NBA India Games 2019: Indiana Pacers vs Sacramento Kings - 3 Talking points from Game 2
The Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 130-106 in the second game of the two preseason clashes at the NSCI Dome, Mumbai. In attendance were several Bollywood celebrities such as Priyanka Chopra, Parineeti Chopra, Richa Chadda, Rannvijay Singh, Farhan Akhtar, and Shibani Dandekar.
This win comes in the backdrop of a hard-fought 132-131 Pacers win on October 4th, in what was a thrilling game with playoff-like intensity. As a result, the Pacers ended up sweeping the two-game preseason series in India against the Kings.
Let's draw out some key takeaways from what was a rather one-sided affair to wrap up the NBA India games 2019.
#1 Game 2 was nowhere near the bar set yesterday by the two teams
It has been outlined repeatedly that there couldn't have been a better tip-off to the NBA matchups in India than how the Pacers-Kings bout ended up giving us yesterday. A preseason game played with playoff-like intensity is something that nobody expects at first glance. However, it raised the bar way too high for the following day. And much to the dismay of the attending fans, it was a relatively dull set of 48 minutes when stacked against the thrilling Game 1.
Most of the second half was played out by the benchwarmers, as the stars took some much-needed rest towards the end of what turned out to be back-to-back nights of strenuous overseas basketball.
The fatigue from the draining Game 1 was visible when the players missed routine plays and committed clumsy fouls at regular intervals. Moreover, once Indiana crept away with the game, there was no genuine effort from Luke Walton's camp to make a run for it.
As a result, the high-flying dunks and nail-biting clutch moments that represented Game 1, were nowhere to be seen. The second units of both the teams ran set plays and went to the line more frequently, courtesy of some harsh whistling by the refs on the court.