Today was the third annual Basketball Day in the Hoosier State, and the Indiana Pacers were able to cap off the festivities with a victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks.
On a day where the entire state of Indiana was celebrating the game of basketball, thousands of faithful Pacers fans braved the winter storm to watch the Hickory Pacers send Dallas packing with a very nice double-digit victory. After Indiana broke open a nice lead in the second quarter, the Indiana Pacers never looked back in this one and kept the lead for the entire second half of competition.
Pacers Have a Stroke of Good Luk(a)
Dallas’ rookie phenom, Luka Doncic, played his first game ever in Bankers Life Fieldhouse tonight, and it was an experience he’ll likely want to soon forget. The budding Slovenian star was the player most likely to hurt the Pacers tonight, but he struggled mightily shooting the ball against some staunch defense. Ultimately, he wound up getting kicked out of the game after he picked up a second technical for punting the basketball into the stands in a moment of frustration. Luka will likely have big games in BLF in the future, but the Pacers did well to make sure his Indiana debut was not one of them.
It’s a Game of Runs
The Pacers, once again, got out to a slow start in this one. After an opening quarter in which the offense did not look good at all, the second unit was able to go on a very important run in the second quarter, where they turned a 1 point lead after one quarter into a 16 point lead by halftime. This quarter wound up being what won the game for Indiana, as the Mavericks were actually a +4 in the second half.
Make More Shots, Win the Game
Across the board in this one, the stats between the Pacers and Mavericks were strangely similar in almost every area. That is, aside from overall shooting percentage. The Pacers didn’t use a major advantage on the boards, or on turnovers, or anything else to pull away in this one. Tonight, it was as simple as putting the ball in the hoop more often than the Mavs. Credit to Indiana’s defense holding Dallas under 100 points.
Player Grades? Don’t mind if I do:
The Pacers might as well camp out in the locker room tonight. They face the Charlotte Hornets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse tomorrow night at 6:00 PM.