Rodney Stuckey’s contribution to the Pacers this season has been undervalued. Until now.
As the Pacers have lost seven of eight, one constant has been limited production from the eighth-year savvy guard, if anything.
Stuckey, 28, strained his left calf in a 93-89 home loss to the Boston Celtics, which marked the start of the team’s recent skid. A much more challenging schedule is also a contributing factor. Stuckey, playing on adrenaline, managed 20 points against Toronto two nights later but he clearly wasn’t himself.
Stuckey is expected back in the rotation Sunday, which bodes well for the Pacers, after he missed the past three games due to a calf injury.
“You look at the run we were on when we won seven straight, and what we were doing in February,” said Pacers coach Frank Vogel. “He’s a major part of it. When he injured it and played through the injury a couple games and wasn’t quite right, we missed his production then and obviously when he’s out of the lineup we miss his production.”
One week later, and after the injury was still noticeably bothering him and an MRI was taken, the Pacers decided it would be best to remove him from game action. Stuckey didn’t play and was held out of practice, giving that strained calf a full week off.
Stuckey, perhaps agitated that it was keeping him out and the team was sliding down the standings, didn’t want to talk about the injury last week. “I’m hurt, man,” he offered. “When I get healthy, I’ll be out there to play.”
His absence has been reminiscent to last spring, where backup point guard C.J. Watson missed nearly 20 games — all during their slide to the postseason.
With 10 games to go, they need one of their top scorers, play-makers, and the spark plug off the bench. He is second on the team in points per game (12.9), fourth in assists (3.1) and his PER ranks third behind starter George Hill and Luis Scola. Ahead of facing the Dallas Mavericks Sunday evening, Vogel said Stuckey will be back in the lineup.
“He has an energy that impacts the game,” said Vogel.” He’s got great speed defensively to stay with guys and he brings another level of physicality and speed to the perimeter, which we need.”
Indiana still has some ground to make up in hopes to qualifying for their fifth postseason in a row. Ahead of Sunday’s game, they are 10th in the Eastern Conference, a game back out of eighth place behind Boston and Brooklyn.
Anyone who has watched the Pacers over the last 10 days knows, they must get off to better starts. In last week’s games, they failed to score more than 15 points in all three opening quarters and were outscored by 36. Yes, thirty-six points. Then, they were always playing catchup after that.
“They’ve heard loud and clear that we’ve lost 10 straight first quarters, so clearly we have to do better,” Vogel said.
So what’s required to “do better?” Vogel wants to see them be more assertive and share the basketball, but also not be hesitant to score when in a good position.
“We have some guys that like to facilitate early and sometimes that leads to too much overpassing and late-clock situations, which are bad situations,” Vogel explained. “Sometimes we just have to be more assertive early on in the game.”
Free Throw Woes
Another issue for the Pacers has been getting to the line — and more importantly, keeping their opponent off of it. There was The James Harden Issue, and then in Thursday’s loss at Milwaukee, they attempted 43 tries but missed 10 and sent the Bucks to the line 34 times.
“We still gave them 34 free throw attempts,” Vogel said, the urgency of the situation clear that he has the attempts of another team from three days ago memorized, “and you’re going to lose when you do that. I don’t care what you’re numbers look like. You can’t put teams to the line 34 times a game.
“It’s playing without fouling.”
Monta Ellis Sidelined For the First Time This Season
There was a streak of five games in a row to close March where the Pacers got a bit of a break, facing them’s without their best player. After all, the Pacers’ have been without their star, Paul George, all season. (George said Saturday he feels ready, but awaits approval from Pacers.)
Sunday, the Pacers host the Mavericks (45-28) without top scorer Monta Ellis (19.1 ppg). Ellis has been on crutches this weekend after suffering a lower right leg injury Friday. His absence ends a streak of 273 consecutive games played, which includes the entire last two regular seasons.
The Mavericks will also be without reserve guard J.J. Barea, who sits for the fourth straight game, due to a left ankle sprain.