Post-Game Grades: Indiana Pacers Throw Up All Over Themselves, Lose to Lowly Miami Heat

Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers start 3-game road trip with a loss to lottery-bound Miami Heat, fall back to .500.

The Good: The Indiana Pacers took a nice trip to sunny Miami to escape a cold, snowy Indianapolis in December.

The Bad: Unfortunately, the Pacers took a crap all over the trip by going over seven minutes without scoring and turning the ball over five times spanning the third and fourth quarters. They scored only ten points in the final quarter.

Indiana was bullied on the boards by a 58-38 margin. The defense was solid enough to win, but Indiana was unable to clear the glass to finish the defense. Miami grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.

Also, each member of the starting frontcourt played over 37 minutes on the first night of a road back-to-back, which only makes this loss sting more.

MVP: Hassan Whiteside was a monster in the paint all night long, finishing with 26 points and 22 rebounds. He only had two blocks, but his presence was felt defensively as the Pacers missed multiple shots in the paint.

LVP: Nate McMillan. Yeah, he’s not a player, but he didn’t exactly cover himself in glory the last minute of the game. His decision to try to trap and not foul immediately — while down three points with 20 seconds left — is defensible.

However, not calling a timeout after giving up a dunk to go down five points when he had two timeouts to use is indefensible. I’m not sure what the explanation for that could be, but it will surely fall on deaf ears.

X-Factor: The Brothers Johnson. Tyler Johnson and James Johnson scored a combined 29 points off the bench for the Heat. Miami’s bench outscored the Indiana bench 43-34.