In all fairness, I knew it was going to be bad. The Pelicans were virtually playing 2 or 3 vs. 5 on offense in Utah and Indiana’s defense is much better than Utah’s. Davis and Ryno were out. But the makeshift lineup failed to execute on either end of the floor and the result was an absolute shellacking. The Pelicans were never in this game and it was brutal to watch. But it was expected, as you can hear below (this was taped a couple days ago).

Skip to 18 minutes, 30 seconds for the Pacers preview from me and Scott.

The Pacers are smart – if you watched them defend our starters, they simply formed a shell defense and lived with the results. Barring another scintillating shooting performance by Gordon, the Pelicans were never really going to score a lot tonight. The issue, of course, is that they also didn’t stop the Pacers, who had no trouble scoring on the shorthanded Pelicans.

• David West absolutely torched the Pelicans on his jumper tonight, finishing 8 of 9 from the field  and chipping in 7 assists. That midrange J is just fluffy.
• In all fairness to the Pelicans, the Pacers were drilling seemingly every long-range shot they took. Being outclassed AND facing a team who is feeling it is a difficult proposition. 9-19 from 3 for Indy.
• Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. But that’s what you get when you have to force penetration and passes into seams that barely exist. Again, the Pacers knew who they were defending and decided to take away everything for our drivers and live with the results. And they were paid handsomely for their strategy.
• Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon, the only 2 major threats, were held under 10 points apiece (though both barely exceeded the 20 min mark, as the game was out of hand early). This is a horrible matchup for Tyreke and Gordon couldn’t make the Pacers pay from outside. Really simple.

Continuing to analyze the game seems somewhat fruitless, as today’s players were inserted into roles that they will never be asked to fill on a normal night.  There was a huge talent differential and it showed on the scoreboard. Get well soon, AD/Jrue/Ryno!!!!

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