Pacers come back Thadless, down the Miami Vice 110-102
By William Furr
The Indiana Pacers come back to steal a game from the Miami Vice (err, Heat), finishing 110-102.
The Pacers fought tooth and nail to win another road game, this time taking down Miami on Miami Vice night (side note: the Vice jersey/floor combination is fantastic).
Playing the entire 2nd half without Thad Young due to an… interesting flagrant 2 call (and without T.J. Leaf, who Nate forgot existed), the Pacers came back throughout, and pulled away very late for an 8 point victory.
The Pacers struggled mightily from the line, finishing just 17-29, and suffered 18 turnovers, but held on to continue their largest road winning streak since the 2011 season.
110. 100. Final. 102 . 110
The Good: Resiliency. The Pacers refused to die, no matter what went against them. It would’ve been easy to fall apart after Thad Young’s ejection, but this team never dies.
The Bad: The free throw shooting. Yet again, the Pacers struggled, and almost gave away another game after shooting just 58.6%.
LVP: Tyreke Evans. Had one nice finish, looked bad the rest of the time. Looked more like last year’s Lance Stephenson than last year’s Tyreke Evans.
X-Factor: Miami’s Vice City jerseys and court. Beautiful duds. Makes me sad about the Pacers blah gray fiasco.
A-. 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, a steal, and just 1 turnover in 36 (!!!) minutes for DC. 5-8 from the line and 0-3 from deep hurt, but Collison was a big part of this Pacers win.. PG. Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON
A-. 22 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. Took 22 shots to get there, but Oladipo was everywhere in the 4th quarter. As he goes, so will this Pacers team.. SG. Indiana Pacers. VICTOR OLADIPO
B. 16 points on 6-9 shooting, added in 2 steals. Hit some timely shots when the Pacers were staggered by Miami. The Bogdanovic/Oladipo pick and roll was yet again beautifully successful.. SF. Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC
Thad got tossed with about 90 seconds left in the first half. Kelly Olynyk leaned into the pitch and flopped from a Thad Young elbow, and the officials rewarded his performance with a Flagrant 2. Thad did get him, and it probably should’ve been flagrant, but Thad deserved better.. PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. Inc
B+. 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in only 24 minutes. Whiteside dominated both Turner and Sabonis. Turner, however, finished a game high +20. The 3’s aren’t falling yet, but here’s hoping he keeps shooting them. They will.. C. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER
17 points and 11 rebounds on 6-7 shooting is phenomenal. Sabonis’ defense tonight was anything but. Despite the gaudy stat line, Sabonis finished a team worst -12.. C. Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS. B-
3-10 shooting, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls. Yuck.. SG. Indiana Pacers. TYREKE EVANS. F
A-. 14 points and 5 rebounds on 6-7 shooting, and finished +16 to boot. Good CoJo game.. PG. Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH
C. Once again, didn’t do much.Finished with 3 points on 1 shot in 15 minutes. Nate has GOT to figure out how to use McDermott. He’s absolutely no value to the team if you’re not running plays and getting him shots. SF. Indiana Pacers. DOUG MCDERMOTT
C+. Leaf somehow didn’t play the 2nd half, after Thad Young was ejected late in the first. Leaf didn’t look bad out there, though he’s still a ways off from “helpful”.. PF. Indiana Pacers. TJ LEAF
Next. Road Warriors: Things Heat Up. dark
The Pacers next game is 11/11 in Houston, tipping off at 7 PM. This will be the second time in a week the Pacers are facing off with the newly healthy Houston Rockets.