The Pacers Are Good; Tyreke Evans Not So Much

Let me start off by saying the Pacers are playing great. Victor is back and he is easily figuring out how to work his way back into the offense without disrupting any chemistry the team had during his 12 game absence when the Pacers were 8-4. He has come back and picked up where he left off at in crunch time. He is either making critical shots or making the right pass when the game is on the line. Ponytail Myles Turner has been playing wonderful for the past 2 weeks and over the past three games is averaging 19 points and 8 rebounds.

Photo Credit IndyStar

He did get outplayed by the Sixers’ Joel Embiid all game, but through the second half the Pacers were effectively able to shut everyone else on the Sixers down allowing Embiid’s 40 points and 21 rebounds to mean nothing in the long run.

Photo Credit Seymour Tribune

My boy Corey Joseph is still rocking the cornrows into a man-bun, so obviously he is still balling out on the court. He had a stellar game against the Kings with 11 points on 5/9 shooting, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Then he had two games against the Wizards and Bucks when his scoring faltered, but his defense was, as always, impeccable. Last night, Joseph had another impressive game on both the offensive and defensive ends. He scored 14 points on 6/9 shooting. He also had 4 assists, 3 rebounds and added a critical steal on Embiid in the fourth quarter. And do not let me forget about Thad Young. He is a work horse and he is playing like he was reborn. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds against the Sixers and 25 points and 11 rebounds against the Bucks. He also helped hold Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks, who averages 26.6 points per game, to 12 points.

The Pacers are now 19-10 on the season, they are 3rd in the Eastern Conference and they are only a half game back of the Bucks for the Central Division lead. 29 games in and it is a good day to be a Pacers’ fan. While all this is well and good there has been some bad.

The bad comes in the name of Tyreke Evans. In his defense I am sure that Evans knows that he is not playing well and if there is one thing in this league that you tell a scorer it is to keep shooting. Maybe it is time that the Pacers take that free trigger philosophy away from Evans. Last night he shot 2-11 from the field - a whopping 18%. Within 2 feet of the rim, so layups, he was 2-7. Below is his shooting chart from the game against the Sixers.

Tyreke Evans Shooting Chart versus the Sixers 12/14/18 Courtesy of ESPN

This was not a one game performance either. For the month of December, Evans is shooting 36.23 percent from the field. His only good shooting performance came against the Wizards when he shot 53.84 percent. I liked the addition of Evans when we signed him, but we are now over a third of the way over with the season and he still has not figured it out. I am kind of at a loss with what to do with him. I do not believe you could trade him because you could not get anything of value for him. He was the “big money” guy we brought in to be our 6th man, but our rookie Aaron Holiday seems to be the better choice of who to play. Do we bench Evans if he does not turn it around soon? Your guess is as good as mine. I can say this with confidence, Evans is on a one year deal and if he does not start to play better soon he will not be a part of the Pacers after this year. All in all the Pacers, well they are good, and Evans, well so far he is not.