A quick perusal of the stat sheet held the glaring evidence of the Pacers domination of the Hawks.
Free-throws: Pacers 30 of 34; Hawks 7 of 14.
Rebounds: Pacers 48, (15 offensive); Hawks 32 (six offensive).
The Pacers exploited those numbers for a 107-90 victory over the Hawks Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday.
Hawks coach Larry Drew said he would not allow his team to use the free-throw discrepancy as a crutch – even though the Pacers made more than double of the freebies the Hawks attempted.
“You can look at the stat sheet and you can draw your own conclusion on that,” Drew said. “I don’t think that was the deciding difference. I think we were still in position, in striking distance (in the fourth quarter). … We got beat because they outworked us.”
The Hawks scored the first six points of the game. It was their biggest lead. When George Hill hit a 3-pointer with 6:27 remaining it gave the Pacers a 15-13 lead – and advantage they would not relinquish. It was the only lead change.
The Pacers led by as many as 16 points early in the fourth quarter. Drew went with several reserves – with Al Horford and Josh Smith among the spectators – and the group got as close eight points. Drew said he stayed with that group because of the results.
However, in a play that typified the Hawks night, the Pacers’ Tyler Hansbrough missed the second of two free throws. He got his own rebound. Roy Hibbert then missed a jump shot that was rebounded by Lance Stephenson. The guard hit Hill for a 3-pointer that pushed the Hawks deficit back to double-digits.
“We knew coming in we were going to have to deal with that,” Horford said of the Pacers’ length and offensive rebound ability. “We’ll be fine. It’s more of all five players, we have to get in there. We need our guards to get in there and get those elbow-area loose balls.”
Paul George led the Pacers with a triple-double consisting of game-highs in all three categories of 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists. He became just the second player in Pacers history with a playoff triple double. Reggie Miller accomplished the feat twice, in 1993 and 1995.
All other Pacers starters scored in double figures with Hill (18 points), Hibbert (16), David West (13) and Stephenson (13). The 7-foot-2 Hibbert, who finished with eight rebounds, had none at halftime.
Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 21 points. Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds and Horford had 14 points and six rebounds. Kyle Korver and Devin Harris combined to score 12 points, two more than reserve Ivan Johnson had in a third of their combined minutes.
“I just didn’t try to force it,” Harris said. “Any time we don’t play in transition, it’s hard to get in a rhythm. I had some good looks but it just wasn’t there tonight. When they offensive rebound the way they do, yeah (it’s hard to play in transition). It’s tough when we don’t rebound the ball well.”
The rebound advantage led to the Pacers’ 19-7 second-chance points advantage.
“I think we let some of the calls early affect us,” Drew said. “It seemed like we complained the whole game. At this level of play, you can’t do that. You have to play through calls. Whether we perceive that as a good whistle or a bad whistle, you have to play through all calls. We didn’t do a good job of that.”
Despite the notable differences in the free-throw and rebound statistics, the Hawks had a better shooting percentage than the Pacers, 50 percent (38 of 76) to 44.9 percent (35 of 78).
The Hawks were to return to Atlanta following the afternoon game for home practices Monday and Tuesday before returning for Game 2.
“The mindset is you come here to get one,” Korver said. “We didn’t get tonight. We have to get it Wednesday night.”
