TJ Leaf kicked the heroics into high gear on Friday when he dropped 18 in the fourth quarter to lead the Pacers to victory. If he keeps it up, he could push Al Jefferson out of the rotation.
Before I get too far into this post about T.J. Leaf, I want everyone reading this to know that this gif was tweeted out by the official Indiana Pacers Twitter account.
.@leafsquad22 scored all 18 of his points in the 4th to lead Indiana to a come-from-behind #PacersWin. pic.twitter.com/MW75leQkTX
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) October 7, 2017
Life is amazing.
Leaf kicked off his NBA career with a good bit of pizazz on Friday, when he led a comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers with 18 fourth-quarter points. For a few minutes down the stretch, it was almost as if he was back in Pawley Pavilion, and the offensive potential that led the Pacers to take Leaf at No. 18 was on full display.
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Defense is still going to be a major roadblock for the rookie, but Friday night’s game showed encouraging signs that Leaf can at least provide value on the offensive end against more than just Pac-12 defenses.
If he can sustain that value in the regular season, Nate McMillan could play him at backup power forward and let Domantas Sabonis be the full-time backup center. This would push a newly slimmed down Al Jefferson to the bench and effectively out of the rotation, since McMillan isn’t going to play five big men with any regularity (fingers crossed).
I wrote earlier in the summer about my skepticism that this could happen, but if Leaf can prove he has the stuff, it would far-and-away be the best move for the roster going forward. Jefferson is an NBA great, but he’s not part of the Pacers future.
Next: The Pacers are letting it fly from deep
But seriously, go back and watch that gif 50 more times. It doesn’t get old.