Pacers Report Cards: Grading every Pacers player's Conference Finals performance
By Mueez Azfar
Doug McDermott
Stats: 4 Games, 9.5 MPG, 2.3 PPG, 0.7 RPG, 2.0 APG 0.7 BPG, 1 FPG 75/50 Splits on 87.5% TS
It's pretty safe to say that Doug McDermott does not deserve minutes on a playoff team. If his team-tanking six minutes in Game 1 of the Bucks series was anything to go by, he does not bring anything to the table defensively, nor does he provide anything on offense except for streaky shooting to warrant consistent rotation minutes. This made it all the more puzzling when McDermott got 12 minutes in Games 2 and 4, respectively, as well as four minutes in Game 3
However, McDermott wasn't downright awful in these games. In fact, in Game 3, he had one of the biggest plays of the game, as his putback at the end of the third quarter was crucial in keeping momentum with Indiana before the inevitable collapse in the fourth quarter. Additionally, McDermott hit a three in Game 4, connected with TJ McConnell on a beautiful give-and-go assist, and was a +5 all series, so he was surprisingly not as bad as he usually was.
Let's get one thing straight though, McDermott's 'good' outings were still not that great. He still was a liability on defense and didn't bring much to the table outside of shooting. A 'decent' performance in three playoff games, all of them being losses, will not be enough to bring McDermott back to Indiana after this season, and he would not have a spot in the rotation either way. Best of luck, you tried your best, but it simply wasn't good enough.