First of all, let’s put things in perspective. It’s just one game. It was at home. And it was against the young Philadelphia Tankers, widely tipped to be one of the worst teams in the league this season.
But hey, a win is a win, and considering the spate of bad luck to hit the Pacers over the last few months, us Pacers fans will surely take it.
It didn’t look promising from the start as the 76ers raced off to a 20-11 lead before the Pacers got their heads out of their asses and made a game of it. The Pacers actually held only a 3-point lead with 4 minutes to go before pulling away for the final margin.
Roy Hibbert, the lone starter from last season to play tonight, led the way with a monstrous 22 points, 8 rebounds and 7 blocks. And he did it by only taking 8 shots from the field, hitting 6, and going 10-13 from the line. Great effort from the big fella, but let’s not forget that he started off with a similar spurt last season (and the season before), only to fall apart as the season went on. So let’s not go crazy over one night.
The Pacers had 6 guys in double figures tonight. Apart from Hibbert, Luis Scola had 10, Donald Sloan had 16, 10 and 6 in his best game by far as a Pacer, CJ Miles had 15 (on 6-17 shooting, 2-8 from beyond the arc), Chris Copeland had 11 (4-11 from the field, 2-7 from beyond the arc), and Rodney Stuckey was a spark off the bench with 16 in 16 minutes.
The Pacers didn’t shoot well from the outside (8-25) but got a lot of open looks. Their defense is still a work in progress, as is their offense, but it was enough tonight against a green Philly team already aiming for the top pick in the next draft.
I was impressed with the play of Lavoy Allen (6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 2 blocks in 20 minutes for a +23 plus-minus) and also Ian Mahinmi (4 points, 9 rebounds and a block in 16 minutes). Both guys looked active and aggressive. I was also surprised by how quick Rodney Stuckey is. He was getting to the rim at will.
Anyway, some good takeaways from game one of the season. It was actually quite an entertaining game and Pacers will get better when the likes of West, Hill and CJ Watson return. 35-38 wins might not be out of the realms of possibility.
The Pacers play the tough Grizzlies at home next on Friday.
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