TJ Warren (Indiana Pacers)
His jersey number speaks for itself. The unquestioned No. 1, T.J. Warren has been on a tear offensively for the Indiana Pacers the second their first game tipped off. The forward has been among the NBA’s most underrated for the entirety of his career, but his first three seeding games have the world talking.
With All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis out of the lineup, along with Malcolm Brogdon and Victor Oladipo hindered by injuries, Warren stepped up and led this team to a perfect 3-0 record. In those three games, the 26-year-old finished with 53, 34, and 32 points, totaling 119 total, matching Jermaine O’Neil’s franchise-best three-game scoring total set in 2005.
As it stands, TJ Warren is averaging 39.7 points per game, shooting 66.4 percent from the field, and connecting on an outstanding 57.2 percent from deep. Also averaging 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, the forward has put the team on his back, assuring everyone that the 5-seeded Indiana Pacers are not going down without a fight, injuries or not. Averaging 19.7 points per game on the season, Warren has always scored the ball at a high-level, he is just doing it on a much larger scale now.
If TJ Warren can continue this historical scoring outburst as the season progresses, the Pacers could be the team that nobody wants to face in a seven-game postseason series.