By Pacers Media Relations Director David Benner:
Orlando — The Indiana Pacers improved to 3-1 in the Orlando Summer League with an 84-74 victory over Miami at the Amway Center Thursday afternoon.
The Pacers led almost the entire game, but unlike their two previous games, couldn’t put Miami away, never leading by more than 10 points. The Pacers played the game without any of their regular roster players as Solomon Hill continued to sit out with a sprained right ankle and Donald Sloan sat out for rest purposes.
But this team, after a blowout loss to Brooklyn in the first game, has come back to be one of the best teams in Orlando. Thursday, it was a group of D-League players who carried the Pacers.
James Nunnally led with 19 points on 7 of 11 from the floor; Kevin Jones had 16 points and 15 rebounds; DeQuan Jones had 12 points, Arinze Onuaku had 10 and Dee Bost, filling in for Sloan, had eight points with seven rebounds and five assists.
“It was definitely a wake-up call for us after that first loss,” said Kevin Jones, a 6-8, 251-pound power forward. “Everybody came together after that. It has been a lot of fun because it hasn’t been one or two people stepping up, but different guys every game. Everyone has contributed at one time or another to winning.”
“We have a bunch of hard workers and they play the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” said Pacers’ assistant coach Dan Burke. “When they do, good things happen. Today was another example of that. It starts with defense (Miami shot 36 percent). We had some trouble executing against their traps, but the second half we did a good job moving the ball, making the extra pass and hitting open shots. It was a helluva effort.”
The Pacers now wait the outcome of the remaining two games for their starting time Friday. They are likely to play in the 10 a.m. third/fourth place game and have an outside chance of playing in the noon championship game. Both will be carried by NBATV.