After excluding forward Obie Toppin and Kelly Oubre Jr for Monday’s game against Atlanta Pacers had just six healthy players, which meant that each of those six players logged at least 35 minutes of playing time with the forward Jarras Walker playing as a team for 45 minutes.
According to Bobby Marks and Matt Williams of ESPN (Link to Twitter), it was the earliest game of the season in which a team used six or fewer players since the Lakers did it in their third game in 1948.
Indiana ended up losing, but the game went all the way before the Hawks secured a 108-104 win, and head coach Rick Carlisle was impressed with the effort he saw from Walker, Jalen Slawson, Jay Huff, Quenton Jackson, Braden Smithand Kobe Brownnone of whom would be starters if the lineup were healthy. Carlisle called their performance “inspiring,” he writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required).
“All these guys played too many minutes” Carlyle said, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. “But they played their hearts out … The guys left everything and our fans got their money’s worth even though we couldn’t win the game.”
As Reynolds points out, while some of the missing Pacers are expected to be out for several weeks — or even longer — others were late scratches or were ruled out because the team was on the other end of a back-to-back set. In other words, barring more injuries, the team shouldn’t be at such a disadvantage going forward.
Indiana is currently ineligible to add a 15th man to its standard roster due to its proximity to the hard cap, but that will change later this week — starting Thursday, the club can add a prorated minimum-salary free agent without exceeding the first tax bracket.
Here’s more from all over Central:
- After missing much of last season – including the playoffs – with a right hamstring problem, Cavaliers the wing Peyton Watson in Monday’s game against Oklahoma City with the same hamstring strain, but the head coach Kenny Atkinson said the team is “not too concerned” about the injury, trans Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required).
- Watson’s absence on Monday resulted in his first career start Cavaliers a beginner Melick Thomaswho quickly became a regular after starting the season in the rotation. Although Cleveland lost the game, Thomas scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed five rebounds, earning praise from Atkinson. The Cavs coach suggested the front office took a home run pick at No. 34 overall in this June’s draft. “The boy will be very nice” atkinson said according to Fedor (subscription required). “I’m going to be a great player. We found a guy who can really help us.”
- Bull Center Nick Claxton (hamstring) is getting closer to making his season debut. He was initially listed as questionable for Monday’s game at Philadelphia before being ruled out, and head coach Tiago Splitter said the big man had a full practice Sunday, writes Joe Cawley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Asked if Claxton would make his Bulls debut during the upcoming three-game homestand that begins Sunday against the 76ers, Splitter said: “Could have been, yes.”
