INDIANAPOLIS – You could see this one coming.
With the Pacers inactive list on Sunday night including 4 of their top 7 players, they suffered their worst defeat of the season against a streaking Clippers (10-4) team.
The loss marked a 2-2 western road trip for Indiana, one that will be remembered much more for the trade of Victor Oladipo and then the aftermath with Caris LeVert’s health.
Nate Bjorkgren’s team returns to Indiana (8-5) following a 129-96 loss to the Clippers on Sunday. The 33-point defeat is easily the biggest of the season, with the Pacers going to a full bench lineup for the final five minutes of the game, which is the first time they’ve thrown up the white flag this season.
Myles Turner injured his hand in Thursday’s win over Portland and his absence on Sunday was really felt.
Indiana had zero rim protection, which the Clippers exposed all night long. In trying to limit Kawhi Leonard (17 points on 8-of-13 shooting) and Paul George (20 points on 7-of-11 shooting) with some junk defenses, meant other Clippers got open looks. They often hit on those, with bench players Marcus Morris and Luke Kennard each scoring 20 points.
Despite attempting just 1 more three-pointer than Indiana, the Clippers outscored the Pacers by 24 points from behind the arc.
Doug McDermott got his second career start with Indiana and led the Pacers with 23 points.
After getting down 18 in the first half, the Pacers made a late second quarter run to cut the halftime deficit to just 6 points. But the Clippers made another run at the Pacers in the third and the rout was on from there.
Domantas Sabonis had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Malcolm Brogdon had 16 points (7-of-21 shooting) and 8 assists.
The Pacers will return to game action on Wednesday (vs. Mavericks) after spending a week out west.
Three Things Learned
1. Zero Rim Protection: Man, the Pacers really felt the absence of Myles Turner at the defensive rim. Turner hurt his right hand in Thursday’s win over Portland, and the Pacers won’t know how long his absence will be until further evaluation this week in Indiana. On Sunday, Turner had what appeared to be some sort of brace on his right hand. There might not be a bigger drop off on this team in what the rim protection looks like with Turner on the floor vs. him off the floor. Sunday was a reminder of that with the Clippers benefitting from so many uncontested looks at the rim.
2. Goga Makes Season Debut: With the Pacers pretty thin in numbers on Sunday, Goga Bitadze made his season debut. Bitadze, who battled an ankle injury in camp this year, played 16 minutes with the second unit, scoring 5 points (2-of-5 shooting) and grabbing 2 rebounds. In his second NBA season, we know Bitadze’s main strength being his touch and ability to stretch the floor. Development defensively and with his consistency offensively are musts for Bitadze to ever find a routine spot in the NBA
3. There’s Paul George: It’s pretty crazy how quickly the Pacers have turned things over since Paul George last played for them in 2017. With Myles Turner out on Sunday, the Pacers didn’t dress a single player who played with George, who is having a great start to his 11th NBA season. George had just 20 points (7-of-11 shooting) against his former team, with the Pacers actually doing a decent job at limiting the clean looks for him and Kawhi Leonard. Edmond Sumner once again had a major defensive assignment in guarding George, after the young guard had to defend Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard in the two previous games.
Pacers Upcoming Schedule
-Mavericks (Wednesday, 1-20, at 7:00 PM)
-Magic (Friday, 1-22, at 7:00 PM)
-Raptors (Sunday, 1-24, at 3:00 PM)
-Raptors (Monday, 1-25, at 7:00 PM)
-@Hornets (Wednesday, 1-27, at 7:00 PM)
