The playoffs began for the Pacers Monday night. They're not exactly up 1-0 after coming from behind to beat Oklahoma City, and they weren't exactly celebrating anything in the locker room, but they're feeling much better about themselves.
Not too much better, though, which seems like a good thing.
Their 93-90 victory over the Thunder ran their winning streak to seven, their longest since the 2014-15 season. Significantly, it came against a winning team – just the second victory of that nature in the streak. Even more significantly, it came with a sick center and a sickly overall shooting performance.
In other words, it was a win born of defense and timely offense, which is how teams win during the grind of the postseason.
The Pacers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, when they shot just 30 percent from the field, but held Oklahoma City to 38 points and 30 percent shooting in the second half, keeping their fourth straight opponent below 100 points. They scored just one field goal over the final 4:47 but still were good enough and lucky enough to extract the victory.
"I thought the first half was a wakeup call for us," coach Nate McMillan said. "We came out playing as if it was just another game. This team is a playoff team. They came out with playoff intensity."
"The second half we started playing like we're capable of playing. With playoff intensity. We started to get more rhythm, more spacing, better execution. The defense was the difference in this game tonight. That's what we've been trying to get our guys to commit to all season long."
McMillan told his players at halftime that this is what they're going to up against for the rest of the season, so they might as well get used to it. At the very least, it's what they're up against for the next month. Monday's game began a stretch in which 10 of 12 games will be played against winning teams. The exceptions are Milwaukee and Miami, which won its 11th straight game on Monday.
The latest win improved their record to 29-22 and moved them within 1/2 game of Atlanta for fifth in the Eastern Conference, one game back of Washington in fourth and two games back of Toronto in third. To keep pace, however, they'll need effort along the lines of what they gave on Monday, along with better shooting.
The Pacers were the league's seventh-most accurate team from the field entering the game, and the second-best foul shooting team. Monday's poor percentages – 38 from the field, 31 from the 3-point line and 65.5 from the foul line – was filed in the one-of-those-nights folder afterward, but they didn't help themselves with their slow pace and poor ball movement. And they didn't exactly light it up at crunch time, although Paul George managed to hit a fading 15-footer over the outstretched hand of Andre Roberson with 1:20 left to finish the scoring.
The Pacers failed to close when George was stripped by Roberson on the next possession and C.J. Miles missed an open three on a good feed from George on the following one, but got a break on Oklahoma City's final shot. Shots, actually.
Russell Westbrook, the NBA's leading scorer with a 31-point average, missed a 3-pointer over George. Jerami Grant grabbed the long rebound, however, and fed Westbrook for another shot from directly in front of the Pacers' bench, but he missed again with George flying at him.
"The first one, I didn't think that was a good look," said George, who finished with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting. "I thought he would have gotten to a move or a pick and roll.
"But as soon as he shot it, all I see is a blur take off. The next thing I know, he got it again. That was an oh-(bleep) moment for me. That was a better look. Hopefully us putting the pressure on him all night is the reason he didn't have legs for that one."
A vision from the past crossed McMillan's mind as he watched Westbrook fire from right in front of him.
"I'm thinking Reggie Miller in New York," he said. "He was well aware he needed a three and stepped behind the line."
McMillan said before the game he wanted his defenders to stay in front of Westbrook to keep him from getting to the basket, and to keep him off the foul line. And while Westbrook's stat line was typically impressive in a superficial way, with 27 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, he hit just 10-of-27 shots, got to the line for just four free throw attempts and committed four turnovers.
Jeff Teague guarded Westbrook through most of the first three quarters. George took over in the fourth. The sum total was a below-par performance for the MVP candidate who entered the game averaging 31 points, 10.4 rebounds and 10.3 assists.
"That's the type effort we've got to have," McMillan said. "It took all 48 minutes to win this game."
Forty-eight minutes was more than Myles Turner wanted the game to last. He was sick, having come down with a virus of some sort over the weekend. He visited a doctor Monday morning, and was told to make a game-time decision whether to play or not.
He called it "the single-toughest game I've ever had to play," but the decision to play was easy.
"The way I'm wired, I'm going regardless," he said. "It's going to take a lot more than that. Something's going to have to be broke for me not to play, if that."
Turner's play suffered, though. He hit just 3-of-12 shots and 4-of-7 free throws on his way to 10 points, but managed four blocks and two steals. Had it been up to him, one half of basketball would have been more than enough.
"Maaaan," he said, as he leaned back in his locker room chair. "I remember when the third quarter came, (I thought) 'Man, when is this going to end?' It was tough running up and down but I gutted it out. It was a good win. I don't want to make any excuses."
A good win, indeed. But only one, with a long series ahead.
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