INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers were rolling without Victor Oladipo to start the season and were 5-1 over the six games before he finally suited up. Since he’s rejoined the team they have suddenly gone 1-6 losing six straight including a loss on Monday night to the struggling Brooklyn Nets 106-105.
We knew that the chemistry would take a slight hit with trying to insert the franchise player back into the lineup but it really has the Pacers struggling right now.
They’ve been excellent at home this season with a record of 18-9 coming into Monday’s matchup. On the other hand, Brooklyn has been terrible on the road with a record of 8-16 before this game.
They beat the Pacers for the first time in three tries this season and this win gives them back-to-back wins at Indiana for the first time in seven seasons. That’s crazy. We all know that Oladipo has to work himself back into the rotation and he’s definitely the man but watching the team try to figure out how to play with him again has been tough to stomach.
It’s rare to see them lose six straight because they’ve played so well during the course of the season without him.
Brooklyn controlled the game for a solid three quarters. Indiana led at the 6:23 mark of the first quarter 17-15 and didn’t regain the lead until there was 51 seconds left in the third quarter on a Doug McDermott three-pointer to go up 77-76.
They looked as though they were going to dig out of the hole and win this one but Spencer Dinwiddie knocked down a go-ahead 21-footer with 5.2 seconds left to put the nail in the coffin. The Pacers final shot came up short and there it was. Another “L” as Nate McMillan and Co. tries to spin out of this hole they’ve found themselves in.
Domantas Sabonis led Indiana with a triple double. He finished the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists followed by TJ Warren’s 19. Myles Turner dropped off 15 and Doug McDermott had 13. Victor Oladipo finished with 12 points.
