In Victor Oladipo’s first game back from injury, the Indiana Pacers ended their 5-game losing streak and put up a win in dominating fashion over the Chicago Bulls.
If the Pacers entered a “beating the Bulls by a ton of points” contest, they’d say no professionals. Whether it was placebo confidence or just magic, Oladipo’s return caused everyone on the court for the blue and gold to mesh, resulting in a huge blowout win. After losing 5 straight, it was the exact kind of game this team needed.
Despite the odd choice by Nate McMillan to start Damien Wilkins, the choice ended up working well for the chemistry of the bench and starting unit tonight. And it just so happened to be his best game in 4 years. A day before his contract becomes fully-guaranteed. Yeah.
Overall, it’s good to see this Pacers team flowing again, but like Oladipo said post-game, it’s important to remember that it’s just one game. The Bulls aren’t necessarily a top-tier NBA squad, and this was the second game of a back-to-back on the road (and their fifth game in seven days). Hopefully this win can create the type of energy that carries them to wins in less-than-favorable circumstances, and hopefully, they can ride such a wave into the All-Star break. Side note: vote for Oladipo. Now. Do it.
The Good: You watched the game, right? Well, if you didn’t, check the box score. It speaks for itself. Really, though, pretty much everything about this game was good: Oladipo came out on all cylinders, Myles Turner was an aggressive scorer early, the bench was productive and we even got to see some real offensive action from guys like Wilkins and TJ Leaf.
The Bad: It’s hard to pick at anything after a night like this. The only real bad is that due to reasons aforementioned, the writing was kind of on the wall that this one was going to be a scheduled win.
MVP: Oladipo. Put up a crazy stat line in 23 minutes of action. Seriously- I don’t think I could put up 23 points, 9 assists, 6 boards and 5 steals in 23 minutes if I was playing against a bunch of middle schoolers. It’s good to see him back.
LVP: The NBA’s scheduling system. The Bulls were out of this one before it even started.
X-Factor: 3-point shooting. They shot almost 50% from deep tonight as a team, and in a first quarter where they hadn’t quite yet pulled away, 3-point shooting kept them above the Bulls and eventually put them down for good.
Next: The Pacers have waived Damien Wilkins
The Pacers get to stay home for a few days take on another divisional rival in the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday at Bankers Life.