Last season for the Pacers was the season of Victor Oladipo. With the emergence, Oladipo became a reliance offensively for him to bare the weight. The Pacers were 0-7 without him last season, but Monday night proved they could play well without him in a 121-94 victory over the Jazz.
The Myles Turner of old seemed to creep out on Monday night for the first time all season for the Pacers. Turner’s confidence seemed apparent from the opening tip that he was out to make a statement. After hitting the first shot of the game, Turner had 6 first quarter points that helped the Indiana get out to a blazing 32-19 lead. He finished with 12 points and 6 rebounds.
The Pacer victory wasn’t a one-man show with Turner’s fellow bigs Domantas Sabonas and Bojan Bogdanovic assisted in carrying the offensive load. Bogdanovic was the Pacers leading scorer for the night with 21 points and three 3-pointers made.
Sabonas on the other hand, messed around and almost had a triple-double with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists off the bench. He quickly asserted himself on the defensive end slowing Rudy Gorbert down while also establishing a nice pick and roll combo with rookie bench mate Aaron Holiday.
“He’s a player” said Sabonas. “I tell him just be confident and I’ll get you open and I’ll get you the ball
The aforementioned Holliday saw his first big minutes Saturday when Oladipo left the game due to injury and scored 9 key fourth quarter points in a win over the Hawks. He continued the momentum Monday with 13 points and 7 rebounds. With his effort off the bench, Coach Nate McMillan is already planning on getting him minutes when Oladipo returns.
“I think that kid has earned the right to be out on the floor and he’s waited, he’s been patient. I’ve talked about how tough it is to play a 10-man rotation, but we may have to look at that, look at a way to get him out on the floor. He’s doing some really good things for us. I love the energy; I love the intensity he brings to the floor” said McMillan.
The Pacers held Donovan Mitchell, Utah’s leading scorer entering Monday at 21.7 points per game, to a season-low seven points on 3-of-8 shooting. It was the first game Mitchell failed to score in double figures since Feb. 7 of last season.
Mitchell was a non-factor all game stuggling to get a flow of the game and the Jazz tried to feed a hot Ricky Rubio who had 28 points on the night with 5 made threes.
“They came out ready with energy. We started with energy, but they had more. They came out and blew stuff up. I had two turnovers early, just from being loose with it. That set the tone” Said Mitchell.
The 11-6 Pacers head to Charlotte to take on a hot Kemba Walker and the Hornets on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 7:00 PM ET. Before returning home Friday night against the San Antonio Spurs.