Post-Game Grades: Pacers Run Suns Out of the Building Late

Indiana Pacers cruise late to smash Suns, end trend of late-game collapses.

The Good: The ball movement during the pullaway. The Indiana Pacer started playing well as soon as a 22-minute power outage ended in the second quarter. But they still only took a small lead into the break. But a strong second half offensive performance never relented and the they ran the Suns out of the building in the fourth quarter with a 36-21 advantage over the final 12 minutes. The most impressive aspect was how the ball was moving all over the perimeter. We saw touch passes, extra passes, and players passing up good shots for great ones. They looked fantastic and showed what may be ahead if they can get over the mini-bump that led to them relinquishing several late, big leads in the past two weeks.

The Bad: The second quarter slide. The team was up 22-11 early then went on a drought that lasted up until the electricity went out.

MVP: George Hill. Mr. Blonde was cash from the corners, hitting 3 of his first 4 triples on his way to a 20-point game on just 13 shots. He added 5 dimes and finished with a game-high +26.

LVP: Nobody. Everyone was fine. Monta Ellis could have been more efficient than 14 points on 14 shots, but he doled out 7 assists and nabbed 4 steals while generally doing some good work moving the ball around.

X-Factor: Ian Mahinmi. He is becoming a big of a force rolling to the hoop and had one monster put-back dunk. This is really the best Larry Bird and company could have hoped for when they opted to not find another starting center while Myles Turner learns the position.