Each Thursday 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.
Coming into the second week with Victor Oladipo back from injury and the team surging, I predicted the Pacers would go 3-1 with games against two playoff teams and two rebuilding teams. I was correct, however, I assumed that loss would come against Cleveland and LeBron James.
However, it was the pesky Miami Heat who would provide the Pacers their only loss of the week.
Indiana kicked the week off against the Miami Heat and unfortunately got down early, as they’ve been known to do this season. While they tried to fight back and sneak out a win, they, unfortunately, were not able to do so, mostly due to having their worst 3-point shooting night of the season, shooting a nearly impossible 5.6% (1-18).
You’d think the Pacers would’ve learned their lesson about what happens when you get down early, but that wasn’t the case.
The Cavs got out to a 22 point lead only to see that evaporate in the second half behind extremely strong play from Darren Collison, Domantas Sabonis, and possibly my second favorite NBA player of all-time, Lance Stephenson. (Does anyone troll LeBron better?)
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The game came down to the final seconds, where the Pacers would ultimately pull out their third victory over the Cavaliers on the season after LeBron James was ruled out of bounds (very controversially) after the side of his size 15 shoe graced the edge of the baseline out of bounds line.
Still, with no Myles Turner, the Pacers headed out West for the beginning of a five-game road trip. They got it going early against Phoenix, jumping out to 30-16 first quarter lead behind strong play from Victor Oladipo (11 points and two steals) and never looked back.
Next was the Utah Jazz, who have been really struggling as of late without their star big man Rudy Gobert. The Pacers once again got out a great first quarter, getting up by as many as 10 , only to see the Jazz go on a 14-0 run behind likely rookie of the year Donovan Mitchell in the second quarter.
The Jazz wouldn’t have an answer (Mitchell tried his darnedest) for Victor Oladipo in the second half who finished the game with 28 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals as the Pacers grabbed their third straight victory, winning 109-94.
Let’s take a look back at the week that was.
Star of the week: Victor Oladipo
Surprise of the Week: Pacers win three in a row, making it five out of their last seven
The best thing of the week: Lance Stephenson trolling LeBron James, again…
The most disappointing thing of the week: Myles Turner has now missed four straight games, with no return in sight.
Last weeks Indiana Pacers schedule & results
Friday: Cleveland Cavaliers – W 97 – 95
Sunday: Phoenix Suns – W 120 – 97
Monday: Utah Jazz – W 109 – 94