
May 7, 2014
7:00 PM EST
Bankers Life Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN
The Skinny

After nearly being one of the few #1 seeds to ever lose to an 8 seed, Pacer fans had hope that the team had finally broken the downward slide the team has been on since the All-Star break. But unfortunately, after a disappointing loss at home in game 1, for the 2nd time this playoffs, the Pacers are playing catchup. Game 2 is now a must win for the Pacers, the team simply can't afford to head to Washington down 2-0. This time around. if the Pacers want to even out the series, Roy Hibbert and Ian Mahinmi must be able to control Marcin Gortat and Nene on the boards and the guards must be able to slow down John Wall. Will the Pacers finally be able to regain consistency in their play, or will Wall and co. simply be on their way to another 5 game series win?
The Lineups

Point Guard


John all killed the Pacers in game 1 with 13 points and dishing 9 assists. Every time the Wiz grabbed a rebound, he was off to the races creating a crazy amount of open jumpshots for Trevor Ariza and Bradley Beal as the Pacers just couldn't get back on defense fast enough. The key to this game will be George Hill slowing him down, at least enough so the rest of the team can get back on defense.
Shooting Guard


Bradley Beal was the leading scorer of game 1 and absolutely abused Lance, who shot a dreadful 4/13 from the field. Beal had 5 steals and 7 rebounds to go along with his career performance and it seemed every time the Pacers would make a run Beal would hit a dagger 3 to keep the Wizards in it. Whether Beal was contested or not, he hit damn near everything. He'll eventually cool off, just like the Hawks did, the question is when.
Small Forward


After an incredible first round of the playoffs where Paul George carried the team on his back. he took 10 steps backwards in game 1. Shooting 4/17 (< 25%!) is unacceptable as an NBA player, let alone a star player on a #1 seeded team. For the Wizards, Ariza hit 6/6 threes and 7/10 from the field. Paul George needs to be the player dominating the SF position this series if the Pacers want a chance.
Power Forward


David West was the Pacers MVP in game 1 with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and this might have been the only positional matchup we won. That said, Nene abused our bench big men when West had to leave the floor and had 15 points of his own. West has to continue to be our rock.
Center


We haven't had an official report on whether Roy will start, but given Vogel's set in stone lineups, Roy Hibbert might remain in the starting lineup. Marcin Gortat killed Roy in every sense of the word in game 1. With no rebound and no points, Roy Hibbert caught a lot of flack from the fans around Indy after his pitiful performance and we're still waiting for him to turn it around... hopefully he decides to show up sometime.
The Bench







Other than Luis Scola and Garrett Temple, both benches were a no-show last night, the starters did most of the heavy lifting. Scola hit a ton of mid range jumpers, but Ian Mahinmi got destroyed by Nene and Gortat and CJ just couldn't get anything to fall last night. CJ has been crucial for this team with Hill struggling with a hip injury, so CJ has to start hitting his shots for us to win this series.
Injury Report

Pacers
None
Wizards
None
The Tradition