So THIS is what the Pacers look like when Chris Copeland leads them in scoring every night. The fans wanted to see more of Copeland and they’ve gotten their wish.
Since winning their first game of the 2014-2015 season against the tanking Philadelphia 76ers, the Indiana Pacers have dropped three straight, with the latest being an 87-81 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with the worst record in the league last season. And if my memory serves me correct, the Pacers swept them in the season series too.
But this is ultimately a good thing, right? If the Pacers aren’t going to be a title contender or even a playoff team, it’s best that they suck as much as possible, right?
Having said that, it still hurts to see the team struggle like this. We knew their offense would struggle with Lance gone and PG out, not to mention with David West, George Hill and CJ Watson banged up with various injuries. Rodney Stuckey’s not running at full capacity either.
Tonight, Cope led the team again with 19 points off the bench. Last year, he was thrown into the rotation when the game was likely already out of hand. He’s basically in the same role this year, except the game always looks out of hand for the Pacers.
Despite rushing off to a strong start, the Pacers faded towards the end of the first quarter and had to play catchup thereafter. There were some bright spots. Roy Hibbert continued his strong play with 17, 7 and 5 on just 10 shots. Solo had another solid effort with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Lavoy Allen impressed again with 8 and 12. But the true star of the night was CJ Miles, who had zero points and missed all eight of his shots, including five from beyond the arc. A lot of the bricks were wide open and seemingly in rhythm too.
This is, sadly, the current state of the Indiana Pacers. They’ve had a relatively soft schedule so far but will face the rising Wizards tomorrow night in Washington as part of a three games in four nights stretch.
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