Tag: Indiana Pacers
Summer Reading

The Indiana Pacers Need To Pay Julius Randle

- by Fox Doucette

It has been a bit of a running theme here at Pace and Space that Julius Randle is too good for that rotten Lakers franchise he’s been toiling for, usually when he does something Breakfast Special-worthy in the course of a game. But with Randle clearly not in the Lakers’ long-term plans as they look to dump salary and create room for the alleged superteam involving Paul George, LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard, admittedly a superteam that has about as much chance of happening as I have of winning the Powerball and re-enacting Charlie Sheen’s midlife crisis in my own …

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Highlights

Breakfast Special: Victor Oladipo’s Excellent Triple-Double Adventure

- by Fox Doucette

What on earth happened in Indianapolis? I mean, I’ve been over Game 6. The video footage. The play-by-play. The game flow. Everything. And the Pacers just flat-out destroyed the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-87, shredding them like sensitive documents in a politician’s office in the second half, including a 35-20 third quarter that effectively iced the game. Victor Oladipo had a triple-double, scoring 28 points, pulling 13 rebounds, and dishing 10 assists. The Pacers overall put up a Total Team Effort—in the playoffs!—in which all five starters plus Domantas Sabonis and Lance Stephenson got into double figures. And the Cavaliers…well, LeBron James …

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Pacers Tuesday

A Wacky Series Goes Back to Cleveland

- by Fox Doucette

The Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers have split their first-round playoff series over four games, each team winning one on the other team’s floor in addition to their own. What’s more, three of the four games have been nail-biters; the only game decided by more than four points was that 98-80 Indiana win in Game 1. Pacers fans are hoping for that Pacers-in-six narrative to hold up, but if that was going to be the case, it was probably going to be a case of Indiana opening up a 3-1 lead, losing in Cleveland, then closing it out at home. …

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Highlights

Breakfast Special: Bojan Bogdanovic, Indiana Hero

- by Fox Doucette

April 20 may be associated with getting high, but nobody was higher than Pacers fans after Indiana pulled off yet another comeback from down 15 or more, this time trailing by as many as 17 at halftime before beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 92-90 to take a 2-1 series lead. In the process, they became the first team all season to beat the Cavs when Cleveland was ahead or tied after three quarters; Cleveland went 42-0 in the regular season and won Game 2 under those circumstances. Since the NBA started keeping track in 2000-01, only this year’s Cavs went undefeated …

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Pacers Tuesday

The Cleveland Cavaliers Panic At Being Deader Than Disco

- by Fox Doucette

The Pacers and Cavaliers tip off Game 2 in Cleveland tonight, and after Indiana went into the land of the burning river and smoked the Cavs 98-80 in Game 1, there are a lot of reasons for the Cavs to be in full-on pants-soiling terror mode. O how do I love thee, Indiana, let me count the ways… Problem 1: It Wasn’t LeBron James Who Had the Bad Game LeBron wasn’t exactly a superhero in Game 1. He was 7-of-17. But he had a triple-double (24 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists), playing 44 minutes with a respectable if not great …

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Is He Any Good

Thaddeus Young: Is He Any Good?

- by Fox Doucette

The Indiana Pacers traded the 20th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, which became Caris LeVert, to the Brooklyn Nets for Thaddeus Young. Nearly two full years later, Young is a key piece in the starting lineup for a team that just won its 47th game, still has a chance to win 50, and has improved immensely this year after the departure of the majority of last year’s team. Now, we know Young’s not an All-Star. He’s a serviceable starter, the fifth option behind Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Darren Collison in some order. And since this column’s …

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Highlights

Breakfast Special: Drubbed Nation

- by Fox Doucette

Last week, the Indiana Pacers went into Oakland and beat a depleted Golden State Warriors team 92-81. This week, the Warriors, with Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant all back, marched into Bankers Life Fieldhouse…and got destroyed 126-106. And besides Victor Oladipo doing this like he does every game… Dipo showing out as the Pacers sweep the season series with the Warriors 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TNxGea8dCi — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 6, 2018 …Bojan Bogdanovic had 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting and 6-of-7 from three. The Pacers shot 50-of-93 (53.8 percent) from the field, 15-of-29 (51.7) percent from three, won the …

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Pacers Tuesday

The Indiana Pacers have a depth problem

- by Fox Doucette

Ever since Glenn Robinson III returned from injury after the All-Star Game, he’s been used sparingly by coach Nate McMillan. He played just two minutes against the Clippers, and his minutes have been steadily declining as McMillan has shortened the bench down the stretch. Robinson hasn’t exactly justified the minutes he has played on the floor. His paltry 9.2 PER and horrifying 37.9/26.3 FG/3PT shooting splits have effectively negated him as a factor in Indiana’s bench offense. Indiana only goes about eight or nine deep (depending on which version of Lance Stephenson shows up that night). Cory Joseph, Trevor Booker, …

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Highlights

Breakfast Special: No Fools in the Eastern Conference

- by Fox Doucette

The race between the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers for the 3, 4, and 5 seeds has been everything you want a playoff chase to be. Teams are going on winning streaks and gaining no ground because their opponents are keeping pace with them every step of the way. Two of the teams are teams on the rise, one coming out of nowhere, the other a realization of the possibilities of long periods of nonstop losing. Another is a team on the ropes, declining in fortune, kept alive only because its star is having one of the best …

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Highlights

Breakfast Special: Bogdanovic Vs. Bogdanovic

- by Fox Doucette

Bojan Bogdanovic put up one of the weirdest stat lines in NBA history in Indiana’s 106-103 win over the Sacramento Kings Thursday night. Bogey had 25 points…and nothing else. Zero rebounds. Zero assists. Zero steals. Zero blocks. He had a turnover and a foul, but 25 points in isolation from any other basketball activities? That’s the sixth-highest point total in such a situation of all-time according to Basketball Reference; Allan Houston scored 37 points with no other counting stats in 2000, and Reggie Miller set the Pacers record for this statistical anomaly with 34 points and nothing else in 1999. …

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