the game. Indiana even threw out One Three-Hill lineup that has rarely been seen before. Paul George was pretty bad for most of the night, but even he nailed a triple at the end of the second to give the Pacers a 12-point lead heading into halftime.

The Bad: Paul George. He was just bad. Name it, and he did it…poorly. The Pacers need him to snap out of his funk and fast.

MVP: Monta Ellis had it all tonight, continuing his recent hot streak with 26 points on 20 shots. Ellis even shot well from long distance, burying four triples.

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LVP: Lavoy Allen. Paul George was bad, but Lavoy was just irrelevant. Frank Vogel adjusted his strategy down the stretch in favor or Solomon Hill over Allen, and it paid off for the Pacers.

X-Factor: Solomon Hill. Hill gave his mom a fantastic birthday present tonight after failing to play significant minutes over the past several weeks. Hill stepped in for the injured C.J. Miles and in the words of JayNilla, “stayed in his lane” and helped the Pacers in a variety of ways. He filled up the stat sheet and also played quality defense on larger players down the stretch en route to helping Indiana end the Hawks’ six game winning streak.

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