Post-Game Grades: Pacers Win Game 6 With Huge Run and Force a Game 7 in Toronto

The Indiana Pacers showed great resolve to come back and blow out the Toronto Raptors in Game 6.

The Good: The way the Indiana Pacers closed this game. Unlike previous efforts — anyone remember Game 5? — the team turned an advantage into a blowout and ended this one well before there was any chance of the Raptors regaining confidence. They mounted an 18-0 run starting in the third quarter to turn this one into a laugher and force a Game 7. It was a total team effort with each of the starters scoring double digits and contributing in their own ways.

Paul George was brilliant even without dominant scoring. Monta Ellis made some mistakes, but was colossal when it mattered most. George Hill was aggressive and continually got to the line. Myles Turner made shots and defended the rim. Ian Mahinmi paired with Turner to give the Pacers a dominant interior twin towers that finally, despite allowing too many offensive rebounds, made them seem like the bigger, tougher, more physical team.

And of course the team defense was just superb. The Raptors simply could not score from the late third quarter on, and finished with just 39 points in the second half — and that was only after they started putting some offense together in garbage time.

The Bad: The start to the game was rough from a results standpoint. Indiana trailed 8-2 and were down 20-11 at one point. But they weren’t playing that poorly. While there were defensive errors and the offense was by no means sharp, it wasn’t really a double-digit-deficit-type opening. The Raptors were making shots all over, and Indiana was missing shots even at the rim. It looked like, on a long-enough time scale, those things should have evened out.

But in a close-out game, you never know if that time scale will last long enough to counteract a bit of bad luck. But credit the Pacers: They didn’t get down on themselves and instead ramped up their focus, energy, and execution on defense. It wasn’t long before they erased the deficit then took the lead then stepped on some dinosaur throat.

What a huge win. Everyone in the organization should be proud of not just how this team bounced back after a deflating collapse in Game 5 but even after a discouraging start to Game 6.

MVP: Paul George. While Monta made some of the big buckets as the big run started, Paul George’s defense was stout as always all game. And his general demeanor seemed to instill confidence. On the more-tangible stuff, he finished with 21 points, 11 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Not bad considering he never got going offensively in the second half.

LVP: CJ Miles and Ty Lawson weren’t great.

X-Factor: Rodney Stuckey. He was awful beyond belief in Game 5, the embodiment of the collapse and Frank Vogel having too much faith in his struggling reserves. But Stuckey completely redeemed himself tonight, making some big shots, including a back-breaking 3 during Indiana’s 18-0 run, and putting an Older Brother-style fake on Cory Joseph. Paul George called Rodney’s play “a big turnaround.”