Pacers Playoff Grades: We Hand Out Report Cards of the Raptors Series

We hand out the Indiana Pacers playoffs grades — from Paul George (A+) to Ty Lawson (F) and everyone in between.

The Indiana Pacers fought valiantly, but fell in a hotly contested Game 7 to the Toronto Raptors. Now their watch is over — for this year at least.

So with the playoffs over, it’s time to grade each player’s performance on the whole. How did each Indiana Pacers player perform in their series with the Raptors?

Paul George

Grade: A+
27.3 ppg | 7.6 rpg | 4.3 apg | 2.0 steals | 45.5% FG | 41.9% 3PT | 95.3% FT

Paul George was not just the best Pacers players in the first round — he was likely the best player in all of the NBA. In seven games, he posted a PER of 28.1 with a 63% true shooting percentage (which account for the extra point a 3 gives you and counts free throws).

He thoroughly dominated fellow All-Star DeMar DeRozan, holding him to 31.9% shooting and forcing Dwane Casey to pull him for stretches in key situations. PG handled a massive workload (39.3 minutes per game) while being the fulcrum of the Pacers offense and consistently defending the Raptors best scorer on defense.

You can’t exaggerate just how smothering Paul George was on defense. This Paul George is a world destroyer, much like November Paul George. Amid the disappointment of failing to complete a first-round upset, Pacers fans should be thrilled to see their superstar play like this. If he can play this efficiently and with such focus, this team is in phenomenal hands no matter who coaches it.

George Hill

Grade: A-
13.6 ppg | 2.1 apg | 56.1% FG | 48.1% 3PT | 81.8% FT

George Hill really had a very, very good postseason on the whole. He outperformed Kyle Lowry in nearly every key category (Lowry did average 7 assists per game), and was critical to the Pacers success.

Like Paul George, he spent the series smothering an All-Star guard, and he did arguably as well overall. His shooting was on point, he scored at a better clip than the regular season, and he put up a 17.4 PER. He wasn’t great in every game and stretches of passivity limited his overall impact on the offense at times.

But George Hill shot the lights out and was easily the Pacers second-best player in the series — and perhaps the second-best player on either roster.

George Hill’s 2016 Playoffs Shot Chart

Monta Ellis

Grade: C
11.6 ppg | 4.3 apg | 3.9 rpg | 2.1 spg | 43% FG | 33% 3PT

Monta Ellis did not score enough in this series and made mistakes, doing very little to quiet the concerns many Pacers fans had concerning his signing. While his offense was not as electric throughout the series as one would hope, more disconcerting was his play on the other side of the ball.

Ellis was cross matched much of the series with DeMarre Carroll, and occasionally had to check DeMar DeRozan. He didn’t get the best of either of them to a large degree. Although some of that is due to Frank Vogel’s gameplan and cannot be totally blamed on Monta — he was a small guy trying to guard someone way bigger and stronger — he was still exploited at times. Carroll got free for some back-breaking 3s, and even the smaller Cory Joseph abused him several times.

On the other end, he really didn’t do enough with the ball to make up for his lack of size defensively. Ellis did hit a huge 3 to bring the Pacers within a possession at the end of Game 7 — as part of his effort to score 5 of his team’s final 7 points in a near comeback win — and generally created well throughout the series. But as bad as the bench performed, Indiana needed more from Monta. And he didn’t provide.

Myles Turner

Grade: B+ (on a rookie Curve)
10.3ppg | 6.3 rpg | 3.3 bpg | 46.5% FG

Myles Turner, at 20 years old, had 23 blocks in a seven-game series. His shooting came and went throughout the series — with his 2-of-11 night in Game 7 being the worst — and he got exposed by some of Toronto’s quicker bigs. But he was a legitimate defensive force around the rim.

He also stretched Jonas Valancuinas out of the paint, and helped the Pacers’ rebounding woes, on balance, when he replaced Lavoy Allen in the starting lineup.

Turner was up and down, but this was really an excellent inaugural playoff series for a guy who figures to be a big part of the Pacers long-term plan. He showed a lot and his bad play in Game 7 should fuel his drive to improve all summer.

Solomon Hill

Grade: A
28.3 mpg | 7.7 ppg | 4.0 rpg | 1.0 apg | 57.9% 3PT | 93.8% FT

Solomon Hill spent most of the season as a forgotten, end-of-bench guy. He had made just 11 3s as of April 5, for example. Then, after given a re-entry into the rotation, Solo proceeded to finish the regular season by going 13-of-25 (52%) from deep.

