The wholesome, basketball-loving people of Indiana can only take so much before they have to let the world know they are comin’ to the edge. With their Pacers down 21 heading into the half last night—en route to a 107-97 home loss and a 3-2 series deficit—one fan took it upon himself to express that frustration. A quarter-and-a-half later, in what was hopefully a ritual act of contrition and self-sacrifice, Lance Stephenson performed the basketball version of Seppuku, gutting himself on national television with the horrible missed dunk you can watch as many times as you’d like in the video at the top of this page.
Overall, Stephenson actually wasn’t that bad on Monday night. He scored 16 points, added seven boards and four assists, sunk a pair of threes, and continued his 2014 post-season trend of playing much better in losses. In the Pacers’ two playoff wins (Games 2 and 4), Stephenson has averaged 12.7 fewer points, three fewer rebounds, two fewer steals and 1.8 more turnovers than in their three losses. He’s also shot 12.5 percent worse from the field and 30.1 percent worse from deep. Ugly stuff.
Who was that bad was all-star (all-star!) Roy Hibbert. Making his series averages of 4.8 points and 3.4 rebounds look impressive, Hibbert failed to pull down a single board or record a single point (going 0-for-2 from the floor) in the Game 5 loss. He saw just 12 minutes of playing time, none in the fourth quarter, and clearly owes Stephenson a steak dinner for taking some of the heat off him.
Hibbert’s performance through five games may be the worst ever turned in by an all star—at least in a season in which they were named to the all-star team. But considering he wasn’t overly effective on the offensive end in the regular season—averaging 10.8 points a game on 43.9 percent shooting, pretty ugly for a big man—some fans might be wondering what the big deal is. If Hibbert is primarily a defensive stopper, what does it matter that his shot isn’t falling?
It’s a question that would be worth asking if Hibbert was actually managing to pull his weight on the defensive end against Atlanta. Unfortunately for Indiana, he’s not.
Hibbert’s value as a defender lies in his ability to scare opponents out of the paint and block, alter or otherwise make difficult any shots they do manage to get off around the basket. At seven-foot-two and nearly 300 lb., he’s clearly an imposing interior presence, but force him to stretch out to the perimeter and he gets a lot less scary.
Atlanta is living on the perimeter in the first round. The Hawks boast six players who are shooting at or above league average from deep in the playoffs (for the record: DeMarre Carroll, 53.3%; Mike Scott, 46.7%, Paul Millsap, 44.4%; Kyle Korver, 41.7%; Shelvin Mack, 36.8%; and Jeff Teague, 36.8%). The only other players on the team logging more than five minutes per game are Lou Williams, rookie centre Pero Antic and veteran big Elton Brand. Brand isn’t a deep threat and has yet to take a three in the series, and Antic is just 16.7 percent from deep, but the Macedonian big man knocked down 32.7 percent of his threes in the regular season and can hit from behind the arc if he’s left alone. Williams has made 30 percent of his threes for the series.
Seven of the nine players seeing regular minutes for the Hawks, then, are outside threats—and it’s showing in the box score. Overall, Atlanta is converting 39.1 percent of their threes, the fourth-highest mark in the post-season, despite having taken 41 more than any other team.
What’s really killing the Pacers, though, is the fact that Atlanta isn’t setting up their deep looks with drives. Most teams that are deadly from distance (the Heat and Rockets being prime examples) get open looks thanks to slashing scorers (LeBron, Wade and James Harden) and/or post threats (Dwight Howard) that attract attention and defenders before kicking it outside. The Pacers are good against those teams precisely because of that stong, Hibbert-anchored interior D.
The Pacers have held the Hawks to less than 50 percent within eight feet of the basket, but it hasn’t mattered because Atlanta doesn’t need to be effective inside to get outside looks—they simply overload the perimeter and start chucking.
That’s why they’re up 3–2. That’s why Hibbert looks (and is) so useless. And that’s why the disappointment and frustration are far from over for Pacers fans.