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INDIANAPOLISA fearless bat inside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse was about the only thing that could disrupt the Pacers’ rhythm on Thursday night.

 

Another big offensive night against a Los Angeles team led to the Pacers (36-19) beating an undermanned Clippers team, 116-92.

 

“Offensively, we got good ball movement and guys are knocking down shots,” Nate McMillan said after the Pacers once again cruised to 100 points.

 

“We found our rhythm.”

 

Bojan Bogdanovic continued his scoring lead without Victor Oladipo. Bogey had 29 points (12-of-19 from the floor) and led a very efficient night for the Pacers’ starting frontcourt.

 

“He’s certainly a main option for us,” McMillan said of Bogey being the new top scoring threat. “He’s been that all season long. He’s being aggressive and we’re going to need him to continue to play and create opportunities for us.

 

“But it’s been a team effort. Guys are moving the ball and looking for each other and when you’re playing like that, you’re going to be able to score.”

 

Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner combined to go 25-of-36 from the floor against the undermanned and vertically challenged Clippers. Indiana finished Thursday with a season-high 12 blocks and controlled the glass and paint all night.

 

The Clippers came out hot on Thursday, hitting their first 11 shots of the game.

 

They hung around for a quarter and a half, before a 13-0 Pacers run gave Indiana a double-digit lead that would only grow.

 

A 71-point first half for the Pacers was its highest of the season.

 

The Pacers took full advantage of a Clippers team that had at least one G-League player on the floor all night long.

 

Los Angeles looked lost on both ends of the floor on a night when head coach Doc Rivers joked with the media that he was having open tryouts for his team after the trade deadline chaos had the Clips dressing just 10 guys.

 

The Pacers have now won 4 straight games since dropping 4 straight immediately following the season-ending injury to Victor Oladipo.

 

Three Pacers’ Takeaways:

LA Demolition: Home meetings with the NBA teams from Los Angeles were very good to the Pacers this week. They were especially kind to a team needing to see the ball go into the basket after an offensive funk in the post Victor Oladipo-injury stage of the season. Despite the Clippers hitting their first 11 shots of the game on Thursday, the Pacers actually held a five-point lead after the opening quarter thanks to shooting nearly 70 percent. The Clippers were really undermanned on Thursday and looked very disconnected, with only 10 guys dressing after tons of trade deadline action. But the Pacers still deserve credit for another efficient night on the offensive end of the floor. Coming into this homestand, the Pacers needed some confidence, particularly on the offense and they couldn’t have asked for more out of their two games against the Lakers and Clippers. After scoring 136 points and shooting 57 percent against the Lakers, Indiana followed that up with 116 points and 56 percent shooting against the Clips.

Myles Turner Deserves All-NBA First-Team Consideration: We need to be giving more attention to defensive season that Myles Turner is having in 2018-19. He leads the NBA in blocks per game (2.7) and is a massive reason why the Pacers have been routinely among the league’s best defensive units this season. Turner has such a great knack of timing his jumps and being equally as alert whether he’s on or off the ball. The block party was in full effect on Thursday. Not only did Turner have 6 blocks against the Clippers, but he also had 4 steals. He stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points (on 7-of-8 shooting), 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 6 blocks. After early-season struggles, more so offensively, Turner has proven he is worth the type of contract he signed before the start of the year.

Schedule Gods Deliver: The Pacers could not have fallen into a better slate of games surrounding the trade deadline. On Monday, they had the dysfunctional Pelicans, who were missing 5 of their top 6 scorers. The soap opera Lakers arrived on Tuesday and chants rained down on the internal issues between the Lakers trying to trade for Anthony Davis. On Thursday, the Clippers dressed 10 guys after making a handful of trades over the previous 24 hours, as Doc Rivers joked before the game that he was having open tryouts with the media. And on Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers come to Indianapolis with one of the sadder rosters in the NBA, along with trading away two of their top six scorers. That’s a beautiful gift the Pacers have received, and need to continue to take advantage of as they head into next week’s All-Star break.

 

Pacers Upcoming Schedule

-Cavaliers (Saturday, 2/9)

-Hornets (Monday, 2/11)

-Bucks (Wednesday, 2/13)

-All-Star Break

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