Usually when we watch Roy Hibbert play, he punishes other centers with his stature and gets his statistics. He’s playing like the Pacers wanted him to. But last night’s game, he was playing like he was a draft-bust. Al Horford punished Hibbert as the Atlanta Hawks improved to 16-9 with a 97-83 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who now fall to 11-11. Hibbert had six points and eight rebounds while Horford had 16 points and 16 rebounds.

Josh Smith was a big banged-up entering the game, but was able to come through and he put up 21 points. Smith would continuously hit big buckets after the Pacers kept cutting the lead. They kept cutting the lead to seven points, but Smith kept answering back like the leader of the team he is.

“My team was looking for me, and I was able to deliver,” Smith said.

The Hawks started off real bad, going one-of-twelve. Smith would start off with four straight misses. But the same could go for Indiana, as they could not take advantage of the Hawks’ struggles, and with that, Atlanta was leading 16-14 by the end of the first quarter.

“We just had to shake the rust off,” coach Larry Drew said. “The good thing about us not scoring right away is we were playing good defense.”

In the second quarter, the Hawks got rolling thanks to back-up point guard Jeff Teague, who is a great player off the bench for the team.

“His speed and his energy when he got into the game got us going,” Drew said.

Mike Dunleavy led the Pacers in points and rebounds, having 16 and nine respectively. Brandon Rush and Danny Granger couldn’t put up the points they were used to, and that led to them each having 14 points. Granger and Hibbert were three-of-14 from the field. It was another struggle for both players, just like the Phoenix Suns match-up.

“It’s a credit to their defense,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “They really defended us well.”

This brings the Hawks up to eight straight wins over the Pacers including six straight at home.

“It’s a game,” O’Brien said. “I could care less about a building or against a team. We lost a game. Get on with life.”

The Pacers need to start getting what the Hawks do. Apparently, Atlanta already knows what Indiana is up to.

“It takes its toll,” Dunleavy said. “These guys have had our number the last seven, eight times we’ve played.”

Hibbert wasn’t dominant like he was all season so far. Jim O’Brien had some words to say after the game, hopefully to pump Hibbert up for the next game.

“He shut down Roy,” O’Brien said of Horford bullying Hibbert down low in the post. “He didn’t give Roy anything in the low post. He was more physical than Roy. He’s a heck of a player. They have a really good basketball team.”

Atlanta was taking so much control that they built a 43-21 lead in the second quarter. It was not Indiana’s game at all. Indiana drops to 5-6 on road games, and hopefully things don’t happen like they did last season when Indiana only won nine road games.

The Pacers will face the Chicago Bulls next on Monday in a Central Division showdown.

Come on Pacers!

Even though Darren Collison and Tyler Hansbrough missed the game with left ankle sprains, that is never an excuse for losing a game, especially at home.

Yes, the Hawks are a fantastic team, a squad capable of getting a top four seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, but if Indiana is ready to make a move in the East, they have to play better in the second half.

They trailed by just one at the half, but Atlanta jumped on them early in the second half, and quickly found themselves up by 13 points. The Pacers were never able to get it closer than five points the rest of the way.

T.J. Ford started at PG for the Pacers, and he did okay on offense with six points, five assists and no turnovers. On the other hand, he shot just three for 10 from the floor, and on defense, Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford were able to do whatever they wanted.

Bibby finished with 16 points and seven assists, while Crawford came off the bench to add 11 points and five assists. Josh Smith led all scorers with 25, eight assists and seven blocks.

Danny Granger led the way for Indiana with 22 points and six rebounds, but Roy Hibbert was the main force, with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

The Hawks were able to limit his defensive presence in the second half, as they made an effort to force Hibbert to guard more pick and rolls in the second half, the idea being if he’s allowed to stay inside he’s more of a force.

With the win, the Hawks snapped a four-game road losing streak and are 8-4.The Pacers are now 4-5.

Despite grabbing 12 more rebounds and outscoring Atlanta 38 to 20 in the paint, the Pacers didn’t have the answers in the second half.

Hibbert had 14 points in the first half, but added just four in the second half. Six Hawks players scored in double figures.

Once again, Indiana didn’t have the defense to stop Atlanta when it mattered most. Missing Hansbrough and Collison did hurt them, but other guys are going to have to step up when these injuries hit.

Joe Johnson had an off-night shooting the ball for Atlanta as well, so they can’t expect that to happen every time they play them.

Mike Dunleavy summed it up quite simply after the game: “We came out with no energy and just didn’t seem to be able to get in the groove.”

Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks is the first of a three-game home stand for the Pacers. Things don’t get much easier from here. They will host the Clippers on Thursday night, then the Orlando Magic come to town on Saturday night.

After that, Indiana will head down to Miami on Monday for their toughest test of the season; a date with the Miami Heat.