The Indiana Pacers snapped a 4 game losing streak, beating the second best team in the Western Conference in dominant fashion.
The Indiana Pacers did tonight what they haven’t done in the past 4 games — play a solid 48 minutes of basketball. Indiana was never threatened all night as they easily cruised to a victory.
Indiana’s recent offensive struggles were not an issue tonight as they were able to get a balanced attack going. The squad dished out 34 assists and shot an efficient 56% from the field.
After playing 4 games in 6 nights, Indiana looked far more effective against an elite Nuggets defense after getting two days of rest. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 35 points on arguably his most efficient night of the season, shooting 13-16 from the field. Bogdanovic has certainly earned himself a nice payday in the offseason with his phenomenal play.
Each game moving forward will be critical for Indiana, as they only have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Boston Celtics for the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference. With the final spot for home-court advantage up for grabs, the Pacers will need to pull off more impressive wins as 7 of their final 8 opponents are against teams in playoff contention — two of which are against Boston.
#PeakReke
Has Tyreke Evans finally found his role within the Pacers? Evans played yet another solid game, scoring 11 points (5-9 shooting), grabbing 5 rebounds, and dished out 3 assists. Without Oladipo, Evans was brought in to be the secondary shot creator that the Pacers lacked last season. If Evans continues to play as well as he has recently, the Pacers will be in much better shape in the playoffs.
Controlling the glass and limiting turnovers
The Pacers were in for a challenge going up against the #1 team in the NBA in second-chance points. The Pacers were able to deliver, outrebounding the Nuggets 49-41. Turnovers have also been an issue for the Pacers lately, but the Pacers were able to share the ball well, assisting on 34 baskets to only 11 turnovers.
McDermott throws it down
#McDunkContest detonated once again tonight.
#McDunkContest pic.twitter.com/ywfYHFIDLE
— Tony East (@TonyREast) March 24, 2019
That’s always fun! Now, player grades:
The Pacers next take on Paul George and the Thunder on Wednesday in Oklahoma City. The team will look to replicate its performance against OKC from last week in which they came back to get a huge win.