Post-Game Grades: Pacers conquer Hornets, win fourth straight at home

Trying to continue their winning form that they showed in their victory over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, the Indiana Pacers were able to fend off Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets in tonight’s win.

The Indiana Pacers returned to form and handled the Charlotte Hornets with relative ease tonight.

While the game initially didn’t show promise of anything spectacular, Indiana’s 23-point first quarter did show some excellent fundamental basketball and produced a few moments that some true basketball fans might appreciate.

It wasn’t until the second quarter that the spark really lighted for the Pacers. With a small(er) backcourt lineup of Joe Young, Cory Joseph, and Lance Stephenson, the Pacers created some wild moments, including BornReady, well, being BornReady:

Coming out of the half the Pacers were looking to capitalize on the 1-point lead they had. While the third quarter contained a lot of good things (Pacers shooting 63.2% from the field, shooting 42.9% from 3-point range, and this), none were quite as good as All-Star guard Victor Oladipo denying former Slam Dunk Contest winner Dwight Howard at the rim:

(Fun fact: That block makes it 40 games in a row where the “Oladipope” has had a block or a steal, the longest active streak in the NBA.)

Down the stretch of the fourth, it really became Indiana’s game to lose. Despite only shooting 20% from 3-point range, the Pacers were able to outscore the Hornets 24-18 in the final quarter of the game.

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Overall, the Pacers secured another “W” in what initially looked to be a tightly contested game.

The Good: The Pacers’ bench outscored Charlotte’s 40-21. While most of that number comes from Myles Turner’s 22 points, it is still an impressive stat none-the-less.

The Bad: Indiana’s season-long struggle to secure offensive rebounds was shown again tonight, with the Pacers only nabbing six offensive boards as opposed to the Hornets’ eleven.

MVP: Turner and Oladipo. Myles was able to put up 22 points (12 from 3’s), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block, while playing the eighth most minutes on the team. Oladipo put up a game-high 25 points, as well as adding 5 boards and dropping 3 dimes.

LVP: Bojan Bogdanovic. Started, got 2 rebounds, an assist, and no points. Not a good night for Bogie.

X-Factor: Lance Stephenson. BornReady proves time and time again to be the spark off the bench that this Pacer team needs. It’s good to see he is continuing his solid form, after having a couple of rough games during Indiana’s five-game road trip a few weeks ago.

Next: Why did the Pacers defense improve in January?

Indiana takes on a Mike Conley-less Grizzlies team at home this Wednesday at 7 p.m. .