Despite recently losing their superstar guard Victor Oladipo to a season-ending quad injury, the Indiana Pacers continue to fight for their right to remain at the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.
On Saturday, Indiana scored a 105-90 home victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cavs coach Larry Drew admitted that his team was outplayed yet again on the evening, and gave credit to the Pacers' attitude coming into the contest.
“(Indiana) makes it tough on you,” Drew said, via ESPN. “They're a good team and they understand the magnitude of certain games and wanting to come out and play hard. They wanted to make a statement. I thought (Indiana) came out with a tremendous amount of energy and intensity in our last meeting (in Cleveland). I just kind of felt like they were (doing that) in tonight's game to try and set the tone.”
29-year-old swingman Bojan Bogdanovic led the charge again for the Pacers in this one, scoring a game-high 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting. The 6-foot-8 guard/forward also contributed three three-pointers, a rebound, and two assists in another impressive offensive showing. Bogdanovic has stepped up in Oladipo's stead, and the team fully expect him to take on most of the scoring load for the rest of the season.
Veteran point guard Darren Collison also brought a lot of energy this evening, coming close to a double-double with 18 points and nine assists.
The Pacers have now won five straight contests, and have shown very little signs of slowing down, despite the devastating loss of their All-Star guard.
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