Indiana Pacers made NBA history in India over the weekend

The Indiana Pacers made NBA history in India over the weekend, showcasing the team’s newest weapons in preseason

The Indiana Pacers played the Sacramento Kings this past weekend in the first NBA India Games.  The Pacers made history by becoming the first NBA team to win a game in India. Not only did they win one, but they also won two games.  It is only preseason, but this was a major win for a small market team like the Pacers.

To expand the fan base globally is extremely important and to be the first team to win in India is exciting for Pacers fans everywhere. Expanding the Pacers brand was made easier when NBA India partner, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, was cheering for the Pacers and declared she is, in fact, a Pacers.

In addition, the first game was a thrilling comeback and it added even more fuel to the fire to make India a strong fan base for the Pacers. For Pacers fans, it was good to see the team perform so well while still down the Pacers starting shooting guard Victor Oladipo.

The first game was a tale of two halves. The Pacers were unable to find their footing in the first two quarters, which was expected as a lot of the team had yet to play together. What was not expected was giving up 72 points to the Kings in the first half. The Pacers defense was non-existent and turnovers plagued the team all game long as they ended the game with 24 giveaways.

However, the Pacers defense stiffened in the second half and overtime as they held the Kings to only 59 points over the last 29 minutes of regulation. This caused the Kings to finish under 50 percent shooting from the field. The offense came to life as well in the second half. The Pacers went on to outscore Sacramento 73-59 in the back half of the game. The Pacers came back to defeat the Kings 132-131 in overtime and became the first team to win an NBA game in India.

All three of the new Pacers in the starting lineup showed up and showed out. New starting small forward TJ Warren led the Pacers with 30 in 32 minutes on 61.1 percent shooting while shooting 5-6 from behind the arc. The Pacers’ biggest acquisition of the offseason, starting point guard Malcolm Brogdon, “The President”, had 15 points and 14 assists. That is a stat line from a point guard that Pacers fans have not seen very often in recent history.

Shooting guard Jeremy Lamb added 20 points and power forward Domantas Sabonis bullied the Kings down low as he had 21 points and 12 rebounds. The biggest concern for the Pacers after this game was the amount of turnovers. Center Myles Turner had four turnovers while Sabonis had five.  Expect this to be cleaned up by the start of the season.

The second game was a different story than the first. The Pacers were slow to get going in the first quarter and trailed the Kings by a score of 30-25, but when the second quarter started Indiana never looked back. They scored 46 points in the second and ended up winning 130-106. The starters were not the ones who balled out though, this time it was the Pacers bench that shined.

Second-year big-man Alize Johnson led the way for the Pacers with 17 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes on the court. Brothers Justin Holiday and Aaron Holiday combined for 30 points with Aaron Holiday scoring 16 and Justin Holiday scoring 14. Point guard T.J. McConnell had a good showing as well by posting a stat line of six points, eight assists, three rebounds, and three steals in 17 minutes. The solid showing of the bench is a positive sign for Pacers fans as they will need that depth until Oladipo is able to return to action.

This was overall a great weekend for the Pacers as an organization. They expanded their brand as a small market team and will always be the first team to ever win in India. There was also some obvious talent being shown with the new players and some Pacers offense that has not been seen since Paul George and Danny Granger were still on the team.

If you are a Pacers fan that has been a little concerned about this season, let me tell you this now, they are going to be better than anyone thinks.