Bench Will Be X-Factor Against Boston Celtics In Rest of Series

In order for the Indiana Pacers to succeed in the series, the bench will need to improve their play.

In the offseason, the Indiana Pacers acquired Tyreke Evans and Doug McDermott to add much-needed depth to the bench. The hope was that adding depth to an already talented squad around the team’s star, Victor Oladipo.

That strategy is a sunk cost. Since Indiana does not have a star to rely on anymore, the performance of the bench is no longer a tale of a supporting cast and could very well determine the rest of the series.

Stopping the Celtics’ bench will be crucial to bouncing back in this series because in every game Indiana has played Boston this season, someone on the Celtics bench has stepped up immensely.

For example, in game one Marcus Morris dropped 20 points. In the most recent regular-season meeting between the two teams, Gordan Hayward came off the bench and scored 21 points; going a perfect nine for nine from the field. In Indiana’s 114-112 loss in March, it was Jaylen Brown who had 16 points along with Hayward’s 11.

Earlier in the season, in Indiana’s 135-108 loss to Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 22 points and three other players scored in double figures off the bench. The pattern persists across months.

With Marcus Smart injured due to a torn oblique, Jaylen Brown has slotted into a starting role with the Cs. That should benefit Indiana via ripple effects. Brown in the starting 5 means Boston’s bench is weaker, and the threat of Boston’s bench is reduced, assuming Morris does not keep playing at this rate.

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On the offensive end, Domantas Sabonis is going to need to step up in a much bigger way than he has in the regular season. He is the Pacers third best player in regard to scoring averaging at 14.1 points per game. He’s also the Pacers best rebounder averaging 9.3 per game. In Game 1, Sabonis had just seven points and struggled a ton when sharing the hardwood with Myles Turner.

Indiana has struggled on the offensive end this season at times and with Boston being a top 10 defense in the league, it will be extremely important for Sabonis to score in the paint for the rest of this series. He can’t go 3/9 from the field again.

Another area where Boston has Indiana beat is in rebounding, where Boston averages 2.2 more rebounds than Indiana in their four matchups against each other in the regular season. While that is not a  huge difference, Indiana was outrebounded in Game 1 55-42. If Indiana can get on the glass more than Boston going forward, it could be a deciding factor in the series.

With Sabonis as Indiana’s top rebounder, he will have to be the catalyst to make that happen. And while nine rebounds are not bad by any stretch, he needs to carry the load, especially with the rest of the bench on the floor. Horford cannot beat him to the boards again.

Another area of concern for Indiana this season has been Evans, who was brought in to be a scorer off of the bench and he has been a disappointment in that category. The disappointing production continued in game one, with him scoring just eight points on 11 shots. If Evans and Sabonis can be successful in the two-man game, it could disrupt Boston’s defense and really pack a punch.

Evans averages 10.2 points per game off of the bench and shoots 38.9 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from three. If he can raise those numbers even a little bit, it will provide a much-needed spark for Indiana’s bench. As we saw in the first quarter, when he’s hitting shots the offense looks incredible.

In the last two Indiana losses to Boston in the regular season, Evans had games of 12 and seven points while Sabonis has games of 11 and 12 points. In the lone Pacers’ win against the Celtics, Evans had 17 and Sabonis had 12. You do the math.

Cory Joseph was in a massive shooting slump to close the season, scoring just two and seven points in the last two meetings against Boston. Luckily, he was able to break out of the slump in Game 1, shooting 55 percent from the field with 14 points. With him making shots, it opens the floor a ton for Sabonis, McDermott (who has been somewhat of a nonfactor for Indiana this season), and TJ Leaf. The problem was, nobody was making their open opportunities.

McDermott shot just one of seven and Leaf missed all of his shots. They are on the fringes of the rotation, but they have to be better.

The starting lineup of the Indiana Pacers is simply not as talented as the Boston Celtics which is why the bench will need to step up in a big way in order to get back in this series. In Game 1, that did not happen.

Joseph needs to keep doing a good job of defending and facilitating, Evans will need to be smart with his passes and be more consistent in the paint, Sabonis will need to be a bruiser down low and rebound at a high level, and finally, it would be an extra bonus if McDermott could find his jumper this series.

Overall, just making shots could be the difference. But the Indiana Pacers bench is an X-Factor, and it has to be better.