Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the Indiana Pacers, No. 1 in the Eastern Conference, will head to Atlanta with their backs against the wall, down 3-2 in their best-of-seven Round 1 matchup with the No. 8 Hawks. Watch the game on TNT or live stream it by clicking this link. Pacers fans can listen to the game on 1070 The Fan, while Hawks fans can find the radio broadcast on Sports 92.9 Atlanta.
In a pivotal Game 5, the top-seeded Pacers were run off the court in the second quarter in their own building, surrendering 41 points in 12 minutes of play. While their normally sturdy defense appeared irrevocably broken, Pacers coach Frank Vogel chose to praise the opponents.
"Everyone wants to talk about what's wrong with us," Vogel said. "I think a lot of this goes to the way they're shooting it and the way they're playing."
Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll agreed. "We're just trying to play blue-collar, competing, aggressive basketball," Carroll said. "Everyone on this team is competing. Everybody is playing hard. Even the coaches. A lot of the things we do after practice and before practice go unnoticed."
While the Hawks have managed to outhustle the heavily favored Pacers and get easier looks, they've defleted a lot of that credit to rookie coach Mike Budenholzer. "There are very, very few teams who just win because they have the best talent," sharpshooter Kyle Korver said.
"The good teams in the NBA have great systems. Even Miami has a great system, even though they also have great players."
With their postseason on the line, the Pacers figure to get a big effort from Paul George, who leads the team in points (22.6), rebounds (11.2) and assists (5.2) per game. They will need increased production from elsewhere though, as George's play hasn't quite been enough.
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