It’s starting to feel a bit Truman Show-esque for the Indiana Pacers right now.
Just a lot less funny though.
It truly has been a good afternoon, good evening, and good night type of season. 1st quarter promise, 2nd quarter slowness, 3rd quarter banging and bashing, and 4th quarter quicksand traps.
Wednesday night inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse was no different. The shorthanded Brooklyn Nets (is it sad that you can be considered “shorthanded” without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving but still have James Harden?) beat the Pacers 124-115.
The Blue and Gold have now lost eight of their last 10 games and there is no respite in sight. Next up? A three game road trip with back-to-back games against the Miami Heat and then a clash with the Bucks in Milwaukee.
Back to tonight though. This about sums it up.
Brooklyn picked up 15 offensive rebounds in the game. Again, that’s without both KD and Kyrie on the floor. It was all Harden.
For some reason, Harden loves dropping triple-doubles inside Bankers Life. He did plenty of that with the Houston Rockets, and a change in uniform has not impacted him in his ability to play in the 317. Harden torched the Pacers with 40 points, 15 assists, and 10 boards.
“No I wasn’t happy with the way we defended Harden,” Nate Bjorkgren said in his postgame media availability. “40-point triple-doubles can’t happen. We have to do better there.”
It’s worth noting that Wednesday night was one of the first times this year Bjorkgren has been visibly frustrated and upset when speaking with the media. Bjorkgren usually keeps it upbeat and positive; But not tonight.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. This team needs a shot in the arm like nobody’s business.
“I felt like we’ve had the last four games in control,” Domantas Sabonis said. “But we just can’t finish them.”
For real though. Anything positive to take out of tonight?
Turner has been a block machine. At one point early in the year, he was averaging more blocks than half of the teams in the NBA combined. The former Texas Longhorn swatted away two more versus the Nets.
Caris LeVert also nailed down three more three-pointers against his former team. It was the first opportunity LeVert had to seek some momentum against the team that traded him.
LeVert dropped 19 points and will be relied upon heavily if Indiana expects a bounce back road trip in Miami and Milwaukee.
