The Pacers have COMPLETELY overachieved so far and it’s been fun to watch! “No Expectations”

Victor Oladipo puts up 25 points in Pacers win over the Brooklyn Nets 108-103 in last game before the All-Star Break. Photo: NBA.com

You’ve got to give the Indiana Pacers TALL props for essentially ballin’ out this first half of the season. After knockin’ off the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night 108-103 they roll into the All-star Break with a record of 33-25 and sittin’ just a half game out of fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

When chaos erupted last summer with Paul George finally bein’ straight up and tellin’ the media, organization and fan base that he wasn’t goin’ to stick around after the 2018 season. Kevin Pritchard traded him to OKC for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! It looked like a train wreck of a deal and NOBODY thought that they would be worth two dead flies smashed this season. I gave them 25 games total this year. Boy was I wrong.

Oladipo has played so well that he’s an All-Star this weekend in LA on LeBron’s team. He’s become the franchise player over night and it’s strong. When the team reported to camp there were 8 or 9 new faces on the roster and Nate McMillan was talkin’ about buildin’ around Myles Turner, who had just been named a captain.

My first thought to that was, “No disrespect to Myles but you can’t build the team around him. A) He’s too young B) He’s not an Alpha Male and C) It’s 2017-2018 and nobody’s buildin’ a team around a big that’s not a dominant player. He’s good but not dominant. He’s not Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Greek Freak or anything like that. So that’s not goin’ to work.

Oladipo wasted no time assertin’ himself as the team leader by ballin’ out from the word go. He’s averagin’ 24 points, 4 assists and 5 rebounds per game this season. And don’t forget about Sabonis in this trade. He’s averagin’ 12 points and 8 rebounds per game. Between the two of them that’s 36 points and 13 rebounds per game!! That’s NUTS!!!

To be sittin’ a half game out of fourth place at the All-Star Break is fantastic considerin’ nobody and their baby’s momma gave them a shot to even be competin’. Now they’ve got to take advantage of this much needed break to recharge their batteries because it’s a long season. With 24 games left in the regular season it’s critical that they don’t start feelin’ themselves and let the wheels fall off.

I just wrote a crazy Hot Joint last week entitled “Holdin’ It Down” about how Nate McMillan is doin’ a helluva job coachin’ this team this year. It’s been fun to watch so far. Why? Because there were No Expectations outside of the Pacers organization for them to be this good. Now lets enjoy this All-Star Break and stop me when I start lyin’!

Playas Thesaurus: 

 

The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”

The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!