The fans in Bankers Life Fieldhouse saw the other face of the Indiana Pacers as they cruised past the Utah Jazz on Saturday. Following Lance Stephenson's return to the NBA, the Pacers are looking better and better.
Domantas Sabonis enjoyed his best night in the NBA, dropping a career-high 42 points. The Lithuanian shot 81.8% from the field, nailing down 18 out of 22 attempts. Lance Stephenson tallied 16 points and 14 assists for the final score, 125-113.
Donovan Mitchell came up huge for the Jazz with 36 points on 6-12 shooting from deep. Bojan Bogdanovic dropped 21 points, while Jordan Clarkson added 18 points. Their overall performance took a hit as they are now on a 2-game losing streak, following losses to the Raptors and the Pacers.
The hosts gathered a 16-point advantage midway through the second quarter, 55-39. Although the score was kept quite narrow in the third part of the game, the Jazz never managed to grab the lead. With the help of Sabonis and Stephenson, the Pacers remained consistent throughout the rest of the match, closing it out with a 12-point margin.
The Indiana Pacers snapped a 6-game losing streak that started with a loss against the Chicago Bulls on Christmas. Their position in the standings in the East is far worse than they had imagined, sitting in 13th place with a 15-25 record.
The Pacers will have a tough journey to reach the Playoffs having in mind the fierce competition in the East. They will need to improve their record and average around 60% win-rate for the rest of the campaign in order to have a decent chance.
The Jazz suffered their fourth back-to-back losses this season as they remain 3rd in the West. Netting at 28-12, they are still looking great, but Donovan Mitchell and his teammates will need to improve a lot, if they want to be competitive enough.
The team from Salt Lake City is almost certain for the 2022 NBA Playoffs. They will, however, try to make the best out of the Regular Season by experimenting with a couple of rotations in the remaining games.
