The Pacers kept Bojan Bogdanovic at the ball until he kills them

It looked like the Pacers got a redemption they needed so much on Wednesday. After amassing eight meager points in the third quarter against the Celtics in the first game (84-74 against Indiana), the Pacers got a solid third quarter in the second game, beating Boston by 29 to 16. But this momentum quickly collapsed just after the fourth quarter started and Indiana suddenly had only three points 5:25 remaining in the game.

Then, Bojan Bogdanovic was imposed before the Pacers. While his team was down two with 3:12 remaining, Bogdanovic found a free space for a three to put Indiana in place. The Celtics responded with a mid-range rider Gordon Hayward to take the lead, to which the response of Bogdanovic was a three-point drop from the arm extended Al Horford.

It is understandable that Pacers coach Nate McMillan realizes his player has a warm hand and asks his players to pass the ball to Bogdanovic more often in the right end. What is incomprehensible is to give the ball to a shooter at a distance of one million kilometers from the basket and put it in iso situations as a kind of goalkeeper dominating the ball – which, if not clear, this is not the case. Not surprisingly, the bad game plan led to poor results.

But it's not the end of the world, is it? Boston is only 92-91, so any good Pacers will give them the lead. As long as Indiana will not do this shit again, things will go well.

Very big. Of course, this game seemed uglier than it was probably designed because of Wesley Matthews' terrible shooting, but it was a game that depended on Bogdanovic being about 15 feet from the line of three. points as a starting point. As if to add insult to injury, Bogdanovic's slow rotation helped Jayson Tatum open up enough to organize the game against Hayward.

But, again, the Pacers still have a chance to come back, down 94-91. They now have two eloquent examples of why running the Iso-Bojan game was a bad idea. They probably even have enough evidence to show that Bogdanovic has become a radioactive target that would be a danger to any potential team success in this match. This line of thought would leave only three options to score on the pass from within, but with the disconcerting talent on the floor, Indiana should still be able to attempt it, even with those three only.

Maybe someone should tell McMillan that he has other capable players on his team before the third game.