He improved on this even further in the postseason, hitting a remarkable 11-of-19 triple in the playoffs. Most memorably of all, Solo was 0.1 seconds away from being 12-of-20 and sending Game 5 into overtime and possibly swinging the series.

He credibly defended Raptors from DeMar DeRozan to Patrick Patterson to everyone in the middle. Solo was easily the bench MVP, and played the fourth-most minutes of any Pacer in the playoffs behind PG, George Hill, and Monta Ellis.

It’s obviously unlikely that he’ll continue to shoot 50+% from deep for whomever he plays for next year, but his professionalism was on display with his ever-changing role, and he was always ready to play. Solo was arguably the third-best Pacer in the playoffs.

Ian Mahinmi

Grade: C
8.1 ppg | 5.1 rpg | 0.9 bpg | 50% FG| 60% FT

It’s a shame that Mahinmi had to end his coming-out party of a season with an obviously injured back while checking the much larger Jonas Valancuinas.

Regular season Ian Mahinmi probably helps the Pacers win this series, but he was clearly laboring throughout the series and frequently abused on defense. Outside of his surprising Game 3 — when he scored a game-high 22 points — Ian never stood out for many positive reasons and saw his minutes get eaten into by the better big-man combo of Myles Turner and Solomon Hill not to mention ongoing foul trouble. But having his career-high scoring game in the playoffs — while injured — will always remain a fond memory.

Lavoy Allen

Grade: D-
3 starts | 8.5 mpg | 1.0 ppg | 2.3 rpg | 30.0% FG

Lavoy Allen replaced Myles Turner in the starting lineup late in the season, and wound up starting the first three games of the playoffs. While the Pacers typically performed better with him in the lineup this season — in a plus/minus sense if not aesthetically — he did nearly nothing of note in this series. Valanciunas abused the paint during his time on the court, which was disappointing to see from a guy whose only real talent is rebounding.

Allen was replaced by Myles Turner in the rare “both coaches bench and bury their starting power forwards mid-playoffs” maneuver. Then he really never played again. Overall, the Pacers struggled mightily to rebound in the games Allen started, and he did nothing to indicate he’s a starting power forward in the NBA.

Rodney Stuckey

Grade: D
6.3 ppg | 2.0 apg | 2.1 rpg | 0.6 spg | 39.5% FG| 50% 3PT | 55.6% FT

Rodney Stuckey was the Pacers’ first guard off the bench throughout this series and soaked up more minutes than any reserve outside of Solomon Hill.

Unfortunately, he was not particularly successful in this role against the Raptors, and was a consistent part of the Pacers bench mob that got destroyed by the Raptors. Stuckey seemingly single-handedly gave away Game 5, shooting 1-of-10 from the field, missing 2 fourth-quarter free throws, and committing 3 turnovers in 21 minutes.

He did play well in Game 6 and had a very strong Game 7 to redeem himself a bit. The damage was done, however, and this did not make up for his poor play earlier in the series. And nothing may ever be able to make up for this disastrous play in the fourth quarter of a Game 5 that is the most-glaring reason the Pacers did not advance.

C.J. Miles

Grade: F
3.4 ppg | 13.1 mpg | 26.3% FG | 10% 3PT | 3.5 PER

Most Pacers fans were expecting Miles to play a big role in any potential Pacers’ upset, but Miles was miles and miles off from the field. In seven games, he did almost nothing helpful.

For the season, C.J. battled injuries after gamely starting the season as the nominal stretch 4, and he looked much better than this when healthy. But playoff C.J. Miles was not good, and played less than 13 minutes total in Games 6 and 7 combined.

A few timely 3s in the series could have made a difference. But he wasn’t up to the task and was net negative for the Pacers throughout the postseason.

Ty Lawson

Grade: F
10.6 mpg | 3.4 ppg | 1.4 apg | 33.3% FG | 5.2 PER

The Ty Lawson experiment went slightly better than the Andrew Bynum experiment. Slightly.

Lawson showed a tiny bit of his speed and ability to change — and was helpful in Indiana’s Game 4 win — but he couldn’t guard his own shadow, and did nothing to spark the offense when the second unit needed it most.

The Indiana Pacers scored a team-low 80 points per 100 possessions during the supposed offensive sparkplug’s time on the court. There is really nothing else to say.

He will not be missed.