Hawks Soar Past Pacers 97-87

After beating the Utah Jazz last night, the Indiana Pacers traveled to Atlanta to take on the struggling Hawks. While the Hawks were losers of three straight at home, they did not struggle one bit against the Indiana Pacers.

The Atlanta Hawks set the tone of the game early and often against the Pacers. With both teams coming off a game on the previous night, the Hawks came out looking to push the ball in transition and knock down the open three pointer. Outscoring the Pacers 28 to 11 on fast break points, crushing them on the glass 45-33, and knocking down 9 three pointers; the Hawks took a huge lead and never looked back.

At one point during the game, I was having flash backs to 6 years ago. Tracy McGrady came off the bench for Atlanta and had 13 points. He was looking like the McGrady of old. Not like the old McGrady we have seen the past few years. McGrady was even feeling chipper enough to get a double technical with Lou Amundson at one point. Kirk Hinrich had 17 points off the bench also on 7 of 9 shooting.

Paul George looked out of sync all night for the Pacers. He let Joe Johnson get going early offensively. Add in 1 of 5 shooting and three turnovers for George and it was a forgettable night for Paul.

Hibbert ended the night with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Shooting 5 of 10 from the field, things looked easy at points for Roy. But with the Pacers guards not making much effort to feed him inside against Zaza Pachulia, it was a frustrating night for Roy. At some point, the Pacers need to make a more concentrated effort to get him the ball on a consistent basis. Roy is playing at an All-Star level (we’ll see tomorrow if he is officially an All-Star), the Pacers need to treat him like he is an All-Star and get him the ball more.

Give the Pacers credit though, after being down 59-41 at halftime, they still did not quit. The Pacers were able to cut into the lead in the third quarter, at one point having it down to single digits. But they just never really seemed into the game. it is almost like a double edge sword. With such a compact schedule, the starters need rest at some point. With the game never being totally out of hand, Vogel kept plugging away with the starters to try to take the lead. Unfortunately that never happened for the blue and gold, as they lost 87-97.

Box Score

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3. Paul George’s 21 Points Lead Pacers Past Nets