Grades: Indiana Pacers win over the Toronto Raptors rendered meaningless

The Indiana Pacers beating the Toronto Raptors would be cause for celebration had Victor Oladipo not gone down with a leg injury.

The title of this post is a lie. Just the grades part, I don’t feel like doing them. The fact the Indiana Pacers lost Victor Oladipo — likely for the season —‚does make a win over the Toronto Raptors feel rather meaningless.

It’s the Paul George injury all over again. I’m just assuming the worst and that he won’t play for the reason of this season. What that means for the team’s future, short and long-term, it very much up in the air.

A win against the Raptors tonight would have been undercut by the absence of Kawhi Leonard, but now it’s just a cruel joke that the Pacers got a sorta-statement win while the worst-possible scenario played out.

If there’s anything good to take from the game, it’s how the team rallied in Oladipo’s absence. Thaddeus Young delivered a halftime speech before leading the Pacers in scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

Myles Turner posted a modest double-double of his own with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Darren Collison’s 17 points and 8 assists were impressive too. Bojan Bogdanovic’s 16 points, Domantas Sabonis’ 12, and Tyreke Evans’ 11 rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Pacers.

But what’s next for Indiana? Do they keep pushing for the playoffs or do they start looking at building a team for next year, hopefully with a healthy Oladipo?

It’s hard to care about any of that right now while the disturbing images and sounds of Oladipo are still fresh.

Everyone is hoping for the best case scenario, something where he didn’t tear tendons or muscles, but with a broken bone or dislocated knee is the best-case scenario, it’s hard to see a silver lining.

Sometime on Thursday, the news will be reported one way or another, but chances are the Pacers lost their best player for the rest of the season.