The Indiana Pacers fell to 0-2 on the young NBA season after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies 112-103 after a late game defensive collapse. It was the second straight game that they couldn't get stops in the later stages of the game.
Frank Vogel and the Pacers looked just fine throughout the majority of the third quarter, but proceeded to give up 39 points in the fourth quarter. Memphis has quite a few offensive weapons, but not enough to warrant giving up those kind of numbers. It was simply a depressing collapse that Pacers fans might very well get used to seeing throughout the course of the 2015-16 season.
It was a game that the Pacers will look back on throughout the season and know they should have had an extra win.
Paul George once again didn't look like a superstar and shot very poorly from the field. He ended up scoring 18 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists in the game. Unfortunately, George ended up shooting just 5-15 from the field overall and 2-8 from behind the three-point arc.
George Hill looked excellent for the Pacers for the second straight games, scoring 20 points on 6-15 shooting. He has been a bright spot in the first couple of games and the Pacers need to continue letting him go to work on the offensive end of the court. C.J. Miles came off the bench to score 18 points, while Ian Mahinmi rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points on the night.
Marc Gasol was too much for the Pacers to handle, scoring 20 points on the night. Mike Conley and Beno Udrih both scored 13 points for the Grizzlies in a very balanced scoring attack.
Looking ahead at the remainder of the season for the Pacers, they have to figure out a way to get defensive stops down the stretch of the game. Trading away Roy Hibbert and losing David West in free agency has obviously hurt them on that end of the court. They still have the talent to play much better, but have to pull together as a team and actually do it.
There is nowhere to go for the Pacers but up and the fans should remain confident in their team. They are a very new group that are still figuring out how to play with each other, which is always in issue.
Expect to see the Pacers start getting things going in the next week or two and get back into being considered a playoff caliber team in the Eastern Conference.
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