Fast Paced Indiana Pacers Run Past the New Orleans Pelicans

The Indiana Pacers won their preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

I don’t care if preseason basketball is as meaningful as vice presidential debates, the Indiana Pacers took care of business against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night with an 113-96 win.

The Pacers are now 1-0 this preseason.

It has been months since the Pacers have played a real game and at risk of overvaluing small sample sizes, it is time to overreact to 48 minutes of preseason basketball.

Thaddeus Young gets a double-double

Though Thaddeus Young was one of the least heralded of the Indiana Pacers’ acquisitions this offseason he made the most noise on Tuesday night.

Young had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in his first game in a Pacers uniform.

In his NBA career, he’s gotten 73 double-doubles in his 665 regular seasons games, or roughly in 11% of his games. He doesn’t do it too often, but if Indiana can get one from him every now and then, Paul George and Myles Turner won’t have as much pressure on them night in and night out.

Getting his time in Indiana started off with one is a good sign.

7 Players scored in double-digits

Along with Young, there were six other players that scored in double-digits: Paul George, Al Jefferson, Joe Young, Georges Niang, Rodney Stuckey, and Jeff Teague. Monta Ellis was the only player who played 20 minutes or more and did not break that barrier.

As a team, the Pacers had a 106.1 offensive rating and a 94.2 defensive rating. All this obviously means Indiana offseason plan worked, and the offense is now the Pacers’ calling card.

Right?

Al Jefferson and Indiana’s bench take care of business.

Big Al led the Pacers in scoring on Tuesday with 14 points on 7 of 12 shooting while also grabbing 5 rebounds.

But he wasn’t the only bench player to do well. Young and Niang both had 12 points on a combined 10 of 21 shooting, as well as a combined 12 rebounds.

Niang had a slow start but ramped up his play as the night went on. Along with C.J. Miles and Glenn Robinson III, they led the bench to a 36.1% mark from beyond the arc.

We’ll have to wait to see if a 3-point shooting barrage from the Pacers is sustainable.

The starters were a little underwhelming

Don’t tell me Myles Turner was out and they were starting Kevin Seraphin to keep Jefferson with the bench, we are here to overreact.

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The starters posted a 35.6% mark from inside the arc and 26.7% outside of it. Outside of Young, the rest of the starters didn’t overly impress.

PG, Ellis, and Teague were a combined 10 of 30 for 29 points, while Seraphin was 1 of 5 with 2 points and 5 rebounds.

Part of that was simply shaking off rust as neither squad looked ready to play in the opening minutes, though the Pelicans already played one preseason game before Tuesday. The Pacers are still working to build chemistry among themselves, but taking on another team will help them line things out

It is important to remember Seraphin isn’t the starting or the backup center either. He’s more likely to play a role as Young’s backup if anything. The starters might be out of sync until Turner gets back and that might continue into Thursday’s preseason game against the Chicago Bulls as the Indianapolis Stars’ Nate Taylor reported that Turner’s fitness isn’t up to coach Nate McMillan’s standards yet.

Taylor also reported that Seraphin will remain the starter to keep the bench unit together.

Another factor was adjusting to a breakneck pace for Indiana Pacers standards. Much like the 3-point shooting we’ll have to wait and see what is sustainable, but Indiana’s pace was 104.22 last night, compared to 96.6 last season.

Much like watching the Summer League, you want to see competence and execution in preseason basketball. It is far from perfect, and in some ways, you’re really just watching individual performances more than the team.

For the most part on Tuesday night, Indiana looked comfortable playing at a faster pace while playing well at both ends of the floor.

Next: Jeremy Evans Continues to Come Out on Top

Indiana faces the Bulls at home on Thursday at 7 p.m.