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INDIANAPOLIS – Back in the friendly confines of Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Indiana Pacers handled their business from the start on Tuesday night.
One of the best first quarters of the season carried the Pacers to a 34-point win over the Phoenix Suns.
The 131-97 victory for the Pacers (29-14) was their second largest margin of the season.
“I thought we established ourselves right from the start defensively,” McMillan said of forcing 10 turnovers in the first quarter on Tuesday, leading to a 38-19 lead at the end of the first.
“Offensively, we had really good movement, moving the ball. We were really active defensively, forcing turnovers and scoring.”
The Pacers ended the night with their second most points of the season as they tied their season-high with 27 fast break points.
On the defensive end of the floor, with Myles Turner back, Indiana was terrific against one of league’s top scorers. The Pacers did a very nice job against Phoenix leading scorer Devin Booker, who was held to just 8 points, a rare quiet night for the All-Star guard who averages 24.8 points per game this season.
After missing the previous 4 games, Turner returned on Tuesday and finished with 18 points and 6 rebounds.
“He’s been off and the last game he played was the first game he played with his mask (for a broken nose) and you could tell that he was a little bit uncomfortable,” McMillan said of his center battling through a broken nose, before the shoulder injury.
“I thought tonight he looked a little more comfortable out there playing with that.”
Indiana is now 17-1 on the season when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor.
Tuesday marked the first of five straight home games for the Pacers, after they just returned from a five-game road trip.
Three Pacers’ Takeaways:
–Myles Turner Strong In His Return: It took a little bit of time on Tuesday night, but Myles Turner looked just fine in his return from a 4-game absence due to a sore right shoulder. Turner finished the night with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Once the early rust was knocked off by Turner, he even stretched his offensive skill out to three-point line, with no hesitation in long distance shooting in his first game back from the right shoulder issue. The Pacers struggled mightily on the defensive floor with Turner out, so his presence helped shore up that end of the floor. Even with Turner back, McMillan stuck with a 10-man rotation in the first half, although T.J. Leaf played just 5 meaningful minutes in the first two quarters.
–Starters Set The Tone: That isn’t a phrase we’ve echoed too, too much this season. On several occasions this year, the Pacers have had to rely on their bench to dig them out of an early hole. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday night. The starting unit helped the Pacers tie a season-high with 38 first-quarter points, as Indiana took a 19-point lead after the one period. The Suns trimmed that deficit early in the second quarter before Indiana’s starters re-entered and control was re-gained by the starting group. And the starters did it with Victor Oladipo having a difficult night from the field. While the other 4 starters were in double figures by the end of the third quarters, Oladipo finished the night with just 8 points on 2-of-11 shooting. The bench did end the night with three guys in double figures (Tyreke Evans-20 points, Domantas Sabonis-14 points, Cory Joseph-10 points), with the starters getting the 4th quarter off.
–Bojan’s Variety: It was Bogdanovic getting the Pacers started on Tuesday night, as he scored the team’s first 10 points. Like always, the Pacers’ first offensive possession eventually led to a high-percentage basket from Bogdanovic. In watching him more and more over the past two years, you see the variety in the way Bogey can score the basketball. His strength is as a shooter, but Bogdanovic also moves very well without the ball and is effective when he needs to put the ball on the floor for a dribble or two to create a better look. Bogey finished the night with a team-high 20 points as he continues the best season of his career.
Pacers Upcoming Schedule
-76ers (Thursday, 1/17)
-Mavericks (Saturday, 1/19)
-Hornets (Sunday, 1/20)
-Raptors (Wednesday, 1/23)
-@Grizzlies (Saturday, 1/26)
