Bojan Bogdanovic found himself in a funk after his infamous turnover, but since the end of January, he is the Indiana Pacers second-leading scorer.
One bad pass turned Bojan Bogdanovic into a pariah of sorts among Indiana Pacers fans. The clock was in the single-digits when he tried finding a teammate instead of taking a foul, and what would have been an early-season signature win for Indiana vanished as the Boston Celtics stole the game.
The players and coaches rallied around him quickly and he even put up 19 points in the next game, but his numbers went into decline as December became January.
After averaging 13.9 points a game up until that Boston game and making around half his shots, he was shooting 42.8% from the field and 29.1% from deep. His scoring dropped from third to fifth on the Pacers while struggling to be more than a marginal addition to the starters. He still was scoring in the teens, for the most part, but his scoring bordered on volume over efficiency.
He had his worst game of the season on January 29th when he went scoreless in Indiana’s win over the Charlotte Hornets. With rumors of Glenn Robinson III’s return nearing and Lance Stephenson’s occasional outbursts, it wasn’t a stretch that he might end up sliding down the rotation onto the bench.
Then it all changed. Suddenly Bogdanovic wasn’t a scapegoat anymore, he was the team’s second-leading scorer.
Bojan Bogdanovic’s resurgence
Over the last 13 games, Bojan is averaging 19.5 points a game on 53.9% shooting from the field and 49.3% from beyond the arc. While shooting no worse than 44.4% in those games, Bogdanovic quietly powered the Pacers to a 9-4 record, and perhaps more importantly, a 5-1 record over playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.
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This comes in the absence of Darren Collison, who has missed 10 games after a knee surgery. It’s worth noting he is doing this while being more tightly guarded than he has all year according to NBA.com’s tracking data. Despite exchanging a small amount of wide open shots for tightly guarded ones, Bogdanovic is shooting better than his season averages over this stretch.
Bogdanovic is rightly a supporting cast member on the Pacers, but occasionally, he steals the scene. His 29 points against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night matched his season-high and were absolutely necessary for Indiana to win.
Indiana’s usually leading man, Victor Oladipo, got a double-double, but one with 14 points and 10 turnovers. Oladipo’s 5 of 19 (26.3%) performance was his worst of the season, but Bojan countered that with his 69.2% shooting from the floor and 5 of 7 from deep.
That was remarkable enough, but that wasn’t the only way he put the team on his back.
His game-winning plays came by wrestling for the ball after Cory Joseph tipped it to him in a late-game tip-off on Milwaukee’s side of the court. Bogdanovic then confidently hit his free throws to give Indiana a 3-point lead.
Perhaps the funniest part of the jump ball was how obvious Cory and Bojan were in planning it. The Bucks watched as they talked things over and then Bojan muscled Eric Bledsoe for position around the circle. Bledsoe scored a double-leg takedown, but Bogdanovic took Indiana out of the danger zone.
Maybe we can stop bringing up the Boston loss, OK guys?
Expect this to continue
Stats merely tell us what a player has done, not what they will do next. But looking at Bojan’s history, both his slump and his resurgence follow his career splits.
Bogdanovic’s points and accuracy tend to dip in the heart of winter but bounce back as he reaches Daylight Saving Time. Bojan isn’t shooting any more than he did in any of his other NBA stops and the Pacers are leaning on him the least of any team since his rookie year, so it isn’t as if this season is out of line with his past.
There are no guarantees, but if he follows the typical ebb and flow of his season, then more points and improved accuracy are in his future. If that happens, then maybe Indiana’s tough schedule to finish the season is just another way both he and the Pacers defy expectations.
After the game, Fox Sports Indiana’s Jeremiah Johnson asked Bogdanovic about the game being 10 games over .500.
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“You’ve got to believe always in yourself and your teammates. I know most of the league didn’t, but we show up and I hope that we continue playing great,” Bogdanovic said before Johnson asked if he hoped the Pacers were opening up eyes. Bojan didn’t seem to care.
“This is their problem.”