Pacers fire on all cylinders while Pistons miss all night
By William Furr
To quote the great Chris Denari, tonight the Indiana Pacers put a whuppin’ on the Detroit Pistons. The motor city residents found no love in the city of Indy, as the Pacers rocked their brand new “Earned” edition jerseys while earning a huge blowout win.
The Indiana Pacers started the night with an 8-0 run against the Pistons, and that foreshadowed the absolute destruction the blue and gold rained down on the Pistons heads all night. This game was all but over 10-minute minute mark of the first quarter, and the landslide continued for the next 38 minutes, as the Pacers never let up. Thad Young dunked on fools, Darren Collison dunked (!!!!), and the Pacers walked out with an easy win.
THAD!!!! https://t.co/yFejvUNBfn
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) December 29, 2018
Who needs 3’s?
The Pacers made only 5 shots from deep on 19 attempts, but that slowed them down none at all. Despite facing a formidable front line in Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, the Pacers won this game by absolutely dominating the Pistons in the paint. Dunks and layups and backdoor cuts and putbacks rained on the Pistons heads all night. If Doug McDermott had made his high flying 1 handed dunk in traffic, Andre Drummond would’ve legally had to retire at that exact moment.
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For the 20th time this season, the Pacers had at least 6 players in double digits, and finished with 7 (none of whom was named Victor Oladipo!). This team shares the wealth more than any other team in the NBA, and have the 3rd best record in the league to show for it.
Victor Oladipo still isn’t all the way back
The Pacers didn’t need him tonight, by any means, but 7 points on 2-9 shooting in 26 minutes doesn’t portend great things. Oladipo could definitely be easing back into a squad that went 7-4 while he was out, but it would be nice to see a bit more on the offensive end from the Pacers lone all star.
Player grades:
DARREN COLLISON. A+. There’s no grade high enough to give DC tonight. 7-7 from the field, 2-2 from deep, 3-3 from the line, 7 assists, and only 1 turnover. He twice bailed the Pacers out in late shot clock situations on the rare occasions that Detroit decided to play defense.. PG. Indiana Pacers
D. Vic gets a D for “Didn’t need him”. Oladipo did very little on offense tonight, but in a 37 point win, maybe it’s not a terrible thing that your star takes the night off. Let’s hope it’s just a lack of need rather than any lingering issues.. SG. Indiana Pacers. VICTOR OLADIPO
SF. Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC. B. Tonight was one of the very rare occasions that bogey didn’t sink a 3, but he still finished 6-10 from the field for 12 points. He gets a B for “Bogey”.
PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. A+. As always, the box score doesn’t come close to doing Thad Young justice. As Chris Denari and Quinn Buckner kept saying, Thad Young makes winning plays. In a short stretch, he had a deflection, a steal, dove to get a loose ball the Pistons assumed they would get uncontested, saved a ball by throwing it off a Pistons player, then threw down 2 straight one-handed dunks and got fouled on the shot after. 17 points and 3 rebounds don’t speak to nearly all Thad did tonight.
Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER. B. 17 points, 2 rebounds, 3 blocks on 8-11 shooting. The Pacers got outrebounded despite shooting far better from the field, but Andre Drummond might be the best rebounder in the league. Aside from that, Myles was awesome.. C
Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS. A. Ho-hum 19 points and 12 boards on 66% shooting. Domas even managed to get a block tonight, his 20th of the year. Watching Sabonis and Turner figure out how to play together is a joy.. C
B. Didn’t score, but finished with 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and was +22 on the night. He had about the most “Cory Joseph” game that exists.. PG. Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH
Indiana Pacers. DOUG MCDERMOTT. B. McBuckets almost forced Andre Drummond into retirement with a late dunk. 12 points on 5-8 shooting is exactly what you want to see from Dougie, including a 3 that could’ve been a 4 point play and one of his signature backdoor cuts.. SF
SG. Indiana Pacers. TYREKE EVANS. B+. 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 offensive rebounds (0 defensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, and only 1 turnover. Evans wasn’t anything astonishing, but he did exactly what the Pacers hoped for when they signed him. When the offense actually slowed down for a moment, he stuck a couple of midrange jumpers to keep things greased up and rolling.
Indiana Pacers. KYLE O'QUINN. G. As Zaza Pachulia said, “He’s not a rookie”. I personally have no issue with him shooting a wide open layup with 1 second left in a 35 point game, but there will undoubtedly be some kind of ramification the next time these two teams square off. O’Quinn gets a G for “Garbage Time”.. C
TJ LEAF. G. T.J. hit a pick and pop 3, which is pretty much the best thing he can do to continue to exist in the NBA.. PF. Indiana Pacers
G. 5 points and 3 assists in 4 minutes. Nate can’t keep Holiday from playing for long.. PG. Indiana Pacers. AARON HOLIDAY
G. Missed his only shot by a country mile. Still finished +6 in garbage time.. SG. Indiana Pacers. DAVON REED
Next. Vote the Indiana Pacers into the NBA All-Star game. dark
The Pacers close out 2018 at home against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. Prepare appropriate, the game is at 3 pm. The Pacers will look to repeat the performance they had against Atlanta last Wednesday.