C.J. Miles, Luis Scola Lead Pacers to Victory over Hornets
By Ben Gibson
We are only five days away from the regular season and that was evidenced by the number of DNP‘s for both teams on Thursday night when the Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets met for the first time since Lance Stephenson’s departure. This preseason meeting should take a little bit of the edge off their first regular season match-up, but if Instagram means anything, people hoping for a heavy does of bitterness and anger might be disappointed.
Indiana got the 88-79 win thanks to C.J. Miles and Luis Scola combining for 38 points. Both did well to take care of business while they were on the court, knocking down over 50% of their collective shots. Miles had only hit around 36% of his shots in the preaseason coming into Thursday’s game, so any momentum he can carry into the season is the positive you take out of his performance.
These obviously aren’t the lineup we’ll expect to see on Oct. 29 when the Pacers host the Philadelphia 76ers, but it it was needed time on the floor for players like Solomon Hill and Chris Copeland. We didn’t get to see a lot of them last season and they’ll need time to grow into whatever roles coach Frank Vogel decides to put them in. It was evident on several plays that the chemistry and X’s and O’s aren’t quite there yet, but time will tell just if and when they are ready for more meaningful minutes.
 | Luis Scola, PF 27 MIN | 7-11 FG | 1-4 FT | 12 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 15 PTS | +8Remember when Scola was a starter in Houston? He would play like this and there would be points, points, points. He also managed to wrangle in a double-double thanks to the 12 rebounds. |  |
Solomon Hill, SF 30 MIN | 1-3 FG | 6-7 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | +10Forced contact and got seven of his eight points from the line. Not enough production for 30 minutes of play, but a step in the right direction.
Roy Hibbert, C 30 MIN | 5-14 FG | 0-0 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 10 PTS | -3A so-so performance and struggled to make his shots, but this was preseason so it isn’t time to demand the Pacers trade Hibbert.
Donald Sloan, PG 35 MIN | 5-13 FG | 1-2 FT | 6 REB | 8 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 11 PTS | -7If Sloan managed a 3×5 every game that would be fine. Shooting 38% however, isn’t so fine.
C.J. Miles, SG 31 MIN | 8-15 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 23 PTS | +1GET THEM BUCKETS!I wish this wasn’t a preseason game against mostly reserve players so I could be more optimistic.
Lavoy Allen, PF 21 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | +1Come in, play defense, rebound, return to bench. That’s all you need from Allen.
Chris Copeland, SF 20 MIN | 3-5 FG | 4-4 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 11 PTS | +5Please shoot this well in the regular season. That’d be great.
Damjan Rudez, SF 14 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 3 PTS | +2You too, please hit your 3’s when you take them.
Frank VogelIt is preseason and you didn’t do anything weird or play anyone too many minutes. Good job?