Small Pacers Take Care Of The Tankers

INDIANAPOLIS – Taking care of the tankers.

That was the goal for the Pacers (29-31) to close out this past week and they accomplished that by winning three straight, including a weekend back-to-back over the Pistons and Magic.

The Pacers got things started with a key second-half surge to pull away from the Pistons on Saturday in Indy, winning by a score of 115-109.

After getting outscored by 13 in the second period, Indiana was down 3 at half, but held the Pistons to just 48 second-half points.

JaKarr Sampson (who stands 6-7) got the start at center, although he logged just 21 minutes.

It was a switch to a zone defense in the second half that forced some perimeter looks that the Pistons (18-43) couldn’t connect on.

Malcolm Brogdon led the scoring for Indiana with 26 points. Caris LeVert had 25 points. Edmond Sumner tied a career-high with 22 points.

With a depleted frontcourt, Indiana overcame being outrebounded by 23 to sweep the three-game season series over the Pistons.

Moving to the road on Sunday, the Pacers produced their first double-digit win in a month.

Indiana had 7 guys in double figures, and surged ahead in the third quarter for the 131-112 victory over the Magic (18-42).

The Pacers shot 54.9 percent from the floor and 46.9 percent from behind the arc.

Leading by 5 at halftime, the Pacers turned this into a blowout by outscoring Orlando 41-20 after halftime.

The Pacers will take on the Trailblazers (Tuesday) and Nets (Thursday) at home this wee.

Three Things Learned

1. Surviving Without The Bigs: Imagine the odds you could have got at the start of the year stating the Pacers would start Oshae Brissett and JaKarr Sampson in the frontcourt for multiple games in a season. But that’s the state of the Pacers right now with Myles Turner (toe), Domantas Sabonis (back) and Goga Bitadze (ankle) all sidelined. The personnel issues have forced Indiana to pray on the glass and even use some more zone looks. Obviously, in such an awful frontcourt situation, the schedule has been very advantageous to them. Still, the wins were no lock given the ‘Plan D’ circumstance for Indiana up front. With the schedule toughening a bit the rest of the way, the Pacers won’t be able to survive much longer with such a banged up frontcourt.

2. Still In Play-In Position: With 12 games to go in the regular season, the Pacers are still in the 9^th spot of the Eastern Conference, 1 game behind Charlotte and 2 games ahead of a hot Washington team. If the season ended today, the Pacers would have a 1-game playoff to keep their season alive against Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook. This past week’s slate offered probably the easiest week of the season for Indiana. Down the stretch, they will play 9 of their final 11 games against teams in the playoff mix, but only 4 of those are on the road.

3. Another Down For Aaron Holiday: As one former draft pick at guard has emerged this season (Edmond Sumner), another continues to see his role shrink (Aaron Holiday). After playing just 3 minutes against the Pistons, Aaron Holiday was passed up on the depth chart against the Magic by both Kelan Martin and Cassius Stanley. Holiday played only 2 minutes on Sunday. Despite the Pacers struggling to create things off the dribble in the first half, Nate Bjorkgren kept the younger Holiday on the bench. It’s been a trying third season in the league for Holiday. Drafted to be the point guard of the future, Holiday has watched Indiana try a handful of other guys at that spot since he was selected in 2018. Holiday is under contract for next season, but it’s clear that Sumner is the young Pacers guard to ‘buy’ on right now.

Pacers Upcoming Schedule

-Trailblazers (Tuesday, 4/27 at 7:00 PM)

-Nets (Thursday, 4/29 at 7:00 PM)

-Thunder (Saturday, 5/1 at 8:00 PM)

-@Wizards (Monday, 5/3, at 7:00 PM)

-Kings (Wednesday, 5/5, at 8:00 PM)

Eastern Conference Playoff Picture

1. Nets (41-20, .672)

2. 76ers (39-21, .650)

3. Bucks (37-22, .627)

4. Knicks (34-27, .557)

5. Hawks (34-27, .557)