Pacers continue to fly high, glide over Hawks

The Indiana Pacers closed out 2018 with another quality win over the Atlanta Hawks.

The Indiana Pacers just finished one of the teams best-ever months, going 12-3 and just dominating everything in their path. The finished off the month with a win over Atlanta.

We finally got to see some of what we are used to seeing from Victor Oladipo. Vic had 22 points and 7 assists, his third consecutive 7 assist game. He is putting together the passing and the scoring now that defenses are throwing different coverages at him.

Both Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis finished with the exact same stat line, posting 20 points and 8 rebounds each. Unfortunately, the story of the game for Turner is an injury. John Collins got him on the face and Turner now has a broken nose.

Oladipo said after the game “the mask has superpowers so he will be alright” so perhaps everything will be A-ok.

That wasn’t the only injury. Doug McDermott tweaked his ankle and had to go to the locker room too.

Neither of the injuries seems too severe, which is encouraging. The team doesn’t play again until Friday, so both guys will get time to heal.

But the Pacers won, so let’s focus on some good stuff instead. Like this Tyreke Evans buzzer beater:

Or this Oladipo gif:

So, let’s talk about some stuff.

Myles Turner had an unbelievable December

So, Myles Turner closed the month of December with per game stats of 15.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 3.2 blocks. That is insane.

He did it while shooting 54 percent from the field overall and 50 percent from 3 point range. That is even more insane. Turner was amazing on both ends of the floor this month, let’s hope the injury doesn’t derail any of his momentum going forward.

Victor Oladipo looked a bit more like himself

Oladipo had seemingly a tiny bit more burst in this one that he has had in recent games. He was blowing by dudes and sprinting the length of the floor frequently. He had a solid stat line too. He may be fully recovering from his injury just in time for 2019.

Have a great 2019, 8 Points, 9 Seconds readers

This isn’t a game observation, but this will be my last post of the calendar year. Thanks for reading and everyone have a safe and great New Years celebration. I hope 2019 brings you everything you want.

Now, back to the game. Let’s grade some performances:

The Pacers open 2019 on Friday in Chicago against the Bulls. They will try to repeat their last 2 performances against Chicago.