Post-Game Grades: Pacers start the toughest week of their season 1-0

The Indiana Pacers came into their Sunday night matchup with the Boston Celtics looking to even the series at two apiece and get their second win in a row at TD Garden Arena.

The Pacers went back and forth with the Boston Celtics throughout the majority of their game, aside from going on a 4-minute scoring drought and giving up an 11-0 second quarter run. Victor Oladipo started slow but finished with a game-high 27 points.

After scoring just 7 points in the first half, Oladipo caught fire in the third quarter putting up 13 points on the way to giving the Pacers a 4 point lead at the end of the quarter. The Celtics struggled early in the second half without their All-NBA point guard Kyrie Irving who did not come out after half-time with an apparent knee injury but were able to bounce back with strong performances from Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier. 

The Pacers and Celtics continued their back and forth through most of the final quarter, going down to the wire. With the game tied at 95 a piece, Myles Turner got the ball in the post and knocked down arguably his biggest bucket of the season, giving the Pacers the lead. Victor Oladipo knocked down two free throws which seemed to ice the game, only until the refs called an offensive foul (Morris flopped) on Oladipo, giving Boston the chance to tie. Indy would hang on for the win after Terry Rozier was unable to convert on what would have been a game-winning three. 

The Good: Myles Turner was phenomenal all night long for the Pacers. We got to see the third year big man’s talents on full display. Turner went 8-13 from the field, including 3-4 from deep, while putting up his 10th double-double of the season (19 points, 10 rebounds) and hit a huge bucket with 21 seconds left that put the Pacers up by two.

The Bad: The turnovers were really bad tonight. Indiana turned the ball over 18 times and gave up 18 points off of said turnovers. Thaddeus Young lead Indiana with five, including two offensive fouls. The Pacers have to start taking care of the ball if they have any shot of finishing the season strong and getting home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Thad Young was also really bad tonight… Very bad actually.

Also, Ryan… dude c’mon you’re better than that.

MVP: Victor Oladipo should be the answer here, as he led the Pacers with 27 points. However, I’m going to give some love to Myles Turner, who has been a constant source of criticism this season. Turner didn’t have to deal with Al Horford tonight, who missed the game due to illness, and because of that, he was able to dominate on both sides of the floor. Turner blocked shots, rebounded the ball, and scored inside and out. He was a huge reason the Pacers won.

https://twitter.com/FSIndiana/status/973016136890564608

LVP: I shouldn’t pile on Thaddeus Young, but I’m going to. He was flat out awful tonight. It’s acceptable over the course of a long season to put up a few duds, but to put up 4 points and 5 turnovers against the second seed in the Eastern Conference is no bueno.

X-Factor: 2 points and 10 assists typically isn’t worthy of being deemed the “x-factor” but in just his second game back Darren Collison showed he is close to returning to the player he was before a knee injury knocked him out of action for 3+ weeks.

Next: Could Victor Oladipo make an all-defense team?

What a week the Pacers have ahead. After beating the second seed Celtics on the road, the Pacers will travel Philadelphia next, before finishing the week with the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards.