ATLANTA — The Indiana Pacers (17-9) jumped out of the Big Body Chevy in the “A” on Friday night and took the lunch money, sneakers and book bags of the struggling Atlanta Hawks (6-20) 110-100.
The Pacers are now 5-2 this month and 17-9 overall without their superstar Victor Oladipo. Both Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis have been consistently leading the charge for the Blue Gold in his absence. It’s going to be NUTS when Oladipo returns.
Brogdon finished the night with 19 points and 12 assists as Sabonis dropped off his usual double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. He came into the game ranked second in the NBA in double-doubles and with this game he’s hit the mark 11 straight times and 21 overall. That’s NUTS!!!
All five Pacers starters finished in double figures as TJ Warren dropped off 18 and both Myles Turner and Jeremy Lamb contributed 11 each. Doug McDermott and Aaron Holiday both came off of the bench with double figures as well. They had 16 and 13 points respectively.
After barely getting past the Hawks back on November 29 in a 105-104 win at home as Tre’ Young put up 49 on a boy, they put the clamps on him in Atlanta on Friday night. Indiana held him to just 23 points as he missed 21 of 30 shots. Both Brogdon and Aaron Holiday did work on him.
After the game Brogdon has this to say about their defensive performance on Young, “It’s a good parallel, me and Aaron. I’m a big guard. I can provide the length and bother him with my size. He’s a smaller guard who get into him and stay in front of him. He can really harass him.”
In my Ice Cube voice, “Today was a good day” for the Indiana Pacers as they got past a team that they were supposed to get by. Up next: Indiana hosts three in a row starting with Charlotte on Sunday, the Lakers on Tuesday and Sacramento on Friday. Holla At Ya Boy!
