INDIANAPOLIS — After playing only five minutes Victor Oladipo got pushed and goes into the crowd under the goal. He was already a game time decision before the game. That literally pushed him over the top and he did not return. Therefore, it was the next man up thought process for the Pacers. Well playas…several cats stepped up including Bojan Bogdanovic as he led them with 22 point as well as the rookie Aaron Holiday that dropped off 12 as the Pacers regrouped to beat the Atlanta Hawks 97-89.
The Atlanta Hawks showed up with a dismal 3-12 record but they jumped out of the ride ready to scrap. They hustled during the opening quarter to keep it close and with 2:11 it was all knotted up at 20 apiece. What’s so crazy is that the Pacers were shooting 66 percent from behind the arc and 46 percent from the field at the time. The Hawks were struggling in the high 30 percent range but remained competitive.
Also at that point they announced that Victor Oladipo would NOT return because of a sore left knee at the 2:11 mark of the first quarter. He literally only played five minutes in a ball game that he was questionable for in the first place. At the end of one the Pacers led 25-24.
Once Oladipo went out of the game the Hawks seemed to get life and turned up the heat on the Pacers. At one point mid-way through the second quarter Atlanta was up 10 points!!! At the 5:40 mark they were up 43-33!!! Nate McMillan called a timeout to look a boy in the eyes because it was ridiculous that they were still trying to separate from them. It was the Hawks not Boston or somebody like that!
By the 3:50 mark the Pacers had gone on 9-0 run to close the gap to 43-42 as Lloyd Pierce called a timeout to holler at his Hawks. It didn’t make a difference because at that point the Pacers had, like the old school coaches used to say, their dandruff up and they went on a 4-1 run out of that timeout which forced Pierce called another one.
Then Atlanta came out of that timeout with their heads on straight and went on a 12-0 run to close out the half to go up 56-47. Did I mention that the Hawks were 3-12 coming into this game? Just checking.
The foolishness continued as they came out of the break as the Hawks went on a 6-0 run. Mid-way through the third quarter the Pacers looked up and were down 14 points. Nate McMillan finally called on the young rookie, Aaron Holiday, down the stretch. Ole boy scored 9 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter as the Pacers went on a 24-6 run to close the Hawks out.
With the victory Nate picks up his 100th win as the Pacers head coach. In addition to Bojan Bogdanovic and Aaron Holiday’s contributions, Darren Collison dropped off 12 points as Thaddeus Young and Tyreke Evans both had 11 points apiece.
Even though Bogdanovic led the team in points Aaron Holiday gave the team life with being able to come off of the bench and play well in the fourth quarter. Without his efforts they don’t win that ball game. Up next the Utah Jazz on Monday. Stop me when I start lyin’!