When the Indiana Pacers reported to trainin’ camp back in September Victor Oladipo told me that he was goin’ to be playin’ with a brick house on his shoulders all season because he and his teammates had somethin’ to prove. He said that they’re goal was to make the playoffs and nobody heard him. I can remember him sayin’ it and just throwin’ it by the wayside.
With 9 new faces on the roster and boyz tryin’ to figure out what they were goin’ to be there was really no reason for folks outside of that locker room to believe they would be worth two dead flies smashed. Nate McMillan and Co. were talkin’ about buildin’ the team around Myles Turner at the time, which made no sense to me, because ole boy was a good player but he wasn’t a franchise-type player.
Well playas…ole Vic didn’t waste any time assertin’ himself as the MAN by puttin’ the Pacers on his back and ridin’ out. So as we fast forward past the 48 wins this regular season, the No.5 seed in the East and the Game 7 loss by only 4 points to potentially the best player to EVER play this game on Sunday. Oladipo had this to say after the ball game, “If y’all don’t respect the Indiana Pacers now, I have no respect for you. That’s just how I feel. Nobody thought we were going to be here… not one person…but us in the locker room. I feel like we’ve earned our respect from everyone now.”
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! What he said was the realest thing uttered in sports on Sunday. You’ve got to respect the Indiana Pacers right now and if you don’t you’re a sucka. I didn’t think that they would win 25 games this season not because I was hatin’ but because they had no proven scorers and they had 9 new faces on the roster with boyz talkin’ about makin’ Myles the focal point. What!!!?
They had just traded Paul George for Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. What did that mean bruh? Nothin’ to the playas in the barber shop and nothin’ to the duns (me) that have been coverin’ the Pacers for eight years.
Sure, Oladipo balled out at Indiana University just down the road but he’d essentially done nothin’ up to this point in the NBA. Who was Sabonis? However, when the season started they both were ballin’. Between the two of them they averaged 34 points per game and 12 rebounds which blew away what PG brought to the table alone. Therefore, the Pacers won the trade and Oladipo was a natural born leader that nobody expected in year one with the Pacers.
So back to Vic’s original statement of “playin’ with a brick house on his shoulder.” Indiana did just that and proved us all wrong. You’ve gotta give him tall respect for sayin’ it and livin’ it all season. Salute my brothers for goin’ out and handlin’ your business in 2017-18.
And will somebody please tell me why Nate McMillan wasn’t in the conversation for Coach of the Year? Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific. .
2) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
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!”