The Indiana Pacers secure a crucial road win against a dominant West Conference opponent in the Houston Rockets.
The Good: The bench was huge scoring 48 points and providing the spark the team desperately needed in the 2nd quarter to come back from an early 17-point deficit.
Houston took another absurd amount of three-point attempts, but the Pacers finally extended their perimeter defense out far enough to hold the Rockets to just 22% (10-45) from long range.
The Bad: It got messy late in the 4th quarter when the Rockets fought all the way back to within two points, but great to see the out-of-bounds Nate Mac timeout special to dial up C.J. Miles for a wide open corner three.
What sort of sorcery is this?pic.twitter.com/2g3tarS3RD
— 8 Points, 9 Seconds (@8pts9secs) February 28, 2017
A lot of questionable free throws tonight which you’ll have with James Harden on the floor, but the Pacers really need to find a way to defend without fouling so much (Houston with 42 free throw attempts).
MVP: Jeff Teague put the team on his back (25 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists), made all 12 of his free throws, and defended well. He does this more and more often.
LVP: Thad Young missed quite a few bunnies at the rim. He still might be hesitant to dunk with the tender wrist.
X-Factor: Rakeem Christmas is consistently showing he’s more than just a D-League fill in and an extra big to keep around. He’s becoming the Energizer Bunny this team needs off the bench.