Indiana Pacers: Victor Oladipo is the backbone of Indiana’s playoff fate

Oladipo has been the Indiana Pacers go-to guy this season. Without consistent production from him, they will have a tough time getting past Lebron James and the Cavs

Victor Oladipo has been outstanding all year for the Indiana Pacers. The 25 year old had a breakout year, averaging 23.1 points per game and 4.3 assists per contest on his way to his first All-Star game appearance.

Acquired from the OKC Thunder in the offseason in the Paul George trade, it took some time for Oladipo to really develop into the player he is now for the Pacers. Throw in the fact that he went to school just down the road at Indiana University, and it just seems like it turned out to be the perfect fit.

Oladipo has led Indiana to the playoffs and has clearly been the backbone of this team all year. Oladipo’s productivity is vital for Indiana to win this series against LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Oladipo must lead the way

Oladipo has been very good so far through the first three games of this series. He dropped 32 points in just 39 minutes in a Game 1 win, going 6 for 9 from 3-point range. He got into a groove and didn’t look back. Game 2 we saw a lot of the same from Oladipo putting up 22 points, but Lebron scored 46 himself as the Cavs won by just three points.

Friday night, in Game 3, Oladipo had just 18, but his teammates stepped up. Bojan Bogdanovic dropped 30 points, going 7 for 9 from downtown range with several huge 3’s in the fourth quarter. Even when Oladipo isn’t scoring, he is so important to this team because he is such a great playmaker as well, evident by his 4.3 assists per game this season. He distributes the ball extremely well if he doesn’t have an open look himself.

If you were unsure about how important Victor Oladipo is to this Pacer’s team, then take a look at this fact. The Pacers were 48-28 this season. Oladipo missed just six games all year. The Pacers were 0-6 without him.

Oladipo must stay out of foul trouble if the Pacers want to advance. In game 2, he committed two fouls within the first two minutes, which limited him to just 28 minutes in that game. Without Oladipo on the floor, the Pacers just didn’t look like the same team. It’s very important he doesn’t commit too many fouls early or else Indiana will be in trouble.

The only reason the Cavs won in game 2 was that James dropped 46, and Oladipo was hardly on the floor. Regardless, Cleveland only won 100-97. If Oladipo was on the floor for more minutes, they could definitely be up 3-0 in this series right now.

Defensive force

Oladipo is very versatile, too. He’s not just an offensive force. He plays extremely hard, gritty defense. He led the NBA with a career-high 2.36 steals per game this season. Oladipo is a tremendous athlete and has cat-like quickness on both the offensive and defensive side of his game. Aside from his abilities, he just brings a tremendous energy to this Pacers team. He is definitely the leader of the Pacers and brings shape and rhythm to the floor.

Frankly, Cleveland has no one who can keep up with Oladipo’s fast game. They don’t have anyone who is an elite defender and can actually shut down Indiana’s star player. He will continue to get open looks and create lanes to the hoop thanks to his quickness that no one on Cleveland can keep up with. LeBron is the only one who could maybe contain Oladipo, but they play two different positions.

The key for the Pacers in this series is to limit Cleveland’s productivity to just LeBron. He can drop 50, but if Oladipo has a big game and no one else on Cleveland gets going, the Pacers can still win. The only two on Cleveland who has shown some offensive production is J.R. Smith and Kevin Love. As long as the Pacers can prevent those two from going off, Indiana has a legitimate chance of winning this series.

With some production from Lance Stephenson off the bench and Myles Turner down low, that will be another contributing factor towards Indiana’s chances of winning this Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

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Oladipo just has to continue to do what he’s done all year; drain buckets and play strong defense. It may have taken Oladipo five years to find his footing in the NBA, but it definitely looks like he’s found himself a home in Indiana.

It will be exciting to see how far the 25-year-old guard can take the Indiana Pacers in this year’s NBA Playoffs.