Pacers readjust their focus to Washington

One day after surviving their first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, the Indiana Pacers tuned their antenna to the Washington Wizards, emphasizing the defensive adjustment, the powerful frontcourt matchup and the "head of the snake," the term the Pacers have employed throughout the season to describe All-Star point guard John Wall.

"From here on out, it'll be about the Washington Wizards," Paul George said on Sunday, "until we're past them and on into the next round."

The noticeable display of confidence comes after George and the Pacers survived a tough seven-game series against the eighth-seeded Hawks. Although on Sunday, the Pacers split into two groups, bigs and smalls, for sized-based extended video study of Washington, they appeared united on the belief that the first round helped the team more than anything else.

"Your alertness throughout all seven of those games, being as heightened as it has been for the last two weeks," coach Frank Vogel said, "I think has benefitted us."

Added George: "They were the eighth seed and it showed us, if we're not on our 'A' game, anybody can beat us. That's what we took away from it. Playoff basketball is about playing perfect ball, one possession at a time, one game at a time and we didn't value that. So I think it did raise our antennae and sharpen us up."

On Saturday, the Pacers' 3-point defense had to be ready as the Hawks attempted 44 shots from beyond the arc. Though the Wizards have sharpshooters like Atlanta – Bradley Beal advanced to the finals of the Three-Point contest during the All-Star Weekend and Trevor Ariza averaged a career best three-point shooting percentage (.407) – they are at their heart, a traditional team.

The Pacers won't have to worry about the 6-11 center Marcin Gortat stretching out to the arc. Also, Nene, who goes by his first name, plays a game that's more similar to David West than any other power forward remaining in the Eastern Conference bracket.

Nene only played in 53 regular-season games but in the Chicago Bulls first-round series, he showed just how strong the Wizards could have been with him as a steady element in the lineup. As the Wizards defeated the Bulls in five games, Nene averaged 17.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and shot a team-best 54.8 percent from the floor.

"The way he played against the Bulls, he played like an All-Star level power forward," Vogel said. "So it's basically adding an All-Star to a team that didn't have him much of the year. Even when they had him, he didn't play at the level he played against the Chicago Bulls. Just incredible skill, incredible physicality, athleticism, size. It really gives them a different dimension and a big reason why they won that series."

The Wizards' matchup allows the Pacers to return to a regular rotation that features bench players Luis Scola and Evan Turner, who both sat out the last two games of the Atlanta series. Also, George Hill can expect to return to defending the player who plays his position with the tough assignment of Wall.

During the three games against Washington this season, the Pacers sent Hill to track Wall with Hill winning many of those man-on-man matchups. Wall only shot 34 percent against the Pacers, misfiring on eight of 10 attempts from the arc.

Hill scored 13.7 points per game – six points lower than his season average. On Jan. 10, Wall struggled mightily, just 4-of-15, when the Pacers held the Wizards to just 66 points, matching Washington's third-lowest total in franchise history and the worst output of the 2013-14 NBA season.

"That's all in the past," Hill said. "It's a new game and I'm sure he's going to come out aggressive. The only thing I can do is to come out aggressive on the offensive end and try to make him work just as hard as he's going to make me work."

George, who handled Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague for six games in the series, said he also expects to defend Wall at some point during this round. George found the experience in chasing Teague, as well as other hardship, as the silver lining in seven games.

"It's almost a blessing that it was dragged out longer than it needed to be because we need to start playing well and we need to start getting our feet wet and start gaining confidence and start gaining a rhythm," said George, who produced six double-doubles in the first round. "So it was good that we were able to play a long series and then jump right into another series."

STEPHENSON'S TECHNICAL

After watching video of Lance Stephenson's technical foul early in the fourth quarter of Game 7, coach Frank Vogel said he believes that the Pacers should contact the league office to review it and possibly rescind the penalty.

"I think we should," Vogel said. "I think the officials did the right thing in trying to make sure that everybody stays under control but after looking at it, I don't know if a technical was warranted so we'll talk to Larry (Bird) and Kevin (Pritchard) and see if we need to do anything about it."

Pritchard, the team general manager, had not personally reviewed the footage by the time the team practice had concluded late Sunday afternoon. During the play, Stephenson appeared to aggressively attempt to tap the ball back for an offensive rebound at the 10:57 mark. Official Tony Brothers, who Stephenson had complained to moments earlier for a foul, blew his whistle and called a technical.

"I don't know, I was trying to hit the ball out of his hand to get it to George Hill but the ref probably thought that I was trying to smack him or something," Stephenson said. "I don't think I deserved a technical."

If the technical stands, then Stephenson would have three for the playoffs. Once a player reaches seven technical fouls through the entire duration of his playoff run, he will face a one-game suspension.

"I talked to my agent," Stephenson said, "and he's going to try to get it rescinded but who knows?"

Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.