2011 NBA Playoffs: Indiana Pacers Hold off Another Bull Stampede to Win 89-84
Danny Granger made sure the Pacers kept their promise as the Indiana Pacers prevented the Bulls from sweeping them and won Game 4 to extend the series in yet another exciting conclusion.ย
Most of the game the Pacers were dominating and doing everything right. Then with five minutes left, the fourth edition of the same movie started to look like it was gong to play out. With 2:40 left, it looked like the Pacers were going to run with it but at 2:38 Korver hit a three-point shot.ย
Starting with those three points, the Bulls turned a 14-point deficit into a one-point margin with 15 seconds left in the game. After a pair of Danny Granger free throws the Bulls had the ball, trailing by three with 15 seconds to score.ย
However they had trouble running a good play, and Carlos Boozer (no that's not a typo) ended up attempting the three to tie the game. In case you're wondering, as I was, Carlos Boozer has one career three-pointer made.ย
Earlier in the fourth quarter a Korver three was pulled off the board because it was a fraction of a second late leaving his hand. That proved to be the difference in the game. In the following slides I'll highlight why Indiana was able to win and give a brief preview of the next game. ย
Chicago Bulls Field Goal Percentage Was Only .382
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To say that the Bulls did not shoot well would be to give them too much credit. As a team they shot .373 from the field. Some of that was bad shots, but a lot of that was because Indiana was doing a good job of challenging shots and getting their hands up in the air.
Josh McRoberts and Roy Hibbert both get deserve a ton of credit for just plugging the lane and challenging shots. Hibbert had three blocks and McRoberts didn't have any, but it wasn't about blocking shots, it was about altering them.ย
Total Rebounds: Indiana 48, Chicago 45
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Chicago had the best rebounding differential in the NBA this season. If you want to beat them you tend to have to out-rebound them. They were only 11-7 when they lost the rebounding battle. Today they lost the rebounding battle.ย
Indiana was just plain hustling for the loose balls, getting offensive rebounds and in turn getting second chance points.ย
Turnovers: Chicago
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Chicago had 13 turnovers to Indiana's 11. While it ended up being close, the Pacers built their lead on forcing turnovers. Chicago had 11 first-half turnovers, and only 13 at games' end. In fact, turnovers were a part of the reason that Chicago got back into it as well. The turnovers dictated this game quite a bit.ย
Execution Almost Cost Them
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Executionย down the stretch has been the Pacers problem all series. Their problems started with consecutive shot clock ย violations. Then there were a couple of turnovers. Possession after possession was wasted and they weren't even getting shots off. During the entire stretch where the Bulls were running off a 14-1 run, the Pacers only had two field goal attempts. ย
Game MVP
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Granger made the big promise that the Pacers wouldn't get swept and he kept it. He scored the Pacers last four points to put the game away. He had 24 points and nine boards on the game. He also held Luol Deng to 16 points on 5 of 14 shooting.ย
Bulls Silver Lining
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Well it's not like the Bulls were going to go "Fo, fo fo, fo" here so there's nothing to be overwhelmingly concerned about. They are still up three games to one. They get the chance to clinch the series in the United Center, and they probably will.ย
On the bright side, Joakim Noah was the best he's been since the thumb injury sent him out. He had 21 points, went 5 for 7 from the field, and had 14 rebounds. He was strong, energetic, and basically back to being Noah for the first time in a long time.ย
If the Bulls close out in the United Center then they'll still have more rest than whoever wins the Magic/Hawks series. The loss might be enough to get the Bulls to refocus and start doing the things that they were doing when they were playing so well out of the All-Star break.ย
One other thing is that it give Noah and Boozer another chance to play together. It give Boozer another game to break out of his funk. In short, they still have things to work through and it's better to work through them against Indiana than in the second round.ย
Game 5 Preview
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The last two times the Bulls lost they came back hard, winning the two follow up games by a total of 57 points. Thibodeau seems to know know how to use a loss to motivate his troops.ย
Chicago has the ability to dominate this team, they've just been trying to win them in the last two minutes. This has been going on for the last several games. It's almost as though they are trying to see how close they can come to losing without actually doing so.ย
Look for the Bulls to come out strong and play strong for the first time in the series in the next game. The team will be aggressive to begin the game and not be playing on their heels like they have been most of the series. If they can seize control early, look for them to dominate the fifth game.ย
I think that Indiana did what it wanted to do in a sense by not getting swept. Frank Vogel (Vogelย Adrenalineย for you Glee watchers) has gotten his team pumped for the first four games, but I don't think they really believe they can win the series. If Chicago takes a decisive lead, I don't see them being able to come back.ย
On the other hand if Chicago doesn't come out strong, this whole series could get a lot more interesting than it needs to be. You can argue that Indiana has outplayed the Bulls this series, but Chicago has played their best basketball for about ten total minutes and Indiana has played their best for all butย 10 minutes.ย
That's really what things will come down to. If Chicago plays their best to start, the game will not be an interesting one down the stretch. If they don't the series could get interesting.ย
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