Insider: Paul George after disappointing loss to Minnesota: ‘There’s no urgency.’
- Pacers at Grizzlies, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Fox Sports Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS — Monta Ellis clapped his hands in frustration. Myles Turner took off his yellow headband and threw it onto the court in disgust. Jeff Teague bowed his head. Other players on the bench shouted expletives. The fans gasped and groaned.
Surrounded by the sudden realization of an excruciating and inexplicable loss, Paul George walked off the court Tuesday in stunned silence.
George, in a season that has tested his mettle and patience several times, felt embarrassed after the Pacers, in a matter of minutes, went from what appeared to be a comfortable win to falling to the young Minnesota Timberwolves in a devastating 115-114 fashion.
“Pissed,” George said in describing his emotions. “I know I was pissed. It’s the only to really sum it up.”
The Pacers, a team desperate to make the playoffs, grew a nine-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. George once again led his teammates with 37 points and seven rebounds. Yet their lead shrunk – from eight points to six to four to two – as the Timberwolves rallied with quality shots, something the Pacers couldn’t produce in the final minutes. Tuesday was the first time in 24 home games this season that the Pacers lost when holding a lead entering the fourth quarter.
The loss also meant Indiana (37-37) lost ground in the jumbled bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Pacers entered Tuesday in a three-way tie with the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks for fifth place in the East. Both teams moved ahead of the Pacers, the Bucks defeating the Charlotte Hornets and the Hawks knocking off Phoenix. The eighth-place Miami Heat, who own the tiebreaker over Indiana, beat the Detroit Pistons to move one game behind the Pacers.
“We should have a professional approach, man, and defend our home court, especially to a team that’s not even in the playoffs,” George said of losing to the Timberwolves (29-44). “That’s what it comes down to. As a team, we’ve got to have a grit and we’ve got to own up, man up.”
With their playoff hopes in doubt, George, the longest-tenured Pacers, criticized his teammates for the team’s inability to win a pivotal game.
“There’s no urgency, no sense of urgency, no winning pride,” he said.
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Next for Indiana is a critical three-game trip that begins today at Memphis. All three opponents – the Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers – have better records than the Pacers.
“It’s tough losing a game here that we need knowing that we don’t play well on the road,” George said. “When we lose focus here, I’m not sure where our head is going to be as a team tomorrow. I’ll make sure to gather these guys around and let them understand, man, that we’ve got to win. That’s the only thing that’s important. The only thing that should be motivational is winning.”
Tuesday’s result materialized because of an offensive drought that saw the Pacers score just two points — free throws from Myles Turner — in the final 3:19. The rest of the Pacers’ possessions during that span were disjointed. Thaddeus Young missed a layup, Ellis committed a turnover, George missed a step-back 3-pointer and Teague couldn’t convert on an off-balanced running finger roll.
Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio, after being fouled by Teague when attempting a game-winning 3-pointer, made all three foul shots to give the Timberwolves the lead with 3.4 seconds left. Replays indicated that Gorgui Dieng, Rubio’s teammate, got a bigger piece of the Minnesota point guard than Teague did.
“I guess my arm got caught in there when Dieng ran into me,” said Teague, who had 20 points and 10 assists. “It’s a tough foul at that time, but (the referees) called it. The play before that was a bad play. I didn’t realize the shot clock and I didn’t think we had more time on the shot clock. I shot a bad shot and I was trying to get it on the rim. Those were two bad plays on my part.”
With a chance to rescue the Pacers in the final possession, George, who scored just four points in the fourth quarter, passed out of a double-team on the perimeter to Ellis, who missed an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired.
“It was just trying to screen for me to come to the top of the key,” George said of the final play. “They doubled and Rubio came over. I tried to get open and I tried to make a play, which didn’t happen.”
Before the game, the Pacers announced injury updates on Al Jefferson, Rodney Stuckey and Glenn Robinson III, their three injured bench rotational players.
Jefferson is expected miss at least two weeks with a sprained left ankle that he sustained in Sunday’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Stuckey, who strained the patellar tendon in his left knee in Sunday’s game, could miss the remainder of the season with his rehabilitation expected to be four to six weeks. Robinson, who missed his third consecutive game Tuesday, will have his strained left calf re-evaluated late next week.
With a hampered lineup, coach Nate McMillan had to resort to a bench unit that hadn’t played much all season. The four reserves — C.J. Miles, Lavoy Allen, Aaron Brooks and Rakeem Christmas — struggled to score and played a step slow on defense. Miles performed the best of the group with just six points, one rebound, one assist and one steal.
McMillan, given the importance of the game, decided to have George play 21 of the available 24 minutes in the second half.
The Pacers appeared to take command of the game by ending the third quarter on a 12-0 run that erased the Timberwolves’ nine-point lead. The run also occurred with Karl Anthony-Towns, Minnesota’s best player, resting on the bench. Anthony-Towns finished with 37 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. He also led the Timberwolves’ rally, as he and Rubio converted at the free-throw line for Minnesota’s final five points.
“At this point in the season, you don’t have games like this, being up four with under a minute and letting an opponent come in and beat you, especially a young team,” George said. “You don’t give that up. It’s a very frustrating loss.”
Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter:@ByNateTaylor.
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INDIANA (37-37) at MEMPHIS (40-34)
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Wednesday, FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tenn.
TV: Fox Sports Indiana.
Radio: WFNI-AM (1070), -FM (93.5, 107.5).
STORYLINES
>> The Pacers have the NBA's biggest road-court disadvantage (their winning percentage is .397 lower on the road; Oklahoma City is second at .313) and they are 0-7 when the second game of a back-to-back is on the road. We here at the Pacers Storylines don't condone gambling of any kind. Just noting these statistical oddities.
>> Memphis has several players with ties to Indiana: point guard Mike Conley (20.2 ppg, 6.3 apg) played at Lawrence North, power forward Zach Randolph (14.0 ppg, 8.2 rpg) is from Marion and Troy Williams (5.3 points) played at Indiana (his last appearance was Dec. 21).
>> Starting center Marc Gasol (16.5 ppg, 54.8 FG%, 7.9 rpg in his career vs. the Pacers) has missed the last two games and is questionable for the Wednesday's game. Forward Chandler Parsons has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to knee surgery.
>> Pacers center Al Jefferson (sprained left ankle) and forwards Glenn Robinson III (left calf strain) and Rodney Stuckey (left patellar tendon strain) are all out. Stuckey will miss four to six weeks, Jefferson will be reevaluated in two weeks and Robinson reevaluated next week.
>>Prediction: If this season has told us anything, in particular when it comes to the second game of back-to-backs, the Pacers will likely struggle in Memphis. And did we mention this? The Pacers have yet to win a road game this season that was scheduled on the second night of a back-to-back. Grizzlies 96, Pacers 92.
— Nate Taylor