The Odds Of Making The Playoffs Are Not in the Indiana Pacers’ Favor

The Odds Of Making The Playoffs Are Not in the Indiana Pacers’ Favor by Ben Gibson

The Good: The Pacers hold serve in their desperate attempt to make the playoffs. They did not get any help tonight, as both Brooklyn and Boston won, but they managed to fight back at the end and not doom their hopes.

The Bad: The Pistons 3-point shooting. The Pacers repeatedly lost track of shooters and let the Pistons shoot 47.8% from deep on 23 attempts. 4 Pistons hit 2 or more deep balls, and it seemed like every one of their triples came at a pivotal moment.

MVP: Rodney Stuckey. Stuck scored 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting, and finished a team high +11 on the night. He repeatedly abused smaller guards, make 75% of his 3’s, and had only 1 turnover in over 32 minutes.

Indiana Pacers 107 Final

Recap | Box Score 103 Detroit Pistons David West, PF 29 MIN | 3-9 FG | 4-5 FT | 7 REB | 9 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | 0 +/- West didn’t do particularly well from the field (3-of-9), but made his free throws, rebounded against taller players, and dished out a sweet season-high 9 assists. The 17 foot assassin is finding other ways to impact the game, even when his shooting touch is absent.

Solomon Hill, SF 23 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 2 PTS | -7 +/- Losing them minutes, Solo

Roy Hibbert, C 24 MIN | 5-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 11 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | -1 +/- The Pistons front line makes for a tough cover, but Hibbert played Andre Drummond relatively well, and hit 5-7 from the field on his way to a double-double.

George Hill, PG 36 MIN | 2-6 FG | 8-8 FT | 3 REB | 9 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | +3 +/- Reggie Jackson repeatedly hurt the Pacers (though not all of his damage was Hill’s fault), but the Hometown Hero played a solid game nonetheless. 13 points on 6 attempts from the field will do, and his 9 assists certainly didn’t hurt; his pretty drop off assist to C.J. Miles stopped the bleeding at a moment the Pacers were in real trouble.

C.J. Miles, SG 28 MIN | 9-17 FG | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 24 PTS | +6 +/- Co-MVP. 24 points in 28 minutes is about the best production you can hope for from C.J., and he did it efficiently tonight on 9-of-17 shooting, and 5-of-9 from deep. Hit some of the biggest shots of the game for the Pacers, and was a big part of why they stole this game.

Luis Scola, PF 19 MIN | 2-6 FG | 4-4 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +4 +/- Did Luis Scola things. Put up a near double double (8 and 8) in just 19 minutes, and hit his free throws. Had a Luis Scola steal and even briefly led a fast break.

Lavoy Allen, PF 3 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -1 +/- Only played 3 minutes, got abused by Andre Drummond on an occasion. Probably not the right matchup for Lavoy to get minutes at the 5.

Paul George, SF 14 MIN | 3-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +1 +/- Paul’s offense still has a ways to go; not to say that he shot poorly tonight, but his sharpness comes and goes on that end. On defense, he looks closer and closer to PG seemingly every minute he’s out there.

Ian Mahinmi, C 21 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +3 +/- It is rare to say, but Ian Mahinmi hit some big shots for the Pacers. Had a buzzer beating tip in that stymied Pistons momentum, and a big 2 handed dunk.

Donald Sloan, PG 12 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | +1 +/- Didn’t kill the Pacers in his minutes. A massive improvement from last year.