Post Game Grades: Pacers Blow 17-point Lead, Lose to Spurs

42 minutes of good basketball but the final 6 minutes were AWFUL and that is all the Spurs needed to win

I just can’t find a good reason that Ian and DJ take 14 of the limited bench shots even if they did hit some early while Tyler gets limited touches again with his ability to get to the line. He got to the line almost as soon as he checked in then took 3 shots the whole game with one a missed jumper and two tip shots on the same trip off the offensive glass and only had one touch total in the whole second half ending in an iffy offensive foul.

Ty;er was the only player not to get a shot of any kind for the Pacers in the second half, a half we shot 36.2% in with Lance going 3-for-3 but didn’t get any shots in the 4th. Both Tyler and Lance want to take the ball to the hole one makes some nice finishes and the other gets the line but Frank or the other guys are scared or refuse to let them do their thing and see use settle for jumpers.

Yeah, I don’t get why we’re posting up Ian while Tyler hangs out in perimeter-town. Very frustrating.

Also, can someone comment on Vogel’s second half rotation? Watching the Pacers lead evaporate was awful. Taking Lance out after a very questionable technical was bad news…Young immediately bricked a three to cause a run-out and threw a pass out of bounds.

I agree more or less that Tyler needs to get some more field goal attempts, because that will lead to more free throw attempts and hopefully a few less missed shots by Ian or Sam Young. But getting Tyler more shots isn’t the key to turning the season around. He’s far from reliable offensively.. Sometimes I have no idea what he’s thinking when he tries to drive or do a post-move on offense, such as that “iffy” offensive foul against him in the 2nd half. He just got the ball and without hesitation bulldozed into his opponent. Made no sense. And he does that crap a lot. Yet, because he is good at drawing fouls (and because our bench scoring is weak to begin with), it would be a good idea to get him the ball more often.

Except for the last few minutes of the 3rd and the entire 4th quarter, I thought we played well last night. Our bench was pretty solid (DJ was fantastic), Lance played decently, West was looking good, PG was still hitting 3s (in the 1st half), Green was hitting 3s, Ian hit a couple jumpers, George Hill was running an efficient offense, and Hansbrough was being Hansbrough. The problem is that our offense completely deflated about midway through the 3rd, and nobody could get the ball into the basket from then on. And Roy Hibbert is still a freakin’ mess. I cringed when he got the ball down low, because I knew if he shot it, it wasn’t going in. I’m frustrated with Hibbert, but I’m still not too worried about him, because I think he’ll eventually get back to playing like the elite center he is. I hope that happens sooner rather than later, though, because our playoff chances may depend on it. And the third reason for our loss is that Tony Parker couldn’t miss. He always seems to tear us apart. He killed us last night.

I guess the only thing that will eventually turn things around for us is time. I’m getting tired of waiting, though.

Alot of positives to take away from this game, but also plenty of negatives. Biggest positive I pulled from this game is that the Pacers are getting better, alot better. They were dominating a really good team for nearly a full game, proving they can compete upper tiered teams with Danny out, 3 weeks ago the spurs made them look silly for a full game. The bench seems to be getting stronger, they have the starting rotation figured out and with more time together I think everyone will see this team is better than last years.

I would have given Hill a C…7 asts, made this offense look great and probably the best it has for 42 minutes against a tought opponent (unless it was really DJ?), but ultimatley I think everyone will be putting the game in his hands since he determines who gets the ball when, but at the end of the game, who could he give the ball to? The only thing left was to try out Lance, but it should have never come to that.

Negatives: Hibbert is still struggling, not sure why Vogel is still allowing him to have this many touches, but it’s not like anyone else took the team on their shoulders and finished this game out. This is the biggest key to this teams outcome of this season. I don’t think it has to be one person every game, this team isn’t built that way, because all they need is 1 person to step up this game (and alot of the other games this season) and stop the bleeding and they win alot more of these games. I thought West himself would be the guy, but he has went cold late in a couple games as well as everyone else. I was really surprised to see West buckle at the end, misses those 2 free throws I think finished that collapse off.

The good news: Bucks 6-5, Bulls 6-6, Pacers 6-8…Pacers are only looking better and no one is the East Central looks outstanding right now. Door is still wide open only 14 games in and only having played the Bucks once.
Go Pacers!!! Good luck out West, come back with some confidence.

Not exactly how I would put it Jack, but trading him would be dumb. Despite Hibbert’s lack of offense, his presense on defense will change a teams gameplay tremendousley. He had 11 blocks against New Orleans, I understand it is NO, but still 11 blocks, players shoot around 50% in the paint, so those plays right there take away 11 points, not including how many times he forces a guy to dish out the ball for a mid-range low percentage jumper. So its not all about his offensive production that determines his worth, but he does need to shoot better than this 5-15, 5-18

plus sooner or later he’ll get back to playing like he did last year. that’s all we need from him

just looked. the a**holes are only giving us 7.5