Next Level Tanking

The Pacers played their final home game of the '22-'23 season in front of a sellout crowd, their seventh of the season. Tonight was fan appreciation night and they showed their appreciation by out-tanking the league's greatest tankers, losing 122-115 to the visiting Pistons.

A viral strain of anticompetitiveness is ravaging the league at the moment and the Pacers are infected. Let's pretend this is a zombie movie. For the past couple of weeks, I would describe the Pacers as being in the stage of infection where the character has revealed her bite marks but is trying to accomplish a final task – like beating OKC in the name of developing the youth – before heroically committing suicide.

Two games ago, the infection took control of the brain and the Pacers turned into a zombie, albeit one recognizable enough that its friends would need to steel themselves a moment before killing it (i.e. we inserted Gabe York into the lineup).  

As of today, however, we became a full on monster.  We rolled out a starting five of Nembhard, Mathurin, Nesmith, Nwora, and Jackson – a whopping ten years of experience between them. Gabe York played over 29 minutes! George Hill and James Johnson got about 18 minutes each. TJ McConnell and Jalen Smith were deemed too talented to play at all.

Only one stage of zombie evolution remains: the final boss. A creature so loathsome, so reviling that it can't be killed by conventional weapons. Something that has to be nuked. And I suspect that demon will rear its ugly head on Sunday against the Knicks in the form of a Daniel Theis, James Johnson double big lineup. Consider yourselves warned.

But I digress, tonight the Pacers were victims of the same issue that has plagued them all season: they couldn't get stops. The Pacers jumped out to an early 11 point lead but quickly gave it up, allowing the Pistons to go on an 18-0 run over the final minutes of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter. Detroit continued to score at will throughout the frame, taking a 73-57 lead into half.

Buddy Hield did his best to keep the Pacers in the game, contributing five three pointers and 22 points, and there were even stretches where it looked like he might spoil the tank. Early in the fourth quarter the Pacers cut the lead down to 99-95, only for the Pistons to respond with an 11-4 run of their own. The Pacers got as close as 112-106 with about five minutes left to play, but the Pistons held fast and secured their second victory since All-Star break (both against Indiana).

The stars of the show were Hoosier native Jaden Ivey, who finished with 29 points and nine assists, and Killian Hayes, who scored a career high 28 points.

For the Pacers, Andrew Nembhard tallied another double-double, to the tune of 12 points and 10 assists. Isaiah Jackson played with a competitive fire tonight, resulting in 15 points, seven rebounds, and three impressive blocks. Bennedict Mathurin scored around his season average with 16 points, but continued his trend of turning the ball over, this time with five giveaways.  

The loss tonight guaranteed the Pacers no worse than the eighth seed in the reverse standings. Another loss will ensure that they finish no worse than seventh.

The Pacers play their final game of the season on Sunday at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.

Highlights

Postgame Interviews

Housekeeping

I updated the comment system again. It's the same platform but running a newer version. The benefits are that it seems to work better on mobile, the double post should be resolved, and you just sign on through the blog instead of the third party site.

However, I think I preferred the look of the one we had before. The white background was nice. Also it seems we've lost the ability to customize profile images and bios. Going to try to figure out how to add those back.

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Recap