If the Pacers hadn’t gone 30-for-31 from the line tonight, this one would have been so one-sided that we can’t even pretend it was competitive. Instead, we can — but it really wasn’t. Indiana scored just 34 points in the first half against a depleted Celtics roster that was missing three starters due to injury (Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Jermaine O’Neal). A lot of this was due to giving away possessions. They had 9 turnovers in the first 15 minutes, and it wasn’t exactly due to suffocating Boston defense. They were just throwing away entry passes and traveling. Darren Collison and Lance Stephenson combined for three dribbling violations: a travel, a palming violation and a discontinued dribble. The holy trinity of mishandle.

Somehow, they only trailed by 8 at the half. Then, in the third quarter, they gave up 17 points to Paul Pierce, a lot of which he scored due to either Danny Granger’s or Paul Pierce’s inability to fight through a screen and then nobody stepping up on the backside. Sure, there were a few mini-runs by Indiana to keep it within striking distance, but every time Boston needed some points, it got them.

More than anything, the bench was an absolute joke. They finished the game having shot 4-for-21 (19.0%) from the floor, which brought the overall team shooting down 35.0% on the game. (Meanwhile, the starters were 24-for-59 — despite Hibbert missing everything — good for 49%.) This makes the 10th game this year the Pacers have shot at or below 40% from the field. They obviously still have a very good record, so the defense has been enough on other nights to carry them on other nights. But, like any ability to score, that didn’t show up in the second half either. They allowed the Pierce show to take over the third quarter, during which Boston as a whole made 11-of-22 and hit 3-of-4 from behind the arc. It was no better in the fourth: the Celtics hit 8-for-15.

The lesson: Don’t be fooled by the final score. This one was really never competitive. The Pacers out-classed the Celtics twice earlier this season. And now, Boston has returned the favor.

Here is how each guy played individually tonight.

Agree? Disagree?

Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me (@8pts9secs) or Tim (@TimDonahue8p9s) on Twitter.

	David West - 31 MIN | 5-9 FG | 4-4 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 14 PTS The best Pacer on the court tonight if you count both ends of the court. But that’ll really only get ya the “Two-Legged Man Wins One-Legged Ass-Kicking Contest” headline when everyone else looks this bad.
	Danny Granger - 36 MIN | 7-16 FG | 6-7 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 21 PTS Shot very well, scoring inside to make him 6-for-10 with 15 pts after 3 quarters. But he allowed Pierce to get so many easy points — 17 in the 3rd alone — that some of that good offense comes with a caveat.
	Roy Hibbert - 28 MIN | 5-13 FG | 7 REB | 0 AST | 6 TO | 11 PTS Over the past week, Roy has broken his nose and sprained his ankle during games and returned from the locker room to play. Credit the Tall Mamba for his gutting it out and playing through pain. But little else tonight.
	Darren Collison - 41 MIN | 3-10 FG | 3 REB | 4 AST | 8 PTS Nothing to harp on in particular except poor shooting. Notably 2 of his 3 makes came in one three-possession stretch in the 1st where he kept the ball in the pick-and-roll and made the good decision to shoot.
	Paul George -30 MIN | 4-11 FG | 8-8 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 16 PTS Got roasted over and over and over by Paul Pierce — when Danny wasn’t getting roasted, I mean. And remember that 6 of his pts came after the game was all but over.

	Dahntay Jones - 12 MIN | 2-5 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 5 PTS Over the past two weeks, Jones has morphed into Indiana’s best bench scorer. This is not a good thing. Also, he had his third Euro-step finish in transition of the year. It’s officially a thing.
	Louis Amundson - 13 MIN | 0-2 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 2 PTS The highlight of his night was him getting yelled at by KG as Garnett was preparing to take some FTs. Kevin must have think he’s European. Common mistake, really.
	George Hill - 22 MIN | 1-8 FG | 4-4 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS George, what would ya say you did out there?
	Tyler Hansbrough - 24 MIN | 1-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS @TimDonahue8p9s: “Tyler drive and dunk on KG. Never thought I’d type that.” Too bad he missed the other 4 shots he took, blew some would-be good PnRs and only grabbed 3 rebs in 25 mins.
	Lance Stephenson - 4 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0 REB | 0 AST | 2 TO | 0 PTS Played less than 4 mins but managed to turn the ball over twice just by dribbling. Travelled and carried it.

