INDIANAPOLIS — After losing two straight the Indiana Pacers got back in the winning column to close out 2019 by beating the brakes off of the Philadelphia 76ers 115-97. It was never close as the Pacers jumped all over Philly who were without Joel Embiid.
The Blue and Gold moved the ball extremely well finishing with 35 total assists and seven players in double figures. The double-double machine himself Domantas Sabonis led Indiana with 23 points and 10 rebounds. TJ Warren had 21 while Myles Turner dropped off 14 points. Jeremy Lamb finished with a smooth 13.
The bench was nothing nice with Dough McDermott scoring 12 points while TJ McConnell had 11 and Justin Holiday finished with 10 points.
The 76ers jumped out of the ride on a 8-3 run to start the game. However, Indiana wasn’t about to get ran out of the gym on New Years Eve in front of their home crowd. They scored 5 answered points to knot it up at 8-8 on a set of TJ Warren free throws. Both teams got after it trading baskets for most of the first quarter.
Malcolm Brogdon left the game and went the locker room with a sore lower back and didn’t return. However, TJ Warren got going early scoring 10 of his 21 points in the first quarter. The Pacers were up 29-27 after the first period. They came out of the gate on fiyyahh shooting 53 percent from the field and a ridiculous 75 percent from behind the arc.
Indiana started the second quarter on a 9-0 run. Domantas Sabonis completely brought the house down with a monster dunk to put the Pacers up 38-29 with 8:53 left in the half. That dunk was NUTS!!!!!
Before I could bite into my hot dog good the Pacers had gone on a 15-2 run to go up 44-29. The home crowd was getting treated to some Indiana fireworks on New Years Eve as they began to run away with it.
The Pacers were bringing the noise as they completely ran Philly out of the gym to start the second quarter outscoring them 24-5 in the first 7 minutes and 18 seconds of the quarter. They were up 67-42 over Philly shooting darn near 60 percent from the field and 64 percent from behind the arc at the break.
Indiana came right out to start the second half doing much of the same thing they were doing in the first half. Beating the brakes off of the 76ers. Up next the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
