8 points, 9 seconds
Fansided

Of course Victor Oladipo wins another Player of the Week award

By William Furr

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 10: Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Pacers dribbles the ball against Gary Harris #14 of the Denver Nuggets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 10, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 10: Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Pacers dribbles the ball against Gary Harris #14 of the Denver Nuggets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 10, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Victor Oladipo was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season following his dominating performance in the Pacers comeback overtime victory against the Denver Nuggets.

Victor Oladipo is once again the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after leading the Indiana Pacers to a 4-0 week.

After taking it easy against the moribund Knicks (16 points on 60% shooting in an 18 point win), Oladipo turned on the afterburners. Oladipo hit a game-winning pull-up trey against the Bulls with just over 30 seconds left, giving the Pacers a 98-96 victory. He tallied 27 points on 50% shooting, 40% from deep, and added 8 rebounds for good measure.

Despite his heroics, Oladipo was just getting started.

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

Friday brought the Cleveland LeBrons to town, riding a 13 game win streak. The Pacers and Victor Oladipo remained unimpressed. Facing probably the best player alive, Oladipo went for 33 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and tied his career high with 6 3-pointers. Again, he hit a dagger 3, this one with the Pacers clutching to a 3 point lead with 1:01 left in the game.

Two straight games with clutch/game winning 3’s probably would’ve been enough to win the player of the week honors, but Victor Oladipo saved his best for last.

The Indiana Pacers (sans Darren Collison, and with both Thad Young and Bojan Bogdanovic questionable coming into the game) came out flat against a Denver Nuggets team missing both Paul Milsap and Nikola Jokic, and found themselves down 17 while taking a shellacking from deep by a hot Denver team.

No matter. The 2nd half saw a wild comeback in which the Pacers played nearly the entire 4th quarter without a point guard. Enter: Point Dipo. As Oladipo continued to heat up, the Pacers offense turned to him running the pick and roll every possession, switching between Myles Turner and Thad Young to get the matchup he wanted. Oladipo scored 32 points in the 2nd half en route to a career-high 47 in the overtime win.

He was 15-28 from the field, 6-12 from deep, and 11-13 from the line while adding 7 boards, 6 assists, and a pair of steals to boot. He missed the game-tying bucket in this one, but broke down the Denver defense to the point that Thad Young had a wide open point-blank putback to send the game to overtime. The fans roared with “MVP” chants during the last minutes of an overtime period that saw Oladipo and the Pacers overwhelm a dispirited Nuggets team.

Next: Victor Oladipo can't keep this going, right?

Overall, Oladipo averaged 30.8 points for the week, adding 7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and nearly 2 steals. He put up 51.2% from the field and a scorching 47.5% from behind the arc en route to becoming the first Eastern Conference player to win the award twice this season. For the record, that’s 2 more Player of the Week awards than any former Pacers have won this season.

Home/Pacers News