Player Grades: Pacers drop series in hard-fought Game 7
By Tony East
The Pacers season is over after a loss in Game 7 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Let’s grade every player’s performance one last time.
After winning 48 games and taking their first-round series to seven games, the Indiana Pacers season is over.
156. 101. 100. Final. 105
Indiana can be happy with the way they played in their final game of the season. they fought back from a 14 point deficit to take a lead in the third quarter. Victor Oladipo and Darren Collison had it working. Lance made two threes. It wasn’t enough to win, but it was an excellent encapsulation of the season as a whole.
The Cavs just had one leg up on this team: LeBron James. We’ve known how dominant he can be for years now, but he showed the Pacers just one last time. 45 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists while stretching his impact over nearly 44 minutes is just a small sample of how good we can see LeBron be. The Pacers might be the better team, but LeBron was the best player in the series.
The Good: The Pacers fought like hell to get back into this game. When they were down 14 in the second quarter, nobody counted them out. They had come back from huge deficits before. But for some reason, in a Game 7, this one felt a little different.
It didn’t matter how it felt. Oladipo and company roared back from the margin to take a lead in the third quarter, which put them in a position to fight for their lives and try to steal the game in the fourth frame.
The Bad: Rebounding. The Cavs gameplan to take the series was to give Tristan Thompson his first start of the series, and that decision paid off big time. He pulled down five offensive rebounds alone, and the Cavs pulled down 15 as a team. Combine that with 11 turnovers for the Pacers, and the Cavs number of possessions adds up fast. It hurt the team, and it hurt bad
MVP: Victor Oladipo. Again. For, like, the 50th time. Oladipo was sensational, dumping in 30 points to go with 12 rebounds and six assists. He also, as always, played great defense and had three steals. Indianapolis is his City, and he proved it one last time with a dominant showing in the Pacers final game.
LVP: A real stinker of a final game for Bojan Bogdanovic. We can only be so mad since he basically single-handedly won Game 3, but he was 1/9 in this one and his defense was not as good as it was earlier in the series. It was fairly emblematic of his roller-coaster season, but it was a bummer to see Bojan struggle in the final game of the season.
X-Factor: Thristan Thompson. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds and was a +2 in his first significant action of the series. Ty Lue mixed it up by going with Thimpson to start the game, and the Pacers weren’t ready. He changed the game, and ipso facto, the series.
A-. Collison was finally great in this one, posting 23 points on just 13 shots. His offensive impact was massive, and he was a team-high +4. PG. Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON
VICTOR OLADIPO. A. Victor was amazing, plain and simple. He exclaimed after the game: “If Y’all don’t respect the Indiana Pacers now, I have no respect for you.” Can this guy do anything wrong?. SG. Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC. C-. Bojan’s floor spacing usually makes him valuable just to have on the floor, but when he stinks shooting like he did tonight, he can only be so effective. I’m sure this is not the way he wanted to end his season.. SF
PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. B+. Thad was Thad one last time. 14 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, great defense, and a great teammate. He capped off an excellent season with a solid performance.
C+. Myles is always hard to grade. He got sonned by Tristan Thompson on the glass a few times and he fouled out. But he shot efficiently and was a quality rim protector. His +10 led the team. He was impactful but didn’t play amazing. Both of these things can be true.. C. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER
DOMANTAS SABONIS. C+. After completely rolling the last two games, Sabonis came to a halt in this one. He shot just 3/10 and wasn’t as solid defensively as he normally is. But he boxed out Tristan Thompson well and made all of his foul shots. An above average game for Sabonis, but not quite enough.. C. Indiana Pacers
C+. Lance is useful when he is hitting his shots, which he was tonight. But his defense was unusually bad in this game, and when he was in the game as the only shot creator in the early fourth quarter, he couldn’t get the offense going. He was a game low -19. He was okay, but Indiana needed good Lance in this one.. SG. Indiana Pacers. LANCE STEPHENSON
B-. Cory Joseph has become sorta like Thad in that all of his games blend together. They all feel similar. Solid D on various Cavalier guards, but he couldn’t get his shot going. Joseph’s playstyle isn’t sexy, but he plays gritty and effectively. That is who he was in this game.. PG. Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH
TREVOR BOOKER. C-. I love Trevor Booker, but he maybe shouldn’t have played down the stretch in this one. Seven minutes, -7. 1/2 shooting and three rebounds are nice, but he didn’t have a game-changing play in him and he didn’t cut it in the early fourth quarter with the season on the line.. F. Indiana Pacers
Next: Thad Young talks to 8p9s
The Pacers next game is… in the Los Vegas summer league. Get ready for the offseason folks. The Pacers season is over, but we never stop here at 8 Points, 9 Seconds.