No related posts.

You can follow Jared Wade (@8pts9secs) and I (@TimDonahue8p9s) during the game on Twitter for the Pacers’ side. From the Boston’ side, keep up with @celticshub and be sure to check out our True Hoop sister site: CelticsHub

Enough with the formalities, can the Pacers make Friday their 13th win of the season?

For my fellow stat geeks and obsessive-compulsives, I give you the fact sheets.

Pacer Fact Sheet

Celtic Fact Sheet

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The rolling Indiana Pacers are now picking up bandwagon followers, including including the perennially-pessimistic Indy Star columnist Bob Kravitz (though he does take the time to pepper in a few Colts references). With last week’s lone loss coming under an abbreviated squad against the number one team in the NBA, the Pacers appear to be more of a playoff contender than a beneficiary of a cake-walk early schedule (sixth easiest through 12 games).

The next two weeks will be very revealing as to the team’s potential. The season’s only western road trip features some winnable games before the final stop in Los Angeles than a homecoming to face the surprisingly strong Orlando Magic, a team enjoying the calm before the ensuing trade deadline storm. Six of the next seven are on the road, however, where the Pacers have been a model of inconsistency.

Roy Hibbert’s Contract Year

The big man is earning himself a lot of money. With his rookie contract expiring at the end of this season, Hibbert could garner a lot of interest from around the league. It seems likely that he would want to extend his stay in Indiana, and Larry Bird will probably be willing to do what it takes for that to happen.

Hibbert is now a double-double machine and defensive menace anchoring the league’s fourth-best defense. Though his scoring hasn’t been phenomenal, his shooting percentage and points per game have improved from last season. In a match-up against a team without an effective post-defense, Hibbert could be a first or second-round nightmare in the playoffs.

Area 55 could look a lot bigger next year.

Hicks vs. Geriatrics

In my last column, I discussed the growing (and mainly fabricated on my part) beef between the Boston Celtics and Pacers after Ray Allen said that West’s “ego kicked in” and he “wanted the dollars” when deciding to sign with Indiana. That was followed up by somewhat insulting piece lauding the Boston tradition and lambasting a man that didn’t want to be a part of it.

In other news, the Pacers have man-handled the Celtics twice in eight days. With that, I would like to end each column by tracking each team through the season. You know, just to help my ego kick in. What else is there to do in these cornfields?

As of January 16:

Pacers 9-3 (4th in East)
Boston 4-8 (9th in East)

If the 2012 playoffs* started today, the first round match-up would be …

#4 Pacers vs. #5 Hawks

*Boston not present

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1. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part V: Ranking the Draft Classes — The 10 Worst
2. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part VI: Ranking the Draft Classes 11-20

Gracias to OutsideTheNBA for the video.

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Both before and after the Celtics game, Pacer head coach Frank Vogel talked about importance his team’s depth and its need to play faster to exploit that. Last night’s game wasn’t fast (pace of 91.4), but speed is relative. The Celtics entered the game as the second slowest team in the league, and that – along with their  age – showed as the Pacers went at them in waves.

Indiana continued it’s somewhat disturbing habit of starting slowly, trailing for most of the first, before finishing the quarter with a 10-0 spurt to take a 29-24 lead. From there, the Pacers just wore down Boston by getting out and running (23 fastbreak points) and pounding them in the halfcourt (42 points in the paint, .400 ORB%).

The Pacer bench was outscored by Boston’s 25-23, but that’s deceptive. Garbage time fourth quarter minutes produced a 12-5 advantage for the Cs, even at that, the Celtics could climb any closer than the final margin of 14. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett scored 21 points each, but also combined for nine turnovers.

