INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers are quickly figuring out that they are a complete team even without the services of Victor Oladipo. On Sunday night they sprinted through the Charlotte Hornets 107-85 led by Aaron Holiday’s 23 points off of the bench in which he scored 12 of them in the fourth quarter. That was his second-highest scoring total of the season.
The team chemistry is NUTS right now and it shows! They finished the night with 30 assists as they were finding each other on the floor with no problem.
Both Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis finished with a double-double. Turner finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Sabonis dropped off 12 points 12 rebounds.
TJ McConnell came off of the bench with a solid 12 points as well. The Pacers bench combined for 55 points including 31 of the team’s 35 in the fourth.
The Hornets and Pacers traded punches getting out of the ride and then Indiana went on a 13-0 run to go up 23-11. Charlotte couldn’t seem to buy a bucket nor get an offensive round as the Pacers gained crazy confidence down the stretch of the first quarter.
Aaron and Justin Holiday came off of the bench picking up where they’ve been leaving off, shooting the lights out of the gym. At that point the Pacers had gone on a 21-5 run to go up 33-20 at the 1:06 mark of the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter the Blue and Gold were up 33-8 shooting 60 percent from both the field behind the arc.
In the second quarter Indiana extended it’s lead with it’s second unit led by Aaron Holiday’s 11 first half points going up 43-28 at the 6:49 mark. Ole boy was getting to the rack with ease and shooting the rock like he had a scope on it.
Nate McMillan re-inserted his starters and for the next 4 minutes Charlotte went on a 12-7 run to close the gap 50-40 with 2:10 left in half. However, with the shooting of Malcolm Brogdon down the stretch, Indiana went into the break up 59-44.
Charlotte came out of the break and went on a 17-9 run to get back to within 7 points down 68-61 with 2:30 left in the third quarter. After going on a 22-11 run in the third quarter the Hornets got to within 6 points of the Pacers to start the fourth period only down 72-66 led by Cody Zeller’s 18 points through three quarters.
Indiana finally woke up and went on a 9-4 run to open the fourth period playing with more confidence than they did in the third quarter. Indiana stretched it to a 16-6 run to go up 88-72 with 6:34 left. By the time the smoke cleared they had outscored Charlotte 35-19 in the fourth to win their 18th game of the season.
They have now won at least three games in a row for the fourth time this season. Up next one of the best team’s in the league, the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
