The Pacers make history – tying the record for most 3-pointers made in franchise history

The Indiana Pacers made history on Tuesday night, tying the franchise record for made three-point shots in a game.

Reggie Miller, one of the best shooters in NBA history, spent his entire career playing for the Indiana Pacers. Throughout his time in Indy, the most 3s the Pacers hit in a game was just 14.

It took until 2008 for the Pacers to have a game in which the squad hit 15 threes. It finally happened on March 21st of that year, when the Pacers rolled out a starting 5 of Flip Murray, Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and Jeff Foster. That group ended up hitting 16 on a red-hot shooting night.

Since then, as the NBA has shifted to a far more three-point heavy environment, the Pacers have made 15 or more 3s on 22 occasions, with half of them coming since the start of 2017.

Prior to last night’s absurdly dominant win over the Los Angeles Lakers, the Pacers set their franchise record for made long-range bombs in late 2015, when they hit 19 against the Washington Wizards. Paul Geroge was 7/8 from deep in that game, and CJ Miles was 8/9. Those two could not be stopped and they carried the squad to a record-breaking, special evening.

But last night, the 2018-19 Pacers rivaled that sweet shooting performance with a night for the (franchise) record books. They canned 19 3s in their prolific offensive showing against LeBron James an co. It was a sight to behold.

A team effort

When the Pacers first hit 19 bombs, as previously laid out, it was a two-man show. Miles and PG combined for 15 of them. Don’t get me wrong, that is special. Watching two guys take over a game from outside the arc like that is a treat. But last night against the Lakers, the Indiana Pacers tied the record with a little help from everyone.

No single player made more than 4 3s on their own. Bojan Bogdanovic led the team with 4 makes, but it was a balanced attack. Myles Turner knocked down 3 from beyond the arc. Cory Joseph, Aaron Holiday, and Edmond Sumner all hit a trio of threes off the bench. Tyreke Evans and Darren Collison got involved in the action. The Pacers just could not be stopped from the territory beyond the 3-point line.

And 34 attempts is nothing to scoff at either. That has only been done 15 times in Indiana Pacers history, all of which have come since 2005. But here’s the thing: even if that feels like a lot of attempts in the grand scheme of Pacers things, it didn’t feel problematic during the course of the game.

The Pacers are wired to only take open looks, and it felt like every single one of the threes they made in this record-tying night was wide open. The Lakers were trying to switch everything, and the Pacers were prepared to confuse that scheme with multiple cuts and actions. And it worked. The offense looked great all night thanks to the creating, and making, of wide-open shots.

This game will not be one that is soon forgotten in the Pacers fandom. They smoked LeBron – handing him the biggest loss of his career at 42 points. The team tied a franchise record. Everyone, down to the younger players, played well. Most importantly, the team got the win. It was a special night in Indy, and the record-tying barrage of three-point shooting was just the icing on the cake.