Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert was asked Thursday if he knew how many shot attempts he averages.
"No, I don't," he said.
Care to take a guess?
"Five or six?"
The All-Star center actually takes 10.4 shots per game. Orlando's Dwight Howard, the star Hibbert backed up in the All-Star Game, attempts 13.4 per game.
The Pacers' 7-2 center brings a team-best 49.5 shooting percentage into tonight's game against Cleveland at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It's a rematch of two nights ago, when the Pacers won 104-98 in overtime on the Cavaliers' home floor. Hibbert scored 11 points on nine shots. He also had 11 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals.
"Obviously I got to the All-Star Game by doing stuff besides getting shots, like having a good shooting percentage," he said. "More shots will come. But the team is flowing real well right now. Whatever the future holds, the future holds. I generally don't really worry about how many shots I get."
A victory tonight against the Cavaliers (19-37) would assure the Pacers (36-22) a playoff spot, with seven regular-season games to play. What's more important is their current position in the Eastern Conference -- the No. 3 seed.
"It's not something I'll use, like, 'If we win this, we're in,' " Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "I think we would all hope we're going to get into the playoffs.
"We're more concerned with holding onto home-court advantage and elevating our level of play. Our opponent is not our opponent. The standard of play is our opponent."
Perhaps that partly explains why Hibbert shrugs off his shot average. The team is winning. Vogel has preached from the beginning about the center affecting the game in areas other than scoring, and Hibbert is doing that.
"Sometimes I wish I got more, but we're winning and whatever I can do to help the team win, I'll do," the fourth-year pro said. "I do look at how many assists I have, how many blocks I have and how many rebounds I have. Points will come."
Vogel said a lot of factors go into why Hibbert isn't shooting more -- his 604 field goal attempts are second-most on the team, but the balanced Pacers have eight players averaging 8.5 points or better.
"Part of our attack is we want to be a team that gets to the free throw line," Vogel said. "So a lot of times we're going inside to him in the post and he's getting fouled and getting himself to the line."
Hibbert's 211 foul shots are third behind Granger's 271 and Tyler Hansbrough's 255.
"Playing through Roy in the post doesn't mean he's going to get the shot all the time," Vogel said. "He gets a shot maybe every third time.
"Our post offense is a five-man offense. We cut off the post, we get weak-side rebounding, we attack double teams. He sees a lot of double teams, which limits his numbers as well."
By comparison, the Magic run more plays designed for Howard.
"Someone like Howard gets maybe 10 shots a game on their spread pick-and-roll game," Vogel said.
Hibbert tries to create for himself on the offensive boards. His 8.8-rebound average is well ahead of last year's career-best 7.5. His 2.0 blocks per game are also on pace to be his highest season total. His averages of 12.8 points and 1.7 assists are similar to last year.
"He knows we want to play through him in the low post," Vogel said, "but he's very aware of trying to impact a game in all the different ways he can impact it."
Collison's status uncertain
Starting point guard Darren Collison continues to be day-to-day but might sit out a third consecutive game with a groin injury.
"We're going to wait and see," Vogel said. "I talked to the trainers; they said they thought he'd be ready by now, but he's got some discomfort in there. As long as that is present, we'll probably rest him."
Call Star reporter Phillip B. Wilson at (317) 444-6642. Follow him at twitter.com/indystar_pwilson24
No comments:
Post a Comment