GREGG DOYEL

Doyel: Pacers loss is encouraging ... and unacceptable

Gregg Doyel
gregg.doyel@indystar.com
Dejected Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13),  George Hill (3) and Myles Turner,right, walk off the court late  in the second half of their game Monday, Feb 1, 2016, evening at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Indiana Pacers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-111.

The Pacers are good enough to compete in the East, all the way to the top. We saw that on Monday night against Cleveland. They’re big enough, fast enough, skilled enough, deep enough.

But they’re not mentally tough enough. Not yet. Can a team develop mental toughness? We’re about to find out. The Pacers have 34 games left, and they are clinging at the moment to the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. A lot can change between now and mid-April.

A lot better change.

Because a loss like this, as encouraging as it might be, is unacceptable.

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This loss, this 111-106 defeat against the Cavaliers in overtime, showed the Pacers at their best, and their worst. It was new starter Myles Turner dominating in the paint, posting 14 points and 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, including the time LeBron James drove the lane and attacked the rim and tried to dunk it and Myles Turner said: Nope.

Indiana Pacers forward Myles Turner (33) blocks the dunk attempt by Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) in the second half of their game Monday, Feb 1, 2016, evening at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Indiana Pacers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-111.

It was George Hill scoring 23 points and Monta Ellis looking explosive (on an off-night shooting night) and the big-man combination of Jordan Hill and Lavoy Allen producing 25 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.

But it was the Pacers making stupid mistakes at the worst possible time, and their superstar melting down mentally, and the team losing a game it could have – no, should have – won.

"We have to find a way to win these,” said that superstar, Paul George. “We’re struggling in OT. We’re struggling in finishing these games. We’ve got to find a way and find it soon."

Said Pacers coach Frank Vogel: “It’s very, very frustrating, but I’m very encouraged with where we are as a basketball team.”

Vogel was borderline defiant after the game, almost daring the media to ignore the positives this game produced. And it did produce positives, believe me. For 47 games we’ve watched the Pacers beat bad teams in the East, lose to good ones in the West, and not known what this team is capable of doing.

Now we know. This game confirmed what the previous two games suggested. It has been three games since the Pacers turned their season upside down, inserting Turner into the starting lineup and committing, for the rest of the season, to play their big lineup. They won two of those games and should have won the third, and the third was against the best team in the East.

That’s what Vogel sees. That’s what anyone should be able to see, honestly.

“We are an improving basketball team, an evolving basketball team,” Vogel said. “We made some significant changes to who we are this past week, and I’ve seen great results in how we’re playing.”

All true. But now we need to see some smarter basketball, and not just from the rookie, Myles Turner, who – yes – screwed up the Pacers’ biggest chance to win on Monday night.

This game went to overtime only because the Pacers – because Myles Turner – made a mess of the final play of regulation. Game tied at 96. Twenty seconds left. Shot clock off.

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Monta Ellis has the ball 40 feet from the basket, just him and Cavaliers defender J.R. Smith, with Ellis dribbling down the clock. He’s dribbling and waiting. Dribbling and waiting.

Ten seconds, eight, six, five …

Now Monta Ellis is waving his arms frantically because somebody has screwed up. Ellis finally rises for a contested 18-footer that misses the rim. The horn sounds, signaling overtime is next, and Ellis lays into Turner for not setting the screen that would have initiated whatever play was coming next.

Blame me, Turner said after the game.

“That was all on me,” he said. “I kind of forgot the play. Well, I didn’t ‘kind of.’ I forgot the play and it was frustrating. … I put my teammates in a bad position by doing that.”

No, Vogel said. Blame me.

“It’s my fault,” Vogel said. “I’ve got a 19-year-old kid in there in a big moment. I’ve got to make sure he knows exactly what his assignment is. He played a spectacular game, and not executing that last play is on me.”

Blame ‘em both. Out of a timeout, Turner has to know the play. Out of a timeout, Vogel has to make sure of that, especially given that Turner screwed up a similar play late Saturday night against the Nuggets, though the Pacers won that game anyway.

But Turner (and Vogel) weren’t responsible for some other mental miscues.

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With 3:22 left in regulation and the Pacers trying to build on their 93-89 lead, Paul George went one-on-one with J.R Smith and then kicked a no-look pass to Monta Ellis near the top of the key. Too bad he never looked; Monta Ellis wasn’t at the top of the key anymore. The ball went out of bounds.

Ellis saw that sloppy play and raised it an even sloppier play, fumbling the ball out of bounds with 2:09 left and the Pacers ahead by the same 93-89 score.

Late in overtime George attacked the rim and had his shot blocked and then pouted rather than play defense. Understand, this was a one-point game in the final 50 seconds of overtime – the Cavs led 105-104 – and with the ball going the other way, George was looking for a referee to hear his cry.

At the other end, Kyrie Irving was attacking and drawing a foul and hitting two free throws.

Pacers down three now, 13.7 seconds left in overtime, and all they can manage is Paul George dribbling aimlessly until he passes the ball to George Hill, curling around a screen, drifting away from the basket, then lofting a fading 3-pointer with four seconds left that missed. Cleveland rebounded. Ball game.

There was time for something better than that, though the bar is low. Better than that? A cat throwing up on the carpet is better than that.

George was frustrated after the game, frustrated with the loss and the way it happened and even his evolving role on a team that has become bigger, as he wanted it, but with more offensive firepower – Turner and the rejuvenated Monta Ellis – leaving him unsure of his own place. Or something. George made those comments to Candace Buckner. Read them here.

There are good things here, however. There is progress here. That’s not kumbaya nonsense, but reality. Even with injuries shelving their No. 1 rim protector (Ian Mahinmi) and top scorer off the bench (Rodney Stuckey), the Pacers had the firepower – the offense, defense, grit – to play with the Cavs.

What the Pacers have done is show us what they can do.

And now we know: They can do more than finish the season where they find themselves – in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel

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