Individually, every core Pacer player either matched, or outplayed their Boston counterpart. Collectively, the Pacers were — and I think will continue to be — just plain better than the Celtics.

Agree? Disagree?

Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me on Twitter @8pts9secs or @TimDonahue8p9s.

	David West – 21 MIN | 4-8 FG | 8 REB | 2 BLK | 8 PTS Big factor in the 3rd-quarter stretch when Indy took control. His 8 & 8 line is unimpressive, but West’s contributions last night (and this year) aren’t adequately measured by his individual numbers. His 3 ORBs, 2 asts, 4 pts in the pivotal 3rd all were back-breakers for Boston.
	Danny Granger – 37 MIN | 8-19 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 3 STL | 21 PTS Strong bounce back from his miscue in Toronto. Danny had 12 points in the 1st half on 5-of-9 shooting and +17 on the night. His shooting left him in the second half, leaving him 1-for-6 from three. He told me after the game that his legs aren’t quite where he likes them to be.
	Roy Hibbert – 27 MIN | 5-15 FG | 1-2 FT| 9 REB | 3 BLK | 11 PTS Just wasn’t a huge factor. He struggled shooting, appearing to rush his hooks against JO, missing 4 of the 5 I recall. Brought back bad memories of a year ago, when his shooting had devolved to simply flinging the ball in the general vicinity of the basket.
	Darren Collison - 32 MIN | 6-11 FG | 4 REB | 4 AST | 17 PTS DC contribution last night was 11 points in a third quarter that saw the Pacers push their eight-point halftime lead out
	Paul George - 26 MIN | 6-11 FG | 6-6 FT | 8 REB | 2 STL | 17 PTS For the first 6 mins, George was the best player in the building. He scored 9 pts. Bett still, he earned 4 FTs. He slowed down after that, but it was more due to this bing a game where he and his ‘mates took turns beating up the Cs.

	Jeff Foster - 17 MIN | 1-6 FG | 1-1 FT | 4 REB | 3 STL | 3 PTS Jeff managed 4 caroms and 3 steals in 17 minutes, but his signature play of the night made a great cut to get an even better feed from Paul George – then missed a 2-foot shot by 3-feet.
	Dahntay Jones - 12 MIN | 1-2 FG | 1 REB | 1 BLK | 2 PTS Non-descript evening for Dahntay.
	Louis Amundson - 3 MIN | 0-4 FG | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS 2 rebounds in 2 minutes is good. 4 shots for a guy with Amundson’s offensive repertoire is a bit excessive. Still, he’s active and aggressive. He and Pendergraph could potentially be a poor man’s Foster-Hansbrough combo – at least in terms of agitating the opponent.
	A.J. Price - 3 MIN |1 TO | 0 AST | 0 PTS To be honest, I don’t think I even realized A.J. had checked in last night.
	George Hill - 25 MIN | 2-5 FG | 3 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 4 PTS Most noticeable play came with 6 mins left, when George ran past three Celtics – covering close to 30 feet – to grab an offensive rebound. All this while the Pacers held a comfortable 16-point lead. Would be best player coming off Boston’s bench by a very wide margin.
	Tyler Hansbrough - 23 MIN | 1-8 FG | 4-4 FT | 6 REB | 2 BLK | 6 PTS Shooting night was a train wreck, but his energy and physicality was a big part of that depth that overwhelmed an aging Celtics team. Also probably would be the best player coming off Boston’s bench by a healthy margin.
	Jeff Pendergraph - 3 MIN | 1-2 FG | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS Scored his first bucket as a Pacer, was generally physical and aggressive, which is pretty much all you can ask of a guy in 2-1/2 garbage time minutes. Still feeling his way, but nice step forward from his debut against the Hawks.
	Lance Stephenson - 12 MIN | 1-3 FG | 1 REB | 2 AST | 2 PTS Strong move to the basket early showed a flash of the NBA-level scoring ability that is probably his strongest attribute right now, but otherwise quiet evening.

No related posts.

