Listen Live

That was not ideal.

Actually, that was pretty ugly.

The Indiana Pacers got 20-pieced by the Portland Trail Blazers at home and are now seven games under .500 inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

With Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, and Goga Bitadze all out of the lineup, it became a long night for Nate Bjorkgren’s team on the glass. That turned into one of the best shooting nights Portland has seen all season.

When the Blazers are hot from beyond the arc, that usually means it’s Dame Time. But quite the contrary.

Damian Lillard dropped 23 points and went 4-of-8 from three-point land, but Tuesday night especially belonged to Anfernee Simons.

The 2021 Slam Dunk Contest champ is known for his hops. But man, he was lethal from three.

So lethal that he went 9/10 from deep. No, that’s not from the free throw line; On three’s.

Simons picked up 27 points. And even former Pacer T.J. Leaf got in on the action. Since being traded and ultimately waived, Leaf had signed with Portland and scored his first points in a Blazers uniform tonight.

The scorching scoring for Portland all stemmed from their 20 OFFENSIVE rebounds.

“We’ll go back and look at all the offensive rebounds,” Bjorkgren said. “Some were just that we were oversized. But we have to do a better job of contesting out there. The glass really got away from us.”

No Sabonis, Turner, and Bitadze really hurts.

On a positive spin, Oshae Brissett continues to thrive playing in blue and gold. He saw 40 minutes of action and scooped up an 18 point and 10 rebound double-double.

Things down low won’t get easier when the Brooklyn Nets come to town on Thursday night at 7 PM. Why exactly? Kevin Durant is back for Brooklyn.

Thursday has the potential to be a really good day for Indianapolis sports fans.

  1. The Pacers can earn a huge win and play spoiler for Brooklyn.
  2. It’s NFL Draft night.
  3. Please let the good karma be on our side 🙏

Leave a Reply