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The Good, The Bad, and What’s Next: Ladies and gentleman we officially have an All-Star

By Jacob Lane

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 6: Victor Oladipo
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 6: Victor Oladipo /
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Lance Stephenson of the Indiana Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JANUARY 12: Lance Stephenson #1 of the Indiana Pacers high fives fans during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 12, 2018 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images) /

At the end of each week 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.

Heading into last week the Pacers were  en fuego.

After barely falling to the Miami Heat, Indiana reeled off three straight wins, including an incredible comeback against LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Victor Oladipo looked healthy and back to himself, Domantas Sabonis was playing like a starting NBA center, and Thaddeus Young was playing some of his best basketball in recent memory.

So when the team dropped two straight games in the back half of their western conference road trip it was confusing and quite disappointing. When attempting to pin-point the problems in the Lakers & Blazers losses to me a lot of it was shooting (combined 39% from the field) specifically from outside  (17% from 3), poor defense (gave up 33 to Jordan Clarkson, 26/16 to Dame Lilliard & CJ McCollum), and the inability to get out in transition.

Thankfully the Pacers were able to bounce back strong and get a huge win over the San Antonio Spurs, in what was the final game of the road trip, before coming home last night and demolishing the Phoenix Suns. 

The Pacers finished the western conference road trip with an overall record of 3-2, with wins against the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and San Antonio Spurs and losses from the Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Lakers.

While the dropping two games didn’t really do much to hurt the Pacers in the playoff standings (for the moment), getting two wins against Portland & LA, really could have gone along way to getting the Pacers right in the thick of things for a top 4 seed.

Let’s take a look back at the week that was.

Star of the week: Victor Oladipo (averaged 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists across 4 games)

Surprise of the Week: Al Jefferson provides much needed boost off the Pacers bench

The best thing of the week: Victor Oladipo’s teammates showing much love to the first year all-star

The most disappointing thing of the week: Lakers allow 33 points to struggling Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson

Last weeks Indiana Pacers schedule & results

Thursday: Portland Trail Blazers – L 86 – 100

Friday: Los Angeles Lakers – L 86 – 99

Sunday: San Antonio Spurs – W 94 – 86

Wednesday: Phoenix Suns – W 116 – 101

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