INDIANAPOLIS — Everybody, their Uncle LeRoy and cousin Man-Man were freakin’ out when the Indiana Pacers loss their first three games of the season. The sky was falling like Chicken Little as folks were literally in a panic. Victor Oladipo wasn’t going to be back any time soon and what were the seven new faces in the Blue and Gold going to do?
Well playas…since that slow start the Pacers have won 11 of 14 games including a 121-102 blasting of the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. That’s makes four straight wins for Nate McMillan’s crew. I can safely say that nobody’s freakin’ out any more.
They’ve got fire power without Oladipo on the floor and when he gets back it’s going to be NUTS!!! Both TJ Warren and Domantas Sabonis finished with 23 points each. Sabonis dropped off his consistent double-double for the night by adding an additional 12 rebounds to the pot. That was his 12th double-double of the season!!!
Malcolm Brogdon had 22 points while Jeremy Lamb had 18 for good measure. TJ McConnell came off of the bench with 12 on his way to Big Momma’s house for some of her sweet potato pie. Catch that one on the way home playa.
Not only did they play some sick offense but they were just as good on defense holding the Jazz to only 43 percent shooting from the field and a mere 31 percent from behind the arc.
Bojan Bogdonovic made his first return to Indiana since leaving in free agency last summer and he dropped 30 on a boy but it wasn’t enough to keep them from getting blasted. His homie Donovan Mitchell dropped off 26 in the loss.
Indiana moved the ball extremely well finishing with 23 assists which made the engine purr even more. Nate McMillan had this to say after the game. “When you have a number of guys who can score and they’re offensive-minded, what you have to get is that team to sacrifice. These guys are sacrificing right now.”
Yessir!!! It’s getting to be more fun watching them play every day. Up next: Pacers host Atlanta on Friday night.
