Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
There...that wasn't so hard was it?
In a game that should give confidence to just about nobody that the Boogie Curse has actually been broken, we wobbled, collapsed, went to OT, got a lucky bounce, and snuck out with the win we desperately needed, and maybe, just maybe, hope against hope, the guys somehow feel good about themselves now and come out tomorrow playing like it. It is what it is, take the win and sneak out now before anybody changes their minds.
Boxscore
Stats: 33min 27pts (10-18, 1-1, 6-6) 3reb 5ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Gay ( B ) -- tough to grade, because what we had here was Rudy playing about 2/3 of precisely the game we needed from him to get this W -- he was smooth, efficient, made passes when he was doubled, made shots when he was not, and was easily better than anybody the Pacers had on the floor. His only competition came from his own teammate Collison. It was textbook how to step up as a #2 option and fill in when the #1 option is out. And then suddenly the well started to run dry in the late third, and after he returned in the 4th things quickly descended into full fledged disaster mode as the Pacers squeezed, we cracked like a quail egg, Rudy responded by trying to heroball us out of it, and the more he did, the worse it got. Miss after miss into heavy traffic, force after force, often right into Hibbert's chest (he had showed no fear of Hibbert all game long, but suddenly it looked like he should have been afraid all along). Missed all the big shots down the stretch, normally without even thinking of passing. Missed a long jumper with 55 second to go which gave the ball back to the Pacers with a chance to go ahead. Casually one on one'd a tough baseline shot with 5 seconds to go trying to win it, got fouled, did not get the call, and left the game tied and the Pacers with enough time to win it (fortunately they did not take advantage). Started the OT again trying to challenge Hibbert for some reason, and again geting stopped. Finally got one of his little pullups to go at the 3:30 mark for a 4pt lead, and quite possibly his only made field goal in the last 20 minutes of the game. And then ironically, but appropriately, "won" the game for us with a perfectly executed pass to Landry standing on the far side of the rim that Rudy cleverly disguised as a terrible forced shot against two guys with 4 seconds to go in the OT and us down 1 that missed so badly it barely clipped the iron and startled Landry just standing there minding his own business when suddenly a ball landed in his chest. But like I say, pass. So, A for 2/3, F for 1/3, and in the end despite the awful fugly just has to be a pretty good grade. 27 points on a night without Boogie, and without them we never would have been close enough for him to choke.--Brick
Stats: 36min 9pts (3-8, 0-0, 3-5) 11reb 0ast 1stl 1blk 0TO
Thompson ( B ) -- solid unspectacular game in which Jason outplayed David West for most of it (not quite as hard as Jerry would have you believe -- West averaged 14pts 6.8reb last year, is 34, and coming off a knee surgery) . Unfortunately down the stretch West asserted himself, and was one of the reasons the Pacers damn near good stole this one from us. Typical of latter day JT, there wasn't a whole lot of offense, although an early power drive through West drew the second foul on Hibbert, which may have helped our cause (like West, you barely felt Hibbert's presence until the stretch run). Couldn't fault the effort though, was on the boards and made some nice hustle plays including a nice never-appear-in-the-boxscore play racing over to shield several Pacer away from saving a ball going out of bounds of them. Kept West quiet through most of the game, although really, you had to question how much of it was him and how much of it was a rusty West. JT never really smothered him, he just missed. In fact you most noticed Jason's defense on him on precisely plays where he hit tough shots despite the tough defense, which happened several times. Things started to get more chippy after half as West woke up and JT started racking up fouls. Scored his final "basket" of the night when he got a lucky offensive bounce off of his flailing arm while fighting for an offensive rebound, and it flew directly into the hoop, no doubt just the way he planned it. Unfortunately his moment was spoiled when JT went back down the other way, backed too far off West and watched him drain back to back long jumpers on us. Got fouled after Gay was doubled on the called play at the 1:30 mark of the 4th, and hit both the clutch FTs to give us a 4pt lead...which we couldn't hold. Played good defense on West at the 30 second Mark, but it was anther one of those instances where you noticed the D just in time to see West still back him in and tie the game over him. In the OT, JT saved two points by fouling Stuckey to stop a break with 3:40 to go, and watched Stuckey choke both FTs. It was his 5th foul though, and after some more battling on the boards he fouled out with about 40 seconds to go in the OT.--Brick
