Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET on TNT the Eastern Conference's top seed, the Indiana Pacers, face a near must-win on their home floor against the No. 8 seed Atlanta Hawks, who have an opportunity to steal two road games here in Round 1. Live stream the game free by clicking this link; Pacers fans can hear the radio broadcast on 1070 The Fan, while Hawks fans may do the same on 92.9 The Game.
Pacers star Paul George took some flak for a Sunday fishing trip after Indiana was run off the court by Atlanta in Game 1, leading some to question the team's preparedness to make the leap. "It is motivation in that they expect us not to be at that level but that's it," George said. "Regardless, we've got to expect more out of ourselves."
They are taking heat from every direction, but the most stinging criticism came from TNT analyst Charles Barkley, who referred to them as "wussies" for folding under the weight of expectations. George responded to Barkley's critique harshly, and indicated his opinion was no source of motivation.
"Chuck ain't never been behind this team from the get-go. Look, Larry Bird told us that, too, that we had been playing soft and all that," George said.
"It fires us up that we lost against a team we should have beaten and we've given up home-court advantage, not something Charles said."
More important than outside pressure is the ability to stay in front of Hawks point guard Jeff Teague, who made the Pacers' normally stout defense look flimsy and slow. An easy solution could be to take George, an elite perimeter defender, and stick him on the speedy Teague. That might be too obvious a solution though, and one the Hawks might've already prepared for.
Hawks veteran forward Elton Brand hinted some changes are in store, but played them down. "You try to prepare for adjustments but you really worry about your team and how to get better," Brand said.
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