The Indiana Pacers kicked off their preseason with an easy-ish win in Houston.
The Indiana Pacers won their first game of the 2018-19 campaign with a preseason win over the Houston Rockets:
The game was at one point tied at 73, but the Pacers were able to pull away thanks to a big fourth quarter led by Domantas Sabonis. He was both the offensive initiator and play finisher, doing a little bit of everything to keep the offense running.
The team was led by none other than Victor Oladipo, because duh. He had 24 points in 24 minutes, and he looked like his former self (heck, maybe even better) throughout the whole game.
The Good: Holy Moly, Edmond Sumner! With Tyreke Evans sidelined with an injury, Sumner filled in as the fourth guard in the rotation, and he played outstanding. It was quite literally his first-ever extended time on an NBA court, and he looked like one of the better players:
Sumnertime Sadness: pic.twitter.com/pmhYPApRYq
— Tony East (@TonyREast) October 5, 2018
Sumner finished the game with 13 points in 18 minutes and shot 6/8 from the field. He was a +18 and had multiple highlight plays. Welcome to the NBA.
The Bad: Doug McDermott played 35 minutes and only scored two points. His outside shot was not falling at all, he missed all four of his looks from beyond the arc. Additionally, his defense looked as poor as was advertised before he signed with the team. He was a -13 and had a rough introduction to Indiana Pacers fans.
MVP: Victor Oladipo is always the MVP when he plays like this. Scoring one point per minute on 50 percent shooting is MVP stuff. Vic had it tonight, and he looks like he’s going to have another killer season.
LVP: Sorry, Darren Collison. It just wasn’t your night. 2/10 from the field and two turnovers meant that DC wasn’t really helping on offense outside of spacing the floor. Nothing Collison did really stood out, and he looked worse than his backup Cory Joseph in this one. This was not the start to the 2018-19 campaign that DC was hoping for.
X-Factor: Sabonis. He had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and he carried the team at times in the fourth quarter. His +17 was one of the better figures on the team, and he was an integral part of the win.
Now let’s assign some grades.
The Pacers next game is in Memphis on Saturday. Maybe we will get to see more guys play in that game. Stay tuned for more preseason coverage.