Pacers put in half-effort, get a whole loss from Nets
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers half-assed their way to a loss against the Brooklyn Nets, locking themselves in the 5th seed.
There’s nothing nice to say about the loss on Sunday. The Indiana Pacers didn’t show up for the game against the Brooklyn Nets in anything other than in physical form. On top of that, Myles Turner rolled his ankle. Indiana should have listened to me and rested their players.
Annoyances with non-resting aside, the game looked like it was being played by one team that had already punched their playoff ticket and one that needed a win to seal the deal. There are no excuses for coming out as flat as the Pacers did, even if the result was an understandable collision of priorities between the two teams.
The Pacers half-assed it, to quote Indiana assistant coach Dan Burke.
147. 96. 100. Final. 108
The Pacers fell behind by 10+ points in the first half as the Nets were much more eager to chase down rebounds and 50/50 balls. A 37-17 disparity in rebounds at halftime was evidence of that. A 52-44 deficit in the score backs that up, too.
Myles Turner is fine, thankfully
While I’m not for overanalyzing things to the point of believing the Butterfly Effect, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see Indiana’s starters playing as much as they did, especially when the effort wasn’t there.
It’s a bit much to blame coach Nate McMillan directly for Turner’s injury, but I do wish he would rest players more when appropriate. Momentum isn’t real and the Pacers issues are very tangible, not mental, so I hope Turner and some of the other starters sit out the last game and rest up for playoffs.
Free Bojan Bogdanovic
The team’s whole effort was in question so I’m not overly worried about Bojan Bogdanovic’s performance on Sunday, but I am a little worried about the playoffs.
Teams have been playing him differently as of late and limiting his effectiveness. His scoring is under 20 points a game over the last 10 games, a potential sign of trouble.
If the Pacers can’t free him up with screens or force defenses to more honestly cover other players, Indiana is looking at a very short series.
meh. 4 points and 6 assists would be more concerning if he wasn’t returning from injury. Collison missed six of the last ten games, so rust was a factor.. PG. Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON
D. 3 points on 1 of 3 shooting isn’t good. Wes needs to be better.. SG. Indiana Pacers. WESLEY MATTHEWS
BOJAN BOGDANOVIC. D. 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. Shooting 5 of 11 isn’t bad but no one on this team deserves anything too nice said about them after this game.. SF. Indiana Pacers
PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. D+. 8 of 10 shooting for 16 points… but geez, was this game ugly.
☤. 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, and one hurt ankle. Get healthy, young fella.. C. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER
Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS. D+. A double-double, hooray. 17 points and 12 rebounds are good, but once again, this game wasn’t fun at all.. C
Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH. D++. If there was any good from Sunday’s game, it came in the form of CoJo’s 5 of 9 shooting, including 2 of 4 from deep. His 12 points & 55.6% shooting might be a sign his slump is over… or a dead cat bounce. Google it, and learn about investing.. PG
D. 7 points on 2 of 7 shooting is bad. Full stop.. SF. Indiana Pacers. DOUG MCDERMOTT
6 points and hopefully he plays a lot of minutes in the regular season finale.. C. Indiana Pacers. KYLE O'QUINN. C
F-. Despite 6 points and 3 rebounds, he’s in the dog house for kicking Cory Joseph in the balls on accident.. PF. Indiana Pacers. TJ LEAF
AARON HOLIDAY. C. 2 of 7 looks better as 2 of 4 from deep for 6 points, but his 7 assists were more impressive.. PG. Indiana Pacers
Please rest the starters, sir.<br />. Head Coach. Indiana Pacers. NATE MCMILLAN. D
Next. Indiana Pacers 15 greatest playoff moments. dark
The Pacers finish the regular season against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday at 8 p.m.