In what was easily the most exciting win of the year, the Indiana Pacers defeated the San Antonio Spurs 97-94 on Sunday, pushing their record to 3-3 on the season.
Wow. That’s all that can really be said after the final minute of action between the Pacers and Spurs on Sunday. After a closely contended game in which the Pacers led for a large majority of the time, the team found themselves down two points with 30 seconds to go.
Enter Victor Oladipo, who takes a crazy, ill-advised and contested 3-point shot that in most universes would’ve capped off the usual heartbreaking night for Pacers fans. But it went in. The Pacers defended well on the other end, Cory Joseph made some clutch free throws, and the Spurs somehow lost their second straight game.
It was a night that accomplished two major things: reaffirmed Dipo and Domantas Sabonis believers that the Pacers won the Paul George trade, and showed all Pacers fans that this is going to be a team worth rooting for.
Victor Oladipo y'all. pic.twitter.com/vM9aZ7idzE
— 8 Points, 9 Seconds (@8pts9secs) October 29, 2017
The Good: The Pacers contended with a legit top 5 team in the league- probably top 10ish in their current state without Kawhi Leonard. They were able to close out offensively and defensively (an eternal struggle for the franchise). Sabonis and Oladipo once again look like amazing pieces of this team’s future. Oh, and they’ve been doing all of this without the actual current face of the franchise Myles Turner.
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The Bad: Lots of mistakes were made, and the Spurs capitalized on a lot of second chance buckets tonight. It’s hard to be too upset after an exciting win, but problems still exist that need to be addressed ASAP.
MVP: Shoutout to Oladipo and his wild 3-point shot, but tonight goes to Sabonis. His 22 points on 9-9 shooting and 12 rebounds went a long way in securing the victory tonight, and he was crucial late in the game on offense and defense. He definitely has made good use of the minutes he’s gained in the absence of Myles Turner.
LVP: Joe Young got some meaningful minutes tonight and had a chance to prove himself in the rotation. He didn’t.
X-Factor: The starters all put up key contributions tonight, and got pretty much no help from the bench. When your replacements put up 17 points all night, you know you have to step up. Fortunately, they did.