Indiana Pacers week ahead: Superstars and big markets
By Tony East
The Indiana Pacers head into their next week of the season on a winning streak. They will look to keep it up in the next seven days.
Two weeks through the Indiana Pacers season and they have gone 2-1 in both weeks. 4-2 is a quality place to be for Indiana, who has played more away games than home ones so far.
The coming week features four games, so going 2-1 again is literally impossible. However, nabbing two or more wins seems more than feasible given the competition. Let’s get right to it.
Game 7: Portland Trail Blazers – Monday, 7:00 PM
The Pacers open the week against the best player they will face all week in Damian Lillard. Dame dropped 44 points and 15 assists on the Pacers in two games last season, and he is leading the league this year at 33.8 points per game. He has gone scorched earth.
To slow him down, perhaps a healthy dose of Cory Joseph is necessary. Joseph continues to be the Pacers best defensive option at point guard. Thanks in large part to his contributions and a dominant second unit, Joseph is a +66 this season. He could be a big factor in this game.
If McMillan and co find a way to slow down Lillard, then we could see a big night from the other Blazers star – CJ McCollum. CJ also poured in 44 points on the Pacers last season, and his ability to score from anywhere on the court makes him hard to stop when he is feeling it. One of Lillard or McCollum is likely to go off, so it’s up to the Pacers to try to slow them down as much as they can.
The Blazers are doing the little things well so far in 2018-19. They average the 6th fewest turnovers per game and lead the league in free throw percentage. They make sure to get themselves as many easy points as they can. Indiana’s defense will need to be on point to win this one.