The Good in the bad — the Domas-Levert pairing

• The Indiana Pacers start their month 4-4 as they're looking to push for their final strides to compete in the play-in tournament with hopes of making the playoffs once again.

✰ The biggest factor among many is two-time league All-Star: Domantas Sabonis.

• | Sabonis - the month of May

𝗣𝗧𝗦: 22.8

𝗥𝗘𝗕 (𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗕/𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗕): 13.9 (1.6/12.3)

𝗔𝗦𝗧: 11.4

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘀 (𝗧𝗦%) : 61/42/74 (67%)

Hereditary to his father, Domantas Sabonis stands out as a brilliant er relative to his position. He’s one of the best big-man ers in the league. This was in full display in their win against the Sixers recently, snapping their 8-game win streak, where he sufficiently stuffed the stat sheet and had a career-high 15 assists. Even in their latest game against the Bucks, he dropped dished out 14 assists. The Pacers’ offense runs through him. Utilizing his screens, setting up handoffs for their elbow actions, es off the post to cutters, and his overall scoring.

Out of everybody in the league during this stretch, he’s one of three players who get over 100 touches a game, only third to MVP-frontrunner Nikola Jokic and hyper-athletic guard; Russell Westbrook.

✰ Caris Con-Vert(s), Levert has blossomed within Indiana’s offense and his scoring has played a role in Indiana’s recent success.

• | Levert - the month of May

𝗣𝗧𝗦: 26

𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗕: 5

𝗔𝗦𝗧: 7

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘀 (𝗧𝗦%) : 43/43/85 (54.2%)

With Brogdon sidelined, Levert has emerged as the team’s leading scorer. Alongside Sabonis, having a reliable player who can score 20+ in Levert has been enough to keep the injury-riddled team to some wins. He can create shots off-the-dribble, has had glimpses of great cutting, letting the ball come to him off of Sabonis’s es, ing the ball, and disrupting ing lanes. His scoring and the building chemistry with Sabonis have helped revivify the Pacers, something we should be optimistic about moving forward.

It’s the silver lining to the ugly situation in Indiana. After their hot 8-4 start to the season, fans were optimistic about the new nature that first-year head coach Nate brought to Indiana. However, after being plagued by injuries and COVID restrictions, and later on, the revelation of the abrasive nature that their head coach brings following the heated discussion of their assistant coach with sophomore Goga, they’ve dropped to the 9th seed, clinching a spot for the play-in tournament.

There’s little to no hope of the Pacers being in contention for a chip [this year] and that's if they even officially make it to the playoffs. This team has lots of issues to fix and that starts with defense, moreover, the coach knowing who and what his team is. Seriously, there’s no reason for Sabonis to be leading the league in miles traveled defensively. They’ve given up 125 or more points 21 times this season and gave up 140 or more points thrice this season.

Amidst all the controversy regarding their head coach begs even bigger questions; should the Pacers stick with this squad? Should they use the young duo of Levert and Sabonis and build around them? Would they mind blowing it all up and tank?

The last time they made it past the first round was 2014, coming up short against the LeBron-led Heat. They’ve struggled with injuries since and when it did start looking optimistic again, injuries and outbursts of controversy plague their season once again.

Needless to say, this pairing is good. With more on-ball reps together, the Pacers might move forward with these two as their franchise's much-needed star duo.