Indiana Pacers: Ending an up-and-down road trip on a high note
The Indiana Pacers polished off the San Antonio Spurs in impressive fashion on Sunday, proving they are more than just a middle-of-the-pack team.
To the casual fan, the Indiana Pacers‘ recent road trip looked about as middle-of-the-road as one could expect, complete with a win and a loss against bottom-feeder teams (the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively) and mixed success against talented and steady Western conference teams like the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz.
But the big takeaway from this trip came in Sunday night’s victory against the San Antonio Spurs.
Look: No team in the league has a stronger history of picking apart teams systematically than the Spurs. Only the Spurs could develop perhaps the best two-way player in the game in Kawhi Leonard, lose his services to a quad injury (with Leonard only seeing nine games of action this season), and still be sitting firmly at the fourth seed in the challenging Western Conference.
But alas, the Indiana Pacers did exactly what they needed to do, looked alive from the get-go and came out ready to pounce in the third quarter.
Even after being outscored 27-23 in the final quarter, the Pacers’ steady and thorough attack allowed them to outplay the Spurs, ultimately snagging a healthy 94-86 victory.
Even with Myles Turner still sidelined with an elbow injury, and even with surprisingly productive Domantas Sabonis doing very little in his extended minutes, the Indiana Pacers found a way to get it done, with Big Al Jefferson stepping up and chipping in nine points and seven rebounds.
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Now sitting comfortably at the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 25-22 record, it’s clear the Pacers have done all the right things to prove to the world the difference between a team struggling to stay just over .500 and a team that has earned that position. Best of all, they have the momentum to displace the streaky Washington Wizards or the oft-injured Miami Heat squads above them in the standings.
There is even more upside to be excited about as well.
For instance, even with the recent jelling of the Oklahoma City Thunder, they now have to be a bit sorry to have thrown in Domantas Sabonis in the Paul George deal. No one has a crystal ball, but it’s safe to say that Indiana brought the grit out of a guy like Sabonis.
With the resurgence of Thaddeus Young, the All-Star caliber play of Victor Oladipo, and the depth of quality role players like Cory Joseph, Lance Stephenson, Bogdan Bogdanovic and even journeyman Darren Collison, the Indiana Pacers are delivering a clear message to the league in 2018: Don’t sleep on us.
The Pacers may be the strongest team in the East that is not already labeled a “contender,” and they have the willpower to at least keep almost anybody honest.
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This has all the elements of a Cinderella story in the making, but the catalyst will be the return and steady play of Myles Turner.