The Indiana Pacers' woes in Atlanta continued as the Hawks got the Game 3 win on home court to take the series lead against the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. While Atlanta has been thriving on the perimeter, their big men are becoming a big factor against the size of the Pacers and Indiana enters a crucial Game 4 hoping to escape the South with at least one win.
Roy Hibbert is struggling. Standing at 7-foot-2, he was nightmare for the Miami Heat last season. However, against Atlanta's defense, he has only scored 18 points in this series, going 7-of-25 in shooting. He has not been making good shot decisions. He looks lost defending players like Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague and now questions are being raised as to whether or not he should come off the bench in Game 4. Without the big man, the Pacers are putting Louis Scola on the court who has scored 37 points in the last two games. Could the move be permanent?
Hibbert is not all to blame. George Hill went 1-of-11 in Game 3. Paul George put up just 12 points. The team lacked passion. They were sluggish on defense, something that was very out of character for them. Head coach Frank Vogel remains hopeful they can turn things around.
The Hawks are playing like a much different team than the one that earned the No. 8 seed by luck and finished six games below .500. If they managed to win the series, they would be just the sixth team to beat a top seed as the No. 8 seed in the first round. Things certainly looked over early for the Hawks are the team cleaned the roster and lost Al Horford to a season ending injury. Horford might be out, but the rest of the team is healthy and making a difference.
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