The Pacers stand at 9-3, and undefeated at home. If they continue winning – by hook or by crook – then it might be time to start talking about this team in terms of not just grabbing, but expecting home court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

But enough of what I think, give a listen to Frank talking about the game, the tempo, and the upcoming West Coast trip.

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Also particularly interesting is the discussion on balance and late game strategy. Vogel seems to have mastered his media skills, though it looks like he still needs to get up to speed on which “George” is “George.”

Pacers face the Celtics tonight at 7:00 PM, looking to move to 9-3…their best start since their 61-win season in 2004 (10-2).

Related posts:

1. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part V: Ranking the Draft Classes — The 10 Worst
2. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part VI: Ranking the Draft Classes 11-20

Peter May reports for ESPN Boston:

Doc Rivers said it before the game. He repeated it after the game. The Celtics’ coach looks at the Indiana Pacers and sees a younger version of the team he took to the NBA’s promised land.

“They’ve done a great job of adding pieces and adding them quickly,” Rivers said. “It’s amazing to me. It’s like watching a young version of us. I know. I hate to say it. But they’re young. They’re scary. And they’re good.”

That was before the Pacers went out and overwhelmed the Celtics 87-74, crushing them on the glass and pulling away down the stretch. You know, sort of what the Celtics have done every now and then to other teams over the past few years.

“They were us,” Rivers repeated afterward. “They knocked us off the block. They were the instigator the whole night, and all we did was whine and not retaliate.”

This following quote is a wonderful description of how that Boston title team dominated.

“They were in our air space,” Rivers said, using a favorite term to describe inside advantage. “We always talk about owning the air space. That’s who we are. And they were us — for the entire game. I just thought they did it better than us.”

Ask Pacers Coach Frank Vogel, and this isn’t by accident.

After being told of Rivers’ comments, [Vogel] cracked a smile and said, “Well, we’re trying to be them.”

He wasn’t just blowing smoke. Before every practice and film session, Vogel said, he writes the word “togetherness” on the board. It’s his version of ubuntu. And it’s all because of Rivers.

“One-hundred percent because of Doc,” he said. “I don’t know him very well, but the year they won the championship, I heard him use the word ‘togetherness’ about a million times. And what he did with that team was an inspiration to me, and I am trying my best to recreate that here [in Indiana].”

I don’t think anyone is actually going to mistake the two teams. There isn’t one player on this Pacers roster as good as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen or, probably, Rajon Rondo. But the style of play, at least in Doc’s eyes, is enough to make a comparison.

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But the Pacers soon took complete control of the game. At the helm was AJ Price.

George Hill did the glory work, sticking three jumpers to extend Indiana’s lead to 13 just over 3 minutes into the final period. But it was AJ’s steady work as floor general, which sparked an 8-0 run, that keep the offense moving and creating good shots

Pacers captain Danny Granger, who watched all this from the bench, was impressed. ”I thought [Price] was the player of the game,” said Granger. “I call him the player of the game because he came in — he only made two free throws but he ran that team. He didn’t overdo anything. He made the right passes: George [Hill] was hot, so he got George the ball where he needed it to be. That’s what you need from a point guard: a facilitator. So AJ was the player of the game to me because that gave us the lead — the cushion — that we needed.”

After the game, Coach Frank Vogel also had praise for the third-year guard he has seldom-used this season. “AJ Price hasn’t played a relevant minute all year,” said Vogel. “With Lance [Stephenson]‘s injury, I always have confidence in AJ Price. He was our backup point guard last year, and he’s a heckuva basketball player. He led that second unit in terms of organizing our offense.”

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star saw the same thing everyone in the Pacers locker room did. And he thinks this performance by Price proved enough that he should be ahead of Lance Stephenson in the rotation even when Born Ready’s ankle is ready.

“Price is just a better pure point guard. I feel like the Pacers are force-feeding Stephenson minutes when Price should be getting those minutes. … the second unit’s offense simply runs smoother when Price, who is called Juice by his teammates, is on the court.”

