Pacers can’t pull one out of the hat against Magic
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers came up short against the Orlando Magic despite a flurry of points in the final seconds.
A loss is a loss. A loss to a team with a losing record is a loss to a team with a losing record. But the Indiana Pacers losing to the Orlando Magic isn’t quite as bad as it sounds.
It still isn’t good, though.
While the Pacers can say the Magic are currently a playoff team after Orlando’s win, and even though they won 8 of their last 10, it’s hard not to see Saturday’s loss as another missed opportunity for the Pacers.
With a brutal stretch of the schedule coming up, Indiana could have put some real distance between them and both the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.
The current string of close games will certainly leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouth if the Pacers lose home court advantage or end up facing those two teams trailing them ever so closely in the first round.
117. 38. 112. 100. Final
Things could have been worse if the Celtics and 76ers hadn’t had their own troubles of late with Boston going 4 of 6 in their last 10 and Philadephia pointing a 6-4 mark to match the Pacers.
It’s only going to get tougher from here, but at least the Pacers can be thankful their still in third as Sunday’s games get underway.
Turns out, life is harder without Victor Oladipo
While Indiana has been one of the better clutch teams this season, coming out of the All-Star break, they’ve been awful in what NBA.com generally defines as clutch time.
Yes, they spend a notable chunk of the season without Victor Oladipo, but recent games highlighted the difficulties that come without having a clutch player like him to close out games. Even without Oladipo, Indiana has been very good closing out games, but there’s certain ease that comes with having him either you Plan A or Plan B when the final minutes of the game arrive.
They should be able to steady themselves again soon in the final minutes, but it wouldn’t hurt to have their All-Star around, either.
Bojan Bogdanovic might be pricing himself off of the Indiana Pacers roster
While age is a consideration for Bojan Bogdanovic’s next contract, his career-high 17.4 points per a game and 23.1 in February certainly should help his agent negotiate his next deal.
Bogdanovic stepped up as the scorer Indiana needed in Oladipo’s absence this season without sacrificing accuracy or efficiency. The biggest change has been his ability to score off the dribble and drive the lane. His 3-point shooting is still there, but he can punish you in the paint or by exploiting mismatches.
Hopefully, Indiana can afford him, but he screams of a player destined to get ‘overpaid’ on his next deal. And to that, I say, “GET DEM CHECK, BOJAN!”
Myles Turner throws down a monster jam
Sorry Jonathan Issac, you’ve been posterized.
Myles Turner brings the noise.pic.twitter.com/rJDYUzPXcy
— 8 Points, 9 Seconds (@8pts9secs) March 3, 2019
B. 23 points and 10 assists for Darren Collison while only turning the ball over three times. Collison’s play is a big reason for Indiana’s success this season. He can guide the ball to teammates to do most of the work but on night’s like Saturday, he dropped over 20 himself while shooting 8 of 12 from the field and getting to the line six times.<br />. PG. Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON
B. His overall shooting was down, but he managed 12 points by making a pair of threes and going 4 of 4 from the foul line. His 5 rebounds and 4 assist stabilized an otherwise OK stat line.<br />. SG. Indiana Pacers. WESLEY MATTHEWS
A. Struggled from deep at 2 of 7, but his 8 of 17 night from the field was bouyed by a 7 of 8 performance from the foul line. Dude knows how to score.<br />. SF. Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC
Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. B. 13 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for Thaddeus Young. Solid night, but didn’t play as solid of defense as he usually does. Nobody’s perfect.<br />. PF
Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER. C. 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks, but his hot start led us to believe he was set for a better night.Nikola Vucevic’s 27 points also make it hard to give him too much credit for his defense, though it was solid most of the time.<br />. C
B-. 14 points and 3 assists is great, but he’s a de facto captain of the bench, which was badly outplayed.<br />. PG. Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH
SG. Indiana Pacers. TYREKE EVANS. Inc.. Tyreke Evans is coming back from food poisoning so his 3 point, 3 rebound night isn’t fair to grade. He was a game time decision, so he deserves an ‘incomplete’ grade on the night as he played limited minutes in both time and quality. Feel better, Reke.<br />
Indiana Pacers. DOUG MCDERMOTT. B-. 3 of 4 shooting off the bench for 6 points.<br />. SF
C. 6 points and 4 rebounds for KOQ. Needed more defense, though.<br />. C. Indiana Pacers. KYLE O'QUINN
D. After a string of good games, zero points and 2 rebounds gets you a harsh grade. We expect more from you now.<br />. PF. Indiana Pacers. TJ LEAF
dark. Next. The Spirit of Jeff Foster lives in Kyle O’Quinn
The Pacers play the Chicago Bulls at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.