Pacers should rest after losing to Boston
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers want to be respected nationally, but they have a funny way of showing it when they play on National TV. With home-court advantage on the line, the Boston Celtics dominated the Pacers by a final score of 117-97 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The Pacers held Boston to 26% from the 3-point line, but it didn’t matter. The Celtics dominated in transition, and the Pacers couldn’t get anything going offensively all night.
“They were stronger,” said Head Coach Nate McMillan. “They were more physical. They pretty much dominated the game. They made us work. We’re going to have to be better. We couldn’t defend them after that (first quarter). We still have some problems defending in transition. In all four games they’re averaging 26 or 27 points in transition. We’ve got to address that.”
The logical thing to do at this point is to rest over the final two regular season games. I would give every key player at least one of the two games completely off- and would let the banged up players rest for both.
McMillan said he would address this with his staff over the next few days, and didn’t rule anything out.
As for the playoffs, the Pacers will once again be staring down a No. 5-seed underdog situation. I don’t think this loss means anything for the upcoming series against Boston. Myles Turner agreed:
“We’re going to figure it out,” Turner said. “Game 1 is going to be a lot different than this game. It has to be.”
Getting Darren Collison back will help. Some rest over the next week would also help, if that’s the route they take. No matter what happens, the Pacers will have their work cut out for them when they face Boston in the 1st round.
