The Indiana Pacers are back! Although the quality of the player was somewhere between the Summer League and a preseason opener, it was still exciting to see the Pacers, in a modified home court environment, take the field and come out with a late victory over the Portland. Trail Blazers.
After a four-month layoff due to COVID-19, the NBA resumed play yesterday, kicking off the first round of three scrimmage games leading to the official restart of the regular season on July 31 (and August 1 for the Pacers). The Pacers played with the home team in this first scrimmage match against the Blazers; The Basketball P blinks throughout the game on a giant digital wall with the flavor of familiar racing sounds.
It is impossible to really analyze what this means by creating an advantage on the local court, but the NBA has done a good job of creating a valuable viewing experience for fans who will not attend while opening the doors for social distancing and allowing players chase balls out of bounds without fear of popcorn or beer spills.
However, the home court did not appear to play a factor in the late game, where both teams closed with their third string lineup. The Blazers reduced a double-digit deficit to three with 13 seconds remaining, losing a late three-tie attempt to allow the Pacers to wait for a 91-88 victory.
The Pacers were short big three tonight, with Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis and Goga Bitadze suffering from various ailments. That played a role as they fell 20-9 out of the gate, stumbling offensively despite seven quick points from TJ Warren. Justin Holiday and Aaron Holiday helped reduce the lead in the second quarter, and finally got ahead definitively in the third after three straight threesomes from Malcolm Brogdon.
For the game, Indiana shot just over 40%, but shot 39% from a three-point range, going 13-33 at night. The 33 attempts would be in the top 15 more than the Pacers have made this season, which could be a sign of an increased focus on shooting, but could easily be attributed to fatigue and complacency in a scrimmage game.
Victor Oladipo in particular enjoyed the deep three, hitting a pair in five attempts in his 19 minutes. He was not a major part of the offense, particularly in creation, spending most of the time on the offense behind the arc. Without Sabonis, however, there didn’t seem to be the same disposition for attacking and attacking, although with the beatings Warren and TJ McConnell took, it may not have been too pertinent in an exhibition setting. Then Oladipo said he was feeling pretty good on the court, which will be a determining factor in determining whether he plays in the regular season games in August.
With dismissal, as well as with unusual rotations, consistency was not a fruitful commodity in this game, although most players had a few note sections. J. Holiday was perhaps the most consistent of the Pacers, going in 4-6 shots from the depths to lead the team with 16 points. His game in the second quarter, along with Aaron’s, was instrumental in guiding the Pacers back from their first-quarter deficit.
R. Holiday, on the other hand, hit a pair himself, scoring 13 in 17 minutes. He mostly played off the ball with McConnell, struggling when he tried to be a game creator, but his final skills were spot on, coming in at least a few ingenious layouts.
Meanwhile, McConnell was fit mid-season in the first half, showing himself as a game creator, leading the team with six assists. As was the case for most everyone, one half didn’t really translate well to the other, committing their two turnovers after the break. Brogdon, like Oladipo, started slow, but went big in the third quarter to help the Pacers break their three consecutive triples, finishing double with 11.
Warren also had 11, scoring seven in the first quarter to help minimize Portland’s hot start damage. Defense was an early problem when the Pacers struggled to account for Portland’s greats, notably Jusuf Nurkic, who seemed to enjoy taking on JaKarr Sampson. Sampson (along with Alize Johnson and TJ Leaf) didn’t provide much resistance on defense, but managed to attack offensively by seven points and hit one in the proverbial stands late in the first half.
From the bench, Sumner had a good block of his own, but was a bit out of control at times beyond that, scoring four on the line. Leaf struggled to find something remarkable within offense and defense, but had a very good start on the glass, leading all players with 11 rebounds.
Doug McDermott finished with 10 points, one of the three recipients of McConnell’s first half of the game, but he saw his fourth-quarter shot literally fall short. In the closing minutes, Naz Mitrou-Long had some career with the Pacers for the first time since November, scoring a difficult postponement late when Portland attempted to close the gap on the scoreboard, but picked up a pair of dire fouls that led to four Blazers aiming. to the line.
This opening game was about “our boys going out and working to condition themselves,” which will possibly make the next two scrimmage games a little more traditional. On the other hand, both Oladipo and J. Holiday talked about how easy it was to hear the opposition’s call, creating an interesting wrinkle for the Indiana coaching staff, something McMillan noticed after the game.
From here, the Pacers will play the second of three scrimmage games on Sunday, against the Dallas Mavericks at 4 p.m. EST.
