Indiana Pacers continue to lead the NBA in kindness by attempting to give another game away to a bad team, but hang on to win.
For a very special game at Madison Square Garden, we decided to have two different takes on Post-Game Grades to give an even deeper assessment of the new-collapse that was averted. Check the other perspective here.
The Good: The 2nd quarter. The Pacers raced out to a 36-18 quarter as the all bench lineup (Ty Lawson, Rodney Stuckey, C.J. Miles, Solomon Hill, and Myles Turner) cleaned the Knicks’ clocks.
The Bad: The 2nd half. The Pacers yet again gave away a late lead to an inferior team. They (and please, stop me if you’ve heard this before) were careless with the ball, uninspired on defense and forgot how to score.
MVP: Rodney Stuckey. Great to see Stuckey healthy and playing off the ball again. 17 points on 9 shots, 5-5 from the line.
LVP: Ian Mahinmi. Box score looks great – 10 points, 8 rebounds, 66% from the line – but he was a team low -14 in +/-, and didn’t look effective on either end. Way too many offensive rebounds for the Knicks as well.
X-Factor: Ty Lawson. Only shot 1-7, but his make was a buzzer beater at the end of the 3rd to stem the tide, and his passing and penetrating led the Pacers 2nd quarter surge.