Stats: 21min 8pts (2-4, 0-0, 4-6) 4reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Hollins ( B ) -- a solid active little roleplayery game cut short in the late going when Malone decided to stick with Reggie at center rather than go back to Hollins in the 4th/OT. Does the things he can do. No called postups, no jumpers, just working without the ball. took an alley oop form Gay early. Walked in underneath for a dunk. Caused Hibbert some problems with his mobility. And hustled on defense. Got a block on Copeland trying to post inside. Good effort running down a fastbreak and fouling to save the hoop. Delivered a hard foul inside defending the paint. Hibbert finally got just a little something against him in the third, but as a rule Hollins didn't let him have any easy ones, and just let Hibbert's offensive, er, talents speak for themselves. Decision to stick with Reggie late rather than go back to Ryan was an ok one, but I don't think it had anything really to do with the way Hollins played himself. IN the minor contributing world of a defensive roleplayer, he gave us a solid evening. got an alley oop from Gay to start. little walk in.--Brick
Stats: 44min 12pts (4-9, 1-3, 3-4) 4reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
McLemore ( C- ) -- In the absence of a plausible backup SG, Ben gave us 47 minutes tonight and is looking for another big minute performance tomorrow. Early on Ben was playing a pretty good game. He had some hiccups - for instance dribbling the ball off of his foot for a TO in the game's first possession - but was otherwise solid. Early in the third quarter he missed a quick-release three but didn't let that affect him, not hesitating and nailing an open three two possessions later to put him at ten points and four boards. From there, things went a bit downhill. Yes, he got frozen out on offense with the incessant Rudy isolations that we were running, but he only scored two more points, those coming on a floater in the lane in the mid-fourth that temporarily stopped the bleeding. Temporarily. Defensively, Ben took a big step back starting in the late third, and it might have been due to exhaustion, but it also might have been due to complacency, at least to start. It began with allowing Solomon Hill to go straight around him (when we had a 16-point lead) so that Hollins had to foul. In the fourth it got worse, but Ben got repeatedly bailed out by the Pacers' ineptitude. Stuckey backdoored Ben for an easy layup and missed it. Later, Ben left David West on the perimeter when West HAD THE BALL but West missed the wide-open jumper (on top of FOUR other missed jumpers for Ben's man). Then in overtime, McLemore didn't get back on a break, forcing JT to give up his fifth foul on Stuckey. Follow that up with a fumble turnover when we were up four and looking to basically close out the game, and put the cherry on the top of that by allowing C.J. Watson to drive past him for the go-ahead layup in the final minute of OT and it was a bad 20-minute stretch for Ben that was only mitigated by the fact that the Pacers somehow only scored four points on the eight shots left open by Ben in the fourth and OT. --Capt.
Stats: 37min 20pts (8-18, 0-3, 4-6) 6reb 6ast 4stl 0blk 3TO
Collison ( B+ ) -- The Kings came out in the Rochester Royals uniforms and it seemed to do something to them after the less than perfect Toronto game. First it looked like Rudy Gay was the Kings PG, but Darren Collison actually played well and effectively. His first stats mark came from a brilliant pass BenMc, for an easy 2pt. After missed 3pt attempt, a nice 2pt floater was good. In the 1st quarter DC highlighted his fast break, something that the Kings really need from him. In the first fast break Stuckey managed to foul him resulting in only 1pt from the line, but the next was a real beauty. DC tipped the ball from Watsons hand right to Rudy who returned a great pass for a flash speed solitary drive for the slam. A delicious piece of work! Some great mid range shots combined with those fast breaks were great stuff to watch, but he also run into blocks that were clearly waiting to happen. A steal and a great drive between the Indiana defense eased that up. Sitting out most of the 2nd quarter, the end of the quarter was really productive. Great pass to JT and a couple of nice 2pt shots and getting Stuckey to foul trouble were the essentials. Excellent start. The 3rd quarter started with a TO, but followed with a couple of high speed attacks with passes to Rudy and then to BenMc. Very nice. Then a period of drought from the right corner with 3 misses in a row of which one from the 3pt land. A nice drive to the hoop. Coming back at the half of the 4th, again started with a TO. Shortly thereafter a missed long 2pt attempt, which, however, resulted in JTs put back. Nothing seemed to fall for DC during the whole second half and the over time. Resulting in a meager 4 pt from the field. The playmaking wasn’t there either and the team started to lose the advantage still there in the beginning of the 4th. Darren Collison was very good defensively on Stuckey especially in the first half, who was not able to get anything going. Great to see that DC put the Toronto game behind and to come to the game to win. Close to an A class game, but the weaker second half could not quite support it. --Kingston
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