Scrimmage 2: Mavs vs. Pacers (111-118 loss)

[ItsGoTime]

I have a lot to do tomorrow morning, so while this is early, we can still talk about the upcoming game vs. the Pacers.

Sunday, Jul. 26, 2020 • 4:00 PM ET
HP Field House • Orlando, FL

National TV:  NBA TV
Local TV:  Pacers.com, Mavs.com
Radio:  103.3 ESPN

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Pacers Game Preview

The Pacers will take the floor on Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks for their second of three scrimmages in preparation for the NBA season restart in Orlando. Indiana came away with a 91-88 win over Portland in its first tune-up on Thursday. While there were certainly signs of rust after 135 days without a game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pacers still showed plenty of promise in Thursday's exhibition.

The second unit, in particular, looked sharp, as the trio of Justin Holiday, Aaron Holiday, and Doug McDermott combined for 39 points and seven 3-pointers, while backup point guard T.J. McConnell dished out six assists in just 14 minutes of action. The starters, meanwhile, got off to a slow start but dominated the third quarter, opening the frame with a decisive 23-8 run. Malcolm Brogdon and T.J. Warren scored 11 points apiece, while two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo added eight points on 3-of-10 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. Oladipo said afterwards he felt good, but still has not made a final decision on whether or not he will play when the season resumes on Aug. 1.

The Blue & Gold hope to have reinforcements in the frontcourt for Sunday's scrimmage. All three of the Pacers' centers — Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis, and Goga Bitadze — missed Thursday's exhibition due to injuries, forcing head coach Nate McMillan to experiment with smaller lineups. Turner, who has missed a couple practices with a minor knee bruise, seems the most likely to return on Sunday. Sabonis is battling plantar fasciitis and likely will remain sidelined a little longer.
Thursday's scrimmage was shortened to 40 minutes out of concern for teams' conditioning, but Sunday's game will be bumped up to the normal 48-minute length. Fans within a 75-mile radius of downtown Indianapolis will be able to watch a live stream of the scrimmage right here on Pacers.com and in the Pacers mobile app.

[Luka_Magic]

I was very impressed by how these guys took it to Portland without either of their prized big men. Hopefully Turner gets some run tomorrow.

[michaeltex]

Since DAL is the "home" team tomorrow, does anyone know if it will be the DAL broadcast team on NBA TV? It was the Lakers' homers last time.

[Luka_Magic]

Yes that should be the case. From what I can recall anytime NBA TV broadcasts a game they use the home team broadcast crew.

[Luka_Magic]

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/maveri...t-indiana/ whoops

[IamDougieFresh]

Mr. steal your girl into the starting lineup

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Luka looks ridiculous out there. I think this time off really helped.

[Hypermav]

Nice 1st quarter, JJB doesn't look like he has enough quickness to get around his defender(s).

[Kammrath]

JJB doesn't look like he has enough quickness to get around his defender(s).

Without Brunson the second team facilitating is suffering big time.

[Mavs2019]

13/5/2 with 75% 3pt shooting. Even when his boxscore was trash against the Blazers the other night, he led the team in +/-.

[Hypermav]

I thought he was a cHeat future player.

[aguiar95]

Bad basketball by the Mavs. No offense and no defense. IND has 4/5 players better defensively than DFS/Kleber.

[Jym]

So wild to me that the Suns used a top 2nd round pick to dump Warren 
Such incompetence

[omahen]

Mavs will need to play defense if we want to see some play-off wins. 
Barea shouldn't play once serious games start. Total hole on defense and bad on offense. 
Wright had a solid game. 
Bobi was exposed big time on defense.

[fifteenth]

Y'all be careful drawing scrimmage conclusions. But we do look pretty thin.

[Hypermav]

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1287486016329310208?s=20

Luka prepping for when he plays the Monstars.

[Mavs2019]

Mavs will need to play defense if we want to see some play-off wins. 
Barea shouldn't play once serious games start. Total hole on defense and bad on offense. 
Wright had a solid game. 
Bobi was exposed big time on defense.

I think Wright was highly disappointing. His lack of confidence and assertiveness are killing us.

When there were still a bunch of NBA players on both teams JJB was completely out of his physical depth. He was nearly unplayable. Retirement is looming. 

At the end though, when the Pacers were playing their scrubs, it was JJB, who took charge of the game. He punished them repeatedly to finish with 14/6/6 on 13 shot attempts. Meanwhile Wright did nothing, although he was (supposed to be) the best player on the floor.

I´d try hard to trade Wright, though it wll be difficult.

[omahen]

I think Wright was

Although I am not a fan, I don't totally agree with you. Wright is pushed in the "stand in the corner and wait" off the ball player with Barea on court as he highly inefficiently dominates the ball. I really resent Barea for building up his stats in the final quarter that didn't really matter. Wright did play some defense and had a couple of nice passes. I agree with the lack of confidence part.

He was nearly unplayable

Not nearly. He was unplayable, period  Offensively he is bad, defensively he was worse. Overall, Indiana was scoring just too easily.

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

Wright is just too timid.  Pop would chew him out on a regular basis if he played like that for SA.

[Derek Nowitzki]

How do the Mavericks not have someone in charge of making sure all the players take their tests everyday...?

[ItsGoTime]

How do the Mavericks not have someone in charge of making sure all the players take their tests everyday...?

That job description was added to someone on the staff there at this point I’m sure!