Pacers hand Nets 7th straight loss
THE Indiana Pacers were not expected to be in this position.
After trading one of the best two-way players in Paul George last summer, Indiana was widely predicted to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Instead, the Pacers head to the All-Star break just a half-game out of fourth place.
Victor Oladipo, one of the main pieces acquired for George in the deal with Oklahoma City, downplayed his new club’s success after scoring 15 of his 25 points in the second half to lead Indiana past the Brooklyn Nets 108-103 on Wednesday night at Barclays Center.
“Nothing. We ain’t accomplish anything,” the first-time All-Star said. “Got a lot more work to do. A lot more things to get done. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. You know, 33 tough wins in the NBA is tough. It’s nothing. It’s just one half of the season.”
Oladipo, who was selected as a reserve, will be in Los Angeles this weekend to suit up alongside George, who was chosen as an injury replacement on LeBron James’ squad. Cory Joseph added 15 points and 11 assists, and Myles Turner had 11 points and 14 boards for the Pacers, who won their third straight.
Joseph, who was part of the 2014 NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, echoed Oladipo’s sentiments about getting too excited after improving their record to 33-25.
“It doesn’t mean nothing yet until playoffs time comes, until 82 games,” he said. “We go trip off after the break, then it doesn’t mean nothing. We just got to stay mentally prepared, especially coming back from the break.”
Indiana could have starting point guard Darren Collison back after the All-Star break. Collison underwent arthroscopic surgery in his left knee last week.
Allen Crabbe scored 23 points for the Nets, who went into the break with their seventh straight loss.
DeMarre Carroll added 21 points and D’Angelo Russell chipped in 18 points and nine assists off the bench for Brooklyn.
“I think we got the shots we wanted and we missed some. We had some costly turnovers,” Crabbe said. “It’s frustrating. We keep putting ourselves in a good situation to win and we come up short.”