INDIANAPOLIS – It goes down as a rather important ‘L’ in the win/loss column.
But Tuesday’s result for the Pacers did include a major positive as this team begins the playoffs in just over a month.
Indiana (39-26) erased a 19-point deficit on Tuesday night but couldn’t finish off the Boston Celtics (43-21), falling 116-111 in their first home game of March.
The inability to close it out will sting, but the reality is also that Tuesday was the best Victor Oladipo we’ve seen this season.
Oladipo scored 27 points, all in the second and fourth quarters, connecting on 9-of-16 shots and an impressive 5-of-7 from long distance.
Without Oladipo, the Pacers wouldn’t have flipped this game around. But even Oladipo deserved some blame in the late-game execution department.
A forced three from Oladipo, with the clock under two minutes and the Pacers leading by three, started Boston making sure this game didn’t get away.
The Celtics answered with three straight made field goals as the Pacers failed to execute on the other end.
Poor defense for the first three quarters was why Indiana needed a huge comeback late.
Boston was led by 30 points from Jayson Tatum and 27 points from Indianapolis native Gordon Hayward. Indiana University product Romeo Langford was 0-for-4 in 10 minutes off the bench.
Indiana and Boston are now tied 1-1 in the season series. The season finale will occur on April 8th in Boston.
Three Things Learned
-All-NBA Victor: Tuesday night was easily the best we’ve seen Victor Oladipo look since his return. Oladipo was 9-of-16 for 27 points, knocking down 5-of-7 from behind the arc. It was the first time he’s cracked the 20-point mark since coming back. Outside of one unnecessary heat check in the final 90 seconds, Oladipo’s outside touch was terrific. After the game, Oladipo mentioned that he thinks he has ‘created a new (shooting) range’ in his comeback. The jumper has struggled though since his return. But he looked like a different player on Tuesday. It was an All-NBA type of performance that this team will desperately need if they are to win a series come April.
-Defending The Celtics Is Quite The Challenge: We saw it last year in the playoffs and it’s still true some 11 months later—defending the Celtics is no easy task for the Pacers. The smaller lineup from the Celtics with Gordon Hayward at the ‘4’ spot is still causing the Pacers fits. Yes, the Pacers outscored the Celtics by 24 points in the paint, but it was still not enough with Boston slicing and dicing Indiana for more than 90 points through the first three quarters. The Pacers actually used some zone in the second half and that’s something they will likely need to turn to for the final meeting next month, and possibly again in the playoffs. Boston has way too much quickness and talent in the backcourt, and on the wing, to defend them consistently on the ball.
-Evaluation Time For Holiday, Sumner: With Malcolm Brogdon not fully committing to returning before the end of the regular season, there’s a good chance he misses a chunk of the final 17 games this season. That means terrific (and needed) opportunities for youngsters Aaron Holiday (who is starting for Brogdon) and Edmond Sumner (who has seen his role really expand without Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb). It’s an unfortunate situation, and doesn’t make the Pacers anywhere near better, but one small pro of this situation is the organization gets an extended look at consistent roles for two young draft picks. Personally, I’ve always thought this season should be viewed with one looking towards the future. That means seeing if there’s anything of note there with guys like Holiday and Sumner. Do you have something? Is there a rotational/starting role for one, or both, of them, moving forward? Is it time to move on? Perhaps the next couple of weeks will offer more of an answer on that.
Pacers Upcoming Schedule
-at 76ers 3/14 (Saturday)
-Warriors 3/18 (Wednesday)
-Heat 3/20 (Friday)
-Cavaliers 3/21 (Saturday)
-Suns 3/23 (Monday)
