Pacers Fall To Hawks Despite Spirited Effort

Nov 1, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Luis Scola (4) grabs a rebound from Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the first half at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta, GA – The Atlanta Hawks are a much improved team from last season now that they have Al Horford back in the lineup, but the Indiana Pacers were able to give them a battle this evening. Unfortunately, the Pacers were unable to pull the game out in the end and they ended up falling to 1-2 on the season with a 102-92 loss. There was a lot of spirit from the Pacers tonight, but effort can only go so far against superior talent.

Chris Copeland attempted to power the Pacers on the offensive end of the court, and scored 21 points on the night on 7-16 shooting and 6-11 from behind the arc. Frank Vogel refuses to put him in the starting lineup over Solomon Hill, but Copeland still end up playing 34 minutes on the night.

Indiana wasn’t able to get stops down the stretch on the defensive end of the court, and Indiana product Jeff Teague was the closer for the Hawks this evening. It’s encouraging to see the fight that the injured Pacers brought to the table, but it’s still going to be a very long season of games where they come up just short at the end of the game.

Teague ended up scoring 25 points on the night for the Hawks, while Horford was the second leading scorer with 20. Both players were difficult for the Pacers’ defense, and they fed off of each very well. Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll were the other two double-digit scorers for Atlanta on the night with 13 and 11 respectively.

Both Roy Hibbert and Donald Sloan scored 14 points each, with Hibbert chipping in 12 rebounds and three blocks and Sloan dishing out seven assists. C.J. Miles had another poor shooting night at 3-13, and finished with just 10 points. Solomon Hill on the other hand scored a career-high 10 points and also dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds. Luis Scola scored 12 points to round out the double figure scorers for the Pacers.

All of that being said, this is a disappointing loss with quite a few positives to take away for the Pacers. Indiana has a ton of injured players, and Rodney Stuckey left the game with what looked like an aggravation of his foot injury, which could be very bad news for the Pacers.

Now the Pacers will look ahead to their next game on Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.