Each passing week brings a new bit of drama to the Indiana Pacers. From Roy Hibbert's "selfish dudes" comment to a fight between Lance Stephenson and Evan Turner during the last practice of the regular season, Indiana has unraveled in very public fashion since the All-Star break. It only took one half in their series opener against the Washington Wizards for Charles Barkley to say they were done. There's a real sense that the writing is on the wall for the Pacers.
The Pacers need more from George Hill
For all the talk about Roy Hibbert’s issues, he’s not the only starter dragging the Pacers down. If Indiana’s offense is ever going to start producing again, it will need its point guard to start getting teammates better looks.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Nevertheless, they still have plenty of time to save their season. It starts in Game 2 on Wednesday, where Indiana needs a victory to avoid falling into an 0-2 deficit before the series moves back to Washington.
Hibbert's struggle
Hibbert has received the majority of the blame for Indiana’s swift second half collapse, and deservedly so. Whatever is wrong with Hibbert, be it physical or mental, he can’t go through entire playoff games with zero points and zero rebounds and expect his team to win. But there are other symptoms that play into Indiana’s woes.
They start with point guard George Hill. When the Pacers began the season 25-5 and looked like the best team in basketball, it's because they were playing an inside-out style that emphasized getting touches for Hibbert and David West on the block. The Pacers have considered themselves a "smash mouth" team since the moment Frank Vogel was hired, but they've gotten away from that as their season has started to spiral out of control.
Part of the problem is that Hill doesn't have the playmaking instincts or court vision to get his big men good looks. Hill only assisted on eight Hibbert field goals after the All-Star break, per NBA.com, and he hasn't assisted on a Hibbert bucket through eight playoffs games. It's the point guard's job to keep everyone involved, but that's never really been Hill's game. He's more content to sit out at the perimeter and fire catch-and-shoot threes than try to create anything with dribble penetration.
That's an issue for an offense that was only better than the Philadelphia 76ers after the All-Star break. Hill's line in Game 1 (18 points on 6-of-11 shooting) looked good in the final box score, but he was ineffective for most of the night. All three of the three-pointers Hill made came with under 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, when the game was already decided. He also only finished with one assist.
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Hill's greatest contribution is supposed to be his defense, but even that has been a bit shaky in the playoffs. Jeff Teague torched him in the first round, which forced Vogel to switch Paul George onto the Hawks' point guard.
This second round series against the Wizards will be a big test for Hill, because he theoretically has the size to defend both John Wall and Bradley Beal. Wall didn't shoot the ball well in Game 1 in part because Hill challenged some shots, but Hill also had a difficult time staying in front of him. The Wizards' offense has been humming throughout the playoffs despite Wall's ongoing shooting struggles because the point guard has been able to get into the lane and create easy looks for his teammates. Hill couldn't deny Wall's dribble penetration in Game 1, and Wall racked up nine assists because of it.
Hill only assisted on eight Hibbert field goals after the All-Star break
The game is easier when your point guard is controlling the flow and tempo, but Hill might not be that type of player. That forces the Pacers to rely on George and Stephenson to create so much of the team’s offense, even though both have a long way to go in that department. George might get there someday, but he doesn’t exactly have Tracy McGrady’s playmaking skills just yet. Stephenson has plenty of potential as a shot creator too, but this is his first year in a primary role, and he’s still only 23 years old himself. Hill, now 28, should be the steady hand guiding the offense that Indiana needs, but he hasn’t been.
It’s an issue for the Pacers going forward, because Stephenson is about to become an unrestricted free agent and Hill is still completing the first season of a contract that will pay him $8 million per year through 2017. Money is always going to be tight for the small-market Pacers, and it would be risky to let an explosive two-way talent like Stephenson walk while continuing to hold on to Hill.
Hill is a good player who brings size, shooting and defense to the table, but needs to be a better distributor to get the Pacers out of this funk. If it doesn’t happen soon, this nightmare stretch for Indiana will be the only thing anyone remembers about their season.
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