The Indiana Pacers finished off their preseason with a bit of a dud against the Chicago Bulls, losing 104-89.
The Indiana Pacers looked like a team at the end of a four-game road trip in the preseason. The Chicago Bulls came out firing while Indiana simply didn’t look ready to play defense in the final exhibition game of the year.
And that’s fine. It’s preseason. Most of the roster found ways to impress when they were on the court with only a few red flags popping up here or there.
And none of this is to say there weren’t bright spots to be found. Aaron Holiday nearly led the Pacers in scoring with 15 points while Thaddeus Young registered a double-double in his first preseason action. His 16 points and 10 rebounds came in just under 30 minutes of play.
Domantas Sabonis missed out on a perfect preseason of double-doubles with 13 points and 9 rebounds in the game.
All that said, the starting unit looked ugly, getting outscored 75-44 by the Bulls. It’s preseason so there’s little to worry about, but it is still disappointing to see them end the preseason with just lackluster play.
The Pacers finished the preseason with a 2-2 record.
The Good: The deep rotation for the Pacers is surprisingly deep. Aaron Holiday showed his scoring ability on Wednesday while Edmond Sumner already showed us enough this preseason to make us believe he’s still got the potential to crack the rotation in the future. Sumner didn’t do much against the Bulls, but between him and Holiday, there’s a debate over who should be at the end of Indiana’s bench and who should be in Fort Wayne.
The Bad: It was the worst outing of the preseason, period.
MVP: Aaron Holiday appeared to enjoy taking on his brother Justin in an NBA game but the older brother’s 22 points were greater than the younger’s 15. We’ll see what happens when they meet in the regular season.
LVP: Doug McDermott remains M.I.A.
X-Factor: Thaddeus Young’s double-double showed despite the starters’ overall performance, he’s shaken off any rust that came from not playing in the other three preseason games.
The Pacers next game is at home at 7 p.m. against the Memphis Grizzlies to start the regular season. They lost to the Grizz in their second preseason game.