Post-Game Grades: Indiana Pacers Shut Down James Harden, Earn Impressive Win Over Houston Rockets
By Josh Padmore
Final. 101. 169. 120. 100
The Indiana Pacers won an impressive game against the run-and-gun Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
The Good: Three straight wins, and beating a team like Houston is a big confidence booster. Paul George also played like an MVP for the fourth straight game. The Pacers also shut down James Harden, who shot 3-17 from the field.
The Bad: C.J. Miles, coming off a big game, struggled. That’s the only negative about tonight. A great wire-to-wire victory for Indiana, though.
MVP: Paul George scored 33 points on 13 of 23 shooting for his fourth consecutive game with at least 30 points.
He also threw down this monster dunk.
LVP: C.J. Miles was ineffective tonight. Scoreless in a start, shooting 0 of 5.
X-Factor: Lavoy Allen made himself available. Got a season-high 10 points on 5-5 shooting. He has stayed ready and has given the Pacers some big minutes recently as of late.
Indiana Pacers. PAUL GEORGE. A+. Played like a superstar once again. This is his fourth 30+ point game in a row. Played great defense on James Harden, too. PG finished with 33 points on 13-22 shooting, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.. Small Forward
A. Controlled the game from the very beginning. Had another double-double, posting 17 points and 15 assists.. Point Guard. Indiana Pacers. JEFF TEAGUE
B. Solid night for Myles. Played good defense, per usual. Scored 18 points on 6-13 shooting. He bounced back from a 2 rebound dud against Sacramento by gobbling up 10 of them tonight.. Center. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER
B. Played big tonight. Big as in using his size advantage. Got plenty of mismatches and made some nice finishes with his left hand. Scored 11 points on 5-9 shooting and grabbed 5 rebounds.. Power Forward. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG
D. Didn’t score tonight in another start, shooting 0-5 from the field, all misses from deep. He had some good defensive moments, though.. Shooting Guard. Indiana Pacers. C.J. MILES
Did a great job of finding his teammates, dishing out 5 assists. Went 0-3 from the field with 0 points, though.. Shooting Guard. Indiana Pacers. MONTA ELLIS. C-
C+. Got into some foul trouble early, but made some big plays down the stretch to help the Pacers get the win. Finished with 8 points on 4-5 shooting in just 9 minutes.. Center. Indiana Pacers. AL JEFFERSON
LAVOY ALLEN. B+. Helped the Pacers grab momentum early. Finished with a season high 10 points on 5-5 shooting, to go with 2 rebounds. That’s three straight solid performances from the backup four.. Power Forward. Indiana Pacers
C-. Played 11 minutes, scoring 2 points. Was a -5 on the court.. Point Guard. Indiana Pacers. AARON BROOKS
Indiana Pacers. GLENN ROBINSON III. B+. Terrific outing for Glenn off the bench tonight, scoring 14 points on 6-8 shooting and 2-2 from deep. Also grabbed 6 rebounds in 21 minutes.. Small Forward