At this point, that’s hard to disagree with if you’re interested in the Pacers maximizing their chance to win every minute of every game. Few would argue that Stephenson has the higher ceiling of the two reserves guards — AJ probably tops out as a fringe NBA starter while Lance has the innate talent to be significantly better than that. But Lance has so far this season shown either signs of flash or inexperience, never the steady presence that AJ gave last night as the Pacers out-played the Celtics in Boston throughout the fourth quarter.

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1. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part V: Ranking the Draft Classes — The 10 Worst
2. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part VI: Ranking the Draft Classes 11-20

After one of the ugliest first halves of basketball I’ve ever seen (Indy led 33-25 at the break), the Pacers found a way to score some points. The bench was instrumental in the victory and some familiar — but unseen-so-far-this-season — faces keep the team out-playing Boston for most of the second 24 minutes. George Hill, AJ Price and Jeff Foster all showed why many people were talking up this team’s depth before the season started. Even with some regular contributors struggling (namely, all of them), Indy was able to grind this one out in Boston, who tied a franchise record for futility in a half with just 25 points in the opening two quarters. That’s impressive — even if Paul Pierce and KG looked like the 16-year-old pet cat I recently had to put down.

Here is how each player faired during the win.

Agree? Disagree?

Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me on Twitter @8pts9secs.

Indiana Pacers 87 – Boston Celtics 74

DARREN COLLISON   6/14 FG | 14 PTS | 4 AST | 3 TO Like everyone, he started off cold, but his 5 of 9 in the second half and mixed in some aggressiveness during various stretches.
PAUL GEORGE   5/7 FG (2/2 3PT) | 12 PTS | 5 PF Can’t argue with 5-for-7 shooting but he seemed oddly detached and had a lot of trouble sticking with Ray Allen. Two of his 5 fouls put the Cs on the line late and there’s probably a reason Hill checked back in right after to close the game. Good news: Think he has indeed found the NBA range though.
DANNY GRANGER   3/14 FG (7/7 3PT) | 15 PTS | 3 STL Shot was still off, but he played high-level D on Pierce, helping to hold him to 3-for-17 shooting. He also jumped the passing lane for a steal that led to some late FTs and then passed up his own shot — twice on one play — to find DC for a 3 that iced the game.
DAVID WEST   1/5 FG | 2 PTS | 10 REB | 3 AST Non-factor. 10 boards is cool on paper, but Boston shot 26.5% in the first half, which is when David grabbed 7 of his total. Someone had to pick up those 25 misses.
ROY HIBBERT  5/15 FG | 11 PTS | 12 REB | 3 AST Double-double for the big man who shot poorly but was an established presence down low most of the game. With 15 attempts you want him to have at least 8 makes, but he did more than the percentages suggest.

TYLER HANSBROUGH  4/7 FG (4/6 FT) | 12 PTS | 3 REB An unremarkable but energetic, aggressive game. As expected. Needs to rebound better.
GEORGE HILL  5/10 FG (2/3 3PT) | 13 PTS | 5 REB Hill got hot when Indiana needed someone to. He played his consistently good D and looked confident, aggressive and in rhythm on his way to 8 pts on 3-for-6 shooting in the 4th.
JEFF FOSTER   2/2 FG | 4 PT | 4 REB | 4 PF Ol’ Man River returned and his presence was felt immediately. Indy got 2 offensive rebounds on Foster’s first possession of the season. He made two easy putbacks, finishing with 3 offensive boards — though he told me after the game that Tyler admitted to stealing two others from him.
AJ Price  0/1 FG | 2 PT | 2 AST | 2 REB The bench arguably won this game and AJ was a big factor. Afterwards, Granger called him tonight’s MVP and Vogel proclaimed that “I always have confidence in AJ Price.” After his steady, heady performance running the offense for 14 mins, it’s not hard to see why.
DAHNTAY JONES  1/4 FG | 2 PTS | 5 REB Dahntay was Dahntay per usual but had some trouble on two straight possessions stopping Ray Allen, who ran him off some screens to hit a jumper and broke his flank to penetrate all the way to the rim. Hill picked up Ray on the next play and calmed Mr. Shuttlesworth down.

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