2013 Playoffs: Pacers-Hawks Game 6 viewer’s guide
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
The Pacers are looking to clinch against the Hawks, who defended at a high level in their two previous home games in the series. Can the Pacers bring grit and toughness, as Frank Vogel talks about, to close out a first-round victory on the road? By now, everyone is aware that Indiana has lost 13 games in a row in Atlanta. But the Pacers are also working with a 3-2 lead, which they’ve historically turned into a series win. Indiana has finished off six of the seven series in which it took a 3-2 lead, including five straight.
Here are the developments to keep an eye on when Game 6 tips off Friday at 7 p.m. at Philips Arena:
Pound It: The Pacers attacked the paint relentlessly Wednesday night with David West and Roy Hibbert, who combined for 30 of Indiana’s 50 points in the first half. Look for the Pacers to continue to play inside-out. A side benefit of this approach is that it enhances the possibility that Josh Smith and Al Horford encounter foul trouble. The Hawks are not the same team defensively when one or both of their top defenders is on the bench. Ivan Johnson, Anthony Tolliver and Johan Petro all count as either undersized or average on the defensive end. No one on the Hawks defends the pick-and-roll as well as Smith, who had five fouls with 7 minutes remaining in the third quarter last time out. In Game 6, Hibbert was 12-for-14 from the line, and he’s had a good series offensively at 14.2 points per game. With the way Hibbert was drawing fouls, feeding him early just makes sense. For what it’s worth, Atlanta has 184 points in the paint in the series to the Pacers’ 200.
Paul-Star: Paul George is this close to making the series go down in the collective memory as the one he owned. All the 23-year-old needs is a signature performance Friday that puts an end to Atlanta’s season. George didn’t miss a shot in Game 6 until midway through the fourth quarter and finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Kyle Korver, Devin Harris and Jeff Teague were forced to guard George more with Smith playing power forward or out of the lineup altogether. Don’t forget George’s monster triple-double in Game 1, when he threw up 23 points to go with 12 assists and 11 rebounds, or his 27 points, eight rebounds and four steals in Game 2. The NBA’s Most Improved Player found an even faster gear for the playoffs. Now he’ll be expected to penetrate, score in transition and find open teammates in a hostile environment. What George must look out for is the possibility that the Hawks’ perimeter defenders load up on him and force somebody else to beat them. He’s that good, and Atlanta cannot afford more damage of the type George inflicted in Games 1, 2 and 5.
Ruling from the Bench: Vogel cranked out some odd lineups Wednesday, including pairing George Hill and Lance Stephenson together on the wing in one super-small combination and also using Jeff Pendergraph at small forward for a stretch that spanned the first and second quarters. Ian Mahinmi remained in the rotation as the backup center, giving Indiana three big men and a point guard as its regulars off the bench. Gerald Green, so good in Game 2 with 15 points, quickly fell out of favor following an ineffective Game 4, and rookie Orlando Johnson, a 3-point specialist, might as well be enclosed in a glass case that says, Do not open except in an emergency. About the only sure bets are Tyler Hansbrough, the Pacers’ best reserve in the regular season, and D.J. Augustin, a necessity as the backup point guard. In terms of playing time, everything else is fungible.
