Each Wednesday we’ll take a look back at the week that was for the Indiana Pacers and give you what was good, what was bad, and what’s coming up next.
Last weeks Indiana Pacers schedule & results:
Tuesday: Detroit Pistons – L 83-107
Wednesday: Dallas Mavericks – L 94-98
Friday: Chicago Bulls – L 104-119
Sunday: Minnesota Timberwolves – L 90-107
The Indiana Pacers New Years Resolution may be to forget about the last week. With soon to be first-time all-star Victor Oladipo out three of the four games last week with a mysterious “sore knee” we got a good look at the rest of the Pacers team. Unfortunately, that look was pretty ugly.
Indiana went 0-4 on the week, getting blown out in three of the four games and struggled to get anything going without their star.
Let’s take a look back at the week.
Star of the week: Domantas Sabonis
Surprise of the Week: Joe Young‘s 20 point performance against the T’Wolves
Most disappointing thing of the week: Myles Turner‘s poor play
The good – The bench steps up
Aside from the 30 point explosion from Darren Collison against the Chicago Bulls, the Pacers starters were pretty putrid all week long on both sides of the floor. The worst performance came against Minnesota on Sunday, when the Timberwolves jumped out to a 17-0 lead and the first points from a Pacers starter didn’t come until the 4:47 mark in the second quarter. In that same game, star center Myles Turner managed to go 0-5 from the field, scoring just 1 point and grabbing 2 rebounds in 19 minutes of play. I could go on and on about the starters and their poor play, but because of that the bench got plenty of opportunities to shine bright and for the most part, they took advantage of it. Notable performances included Domantas Sabonis’ 10 points and 5 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons and 14 point, 9 rebound performance against Chicago, CoJo’s 10 points, and 6 assists against Dallas, and Joe Young’s 20 points in 24 minutes against the Timberwolves. The bench scored 20+ points in every single game this week, making them the best part of the four-game losing streak.
More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds
- Pacers’ Daniel Theis dominated Team USA in Germany’s semifinal win
- 3 Players who could beat out Tyrese Haliburton for 2024 USA Olympics
- Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton takes step back in Team USA loss to Germany
- Pacers fans get angry at Tyrese Haliburton’s NBA 2K24 rating reveal
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton unveils lofty goal with Team USA
While the starters were expected to step up and perform at a high level with their star out, it was the bench that constantly got the Pacers back into games. Hopefully, with Vic expected to be back sometime in the coming days, the confidence the bench got in an extended run in his absence should go a long way in improving the Pacers long term. It was becoming more and more apparent in the weeks leading up to Oladipo getting injured that Head Coach Nate McMillan needed to deepen his rotation, and I think we saw that there are several guys who ready for more playing time. Whether it’s Al Jefferson, Joe Young, T.J. Leaf, Alex Poythress, Damien Wilkins or Ike Anigbogu, McMillan needs to be able to count on some of these guys to keep his starters fresh down the stretch of games.