Golden: Things I liked and didn’t like from the past week
By ALEX GOLDEN
ISL Contributor
In this week’s column, we will look at games from the past eight days. The Indiana Pacers faced Brooklyn (FRI), Toronto (SAT), San Antonio (MON), New York (WED) and Portland (FRI). With a underwhelming 3-7 start, it’s hard to love anything about this team right now, but there are still a few things to like…and well…dislike. Let’s jump into it.
Things I Liked
The Balance of the Roster: The Pacers have shown throughout the last week how their balance is one of their biggest strengths. From Torrey Craig’s career night in Brooklyn, to Myles Turner’s career shooting night against the Knicks, you love what you’re seeing from this depth. TJ McConnell has played his tail off when called upon to start, and Goga Bitadze has been impactful in his spot minutes. With this roster inching towards full health, this balance will be beneficial.
Rick Carlisle: Since opening night, we’ve seen multiple different rotations with this group. While the inconsistency with the rotation has been head scratching, Carlisle isn’t afraid to play the guys he feels gives the team a better advantage. In addition to the X’s and O’s, I love hearing Carlisle speak in post game press conferences. He’s honest about the team and isn’t afraid to be a complete savage, specifically when he talked about the officials not ejecting Kevin Durant from last Friday’s game in Brooklyn. Through ten games and numerous injuries, he’s slowly (but surely) finding the best way to maximize this teams talent.
T.J. Warren Injury Update: It came as a surprise, but after the Pacers victory against the New York Knicks, Coach Carlisle addressed T.J. Warren’s injury progress and revealed he was out of the boot and in sneakers. We saw a photo of Warren taking jumpers in the sneakers at practice the following day, and fans were excited. We know he’s weeks, not days away from returning, but we haven’t seen Warren play since December 29th. A healthy Warren adds a different dynamic to this roster, and one this team desperately needs.
The City Edition Uniforms: These jerseys are VERY nice. A nice combination of the 1980’s and 1990’s jerseys to celebrate the 75th year of the NBA. It also helps that the Pacers are currently undefeated while wearing them. The only complaint I have about them, is I wish they were more blue, like the 1980’s jerseys. However, they’re still really solid and pay homage to the late Bobby “Slick” Leonard with a Boom Baby on the bottom left of the jersey.
Things I didn’t like:
Justin Holiday’s streaky shooting from three: Although Justin had a good game against the Spurs and Blazers, he’s just 23-for-68 from three. Justin has been so good from three over the last few seasons with Indiana, so you’re hopeful that he can return to form, but early on in this season, it’s been a bit concerning. Let’s hope Justin gets back on track.
Where is Oshae Brissett? It’s so confusing to figure out why Oshae isn’t getting into the rotation, even in a limited role. He played well against Miami, but his role has vanished since that day and he’s been a DNP-CD the last two games. Torrey Craig’s success the last week might have pushed Brissett down the totem pole, but no Pacers fan anticipated Brissett not getting consistent run.
Losing winnable games: the Pacers have found themselves in multiple close ball games, but have yet to pull out a big win in those games, except for the overtime win over Miami. Indiana has had losses of 3, 4 and 7 points this last week, but hasn’t been able to close the gap. However, the backcourt combination of Brogdon and LeVert has not been on the floor together for those games.
