Indiana at San Antonio

[Real Deal]

TIME: 8:30 PM ET

TV: NBALP

[Built Ford Tough]

The Spurs controlled this game for pretty much the entire 48 minutes and they did it with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili all having relatively poor games. Duncan's numbers were decent (14 points/10 boards/3 assists/3 steals) but he missed a lot of easy shots tonight, Parker passed the ball fairly well but was just 3-13 and Manu is still getting his legs under him.

 

Gary Neal was in a zone tonight. I know the box score says he missed 2 shots but I don't recall seeing him miss anything tonight. It really did seem like everything he put up went in and none of his shots even touched the rim.

 

DeJuan Blair had one of the best games I've seen from him in a long time. He was assertive and decesive on offense, regained his rebounding touch that seemed to abandon him and, most impressive of all, had some really nice passes to get some of his teammates easy baskets. I don't expect anything like this from him for a while since this was a nice matchup for him, but it was nice to see a good game for a guy who has really fell off over the past year.

 

 

As far as the Pacers go, they really miss Granger. Granger isn't exactly the ideal first option, in fact he is a pretty piss poor one, but take away his scoring and this team really does struggle to put the ball in the basket. Hill isn't consistent enough, George can't really create for himself, Hibbert is solid but not a guy you can run an offense through and West's body can't handle the load of high usage every night. They really do need Granger back and healthy because they definitely struggle to score the ball in a halfcourt set.

[Real Deal]

It's funny, because I'm ALWAYS tough on Granger for being the Pacers' primary option...been that way over the years...but to see them play without him drawing defensive attention every play, damn...and I like DG. I'm just highly critical of his play and role.

 

They need him badly, and it doesn't make them contenders (having Granger as their primary scorer means they will never contend, but that's for another discussion), but regardless, they can't even function correctly with him gone.

 

I'm not really down on Paul George for that, because he's developing...but Hibbert just isn't stepping up to the plate and shining. It's his time. It reminds me of that one big game he had against Miami last year (the 19 points, 18 rebounds, 5 blocks game) where it seemed EVERYTHING was coming easy to him, and then he just had to drag himself across the finish line in the last 3-4 games of that series.