Once again, the Indiana Pacers overcame the inherent difficulties of playing a back-to-back and pulled out a win over the young, scrappy Kings.
Orlando and Indianapolis are 823.19 miles apart from each other. That was the distance the Indiana Pacers traveled last night in order to make it back home to take on the “currently a playoff team” Sacramento Kings, who narrowly defeated the Pacers the last time the two teams met. Despite a now hilariously predictable bad start, the Pacers rallied back once again and came out victorious in the end.
Take that, back-to-back
The Pacers are now a ridiculous 5-0 on Night Two of back-to-backs so far this season. That’s almost unheard of, as tired legs typically lead to complications for teams when they play two games so close together. The fact that Indiana is undefeated so far in these games really speaks to the team’s heart, as well as their conditioning.
Hustle, hustle, hustle
Despite being down big in the first quarter, the Pacers clawed themselves back into this game by halftime. The third quarter was kind of a slog for both teams, but the Pacers really kicked it into gear towards the end of the game. The Kings are one of the fastest teams in the league this season, but the Pacers simply out-hustled the Kings down the stretch. The Pacers were scrapping for offensive rebounds, leading blistering fastbreaks, and deflecting passes at the most opportune moments, which led to a win tonight.
Stopping the bleeding
To put it bluntly, Buddy Hield was absolutely torching the Pacers from everywhere early on in this game. He had 15 points in the first half and looked like he was primed for a huge second half that would’ve made this game a lot trickier for the Pacers to win. Thankfully, the team adjusted at halftime and was able to collectively limit Hield to just 5 points in the second half. It was a true team effort to limit the hot hand and turn the tide late in the game.
The Pacers are back in action on Monday night for game two of their three-game homestand and will welcome the Washington Wizards to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.