The Pacers wrap up Basketball Day Indiana when they host the Mavericks on Saturday night. That means rookie sensation, Luka Doncic will make his Fieldhouse debut while his teammate Dirk Nowitzki COULD be making his final appearance in Indy. Dirk has played sparingly of late and all indications point toward this being his last season. If so, the Mavs appear in good shape with a rising star in Doncic taking over as the face of the franchise. Doncic, just 19 but with loads of Euro pro experience, leads the Mavs in scoring at over 20 points per game along with five assists and almost seven rebounds. But forget the Mavs, the Pacers have to focus on what they are doing and get back on track after an abysmal shooting performance against the Sixers which seemed to impact their defensive effort. The Mavs are no easy out this year and the Pacers will have to raise their level of play to find that winning groove at home once again. Game Information: Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN When: 7:00 p.m. ET TV: FOX Sports Indiana Radio: 107.5 FM/AM 1070 The Fan Projected Starting Lineups: Pacers: Darren Collison, Victor Oladipo, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Myles Turner Mavericks: Luka Doncic, Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes, Maxi Kleber, DeAndre Jordan Injury update: t IND: None DAL: J.J. Barea (right Achilles)- out, Dennis Smith Jr. (illness) - ou Please leave your thoughts and observations on the game in the comments.<doc-sep>The Indiana Pacers got back in the win column after their frustrating loss to Philadelphia, topping the Dallas Mavericks at home. The Pacers led most of the way in this one, but weren’t without challenges from the Mavs throughout the game. Dallas got the upper hand early, jumping ahead 19-12, connecting on three threes to push the lead to seven. Indiana looked to be carrying a hangover from their loss to Philly, blanking on their own shots from three, but did get three points the old fashioned way on a Myles Turner and-one that settled the Pacers down, allowing them to close the quarter on a 12-4 run. The push continued in the second quarter, including Indiana’s first three pointer of the game courtesy of Tyreke Evans, allowing the crowd to explode with a “Boom baby!” on a night the team celebrated Bobby “Slick” Leonard during Basketball Day Indiana. This one's for Slick! "Boom Baby" as heard all around @TheFieldhouse. pic.twitter.com/OWp3kCSXfk — Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) January 20, 2019 Defensively, the Pacers were as good as they’ve been in some time, forcing Dallas into nine first half turnovers, giving Indiana 12 points and helping them push their lead into double figures. They also imposed themselves on the other end, especially behind the effort of Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis had 11 points and nine rebounds in the first half, including this rebound and-one against the Dallas defense. Domas gets the rebound, the basket and the foul! The #Pacers are playing on FSI and the FOX Sports app right now. #BasketballDayIndiana pic.twitter.com/aX5F9Z3jkR — FOX Sports Indiana (@FSIndiana) January 20, 2019 The Pacers led by 16 at the break and pushed the lead as high at 19 halfway through the third. That lead proved short lived however. Dallas responded with a 9-0 run that cut the lead to 10. Fortunately, Luka Doncic missed both free throws allowing the Pacers to push it back to 13 on a Victor Oladipo three. The Oladipo three was the only three of the night between he and Bojan Bogdanovic, who continued to struggle mightily shooting. The pair combined for 6-25 shooting and 1-8 from deep. They had three misses alone in the 9-0 Mavs run, so it was nice to see one finally go for at least one of them. Indiana again looked to have the game in hand when they went up 17 early in the fourth, but again, Dallas responded, outscoring the Pacers 10-2 to make it a single digit game for the first time in the half. Indiana kept the game from getting any closer thanks to big minutes from Evans, who had nine of 11 Pacers points, getting the lead up to 13 in time for a pair of Oladipo steals that set up Bogdanovic and Cory Joseph buckets. Despite his struggles shooting, Oladipo did continue to make an impact with eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals. All three steals turned into points, allowing Indiana to outscore the Mavericks 21-16 in points off turnovers, including a 13-6 advantage in the fast break. Oladipo also did well on the defensive end, helping limit Doncic to eight points on 3-14 shooting. There was no “yeah, but” with Evans, however. He had a team high 19 points on 7-11 shooting, just his third game above 60% on the season, though all of those have come in the past three weeks. Evans had nine points in the fourth, 12 adding in the last minute of the third. It was also one of the few games where Evans found success within the flow of the second unit offense, getting assisted on both of his threes. Evans was was joined off the bench by Sabonis with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sabonis had looked a bit out of sorts the past couple of games, but was absolutely vintage in his performance tonight in the way he made plays in the post for himself and for others. While only five Pacers reached double figures, it proved a real balanced attack with all nine rotation players scoring at least eight, all of them getting there their own way. Doug McDermott struggled early, but found success in the fourth quarter, scoring six straight Pacers points to open the quarter as part of his nine. Joseph had his pullup game on point, scoring eight with four assists, three of those going to Sabonis. In the starting lineup, Darren Collison led the way with 16 points, breaking the Pacers out of an early third quarter funk with back-to-back threes, scoring 10 of 12 to push the lead to 19. Turner finished with 12, helping keep Indiana within striking distance in the first quarter, hitting a rainbow three late in the second to make it an 18-point game. Oladipo did a great job setting up Turner throughout the game, finding him for four assists. Oladipo scored 12, joined by a difficult nine from Bogdanovic, who got a bulk of his points from the line at 5-5. Thaddeus Young had eight points and seven rebounds, getting four off of three offensive rebounds. For the game, the Pacers shot 49.4% from the field, holding Dallas to just 42%. The Mavericks were also 9-37 from three point range, becoming just the second team in the last 10 games to fail to reach double figures from deep. In a particularly hellish stretch in which opponents have shot almost 41% from three, this reprieve was a welcome sight, though the Mavs weren’t without dangerous stretches despite the misses. The win puts Indiana at 30 wins on the season, reaching that mark two weeks ahead of last year’s schedule. They’ll have a quick turnaround however, playing the second night of a back-to-back tomorrow against the Charlotte Hornets, though they’ll get to remain home for the game.<doc-sep>Today was the third annual Basketball Day in the Hoosier State, and the Indiana Pacers were able to cap off the festivities with a victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks. On a day where the entire state of Indiana was celebrating the game of basketball, thousands of faithful Pacers fans braved the winter storm to watch the Hickory Pacers send Dallas packing with a very nice double-digit victory. After Indiana broke open a nice lead in the second quarter, the Indiana Pacers never looked back in this one and kept the lead for the entire second half of competition. Dallas Mavericks 99 Indiana Pacers 111 Pacers Have a Stroke of Good Luk(a) Dallas’ rookie phenom, Luka Doncic, played his first game ever in Bankers Life Fieldhouse tonight, and it was an experience he’ll likely want to soon forget. The budding Slovenian star was the player most likely to hurt the Pacers tonight, but he struggled mightily shooting the ball against some staunch defense. Ultimately, he wound up getting kicked out of the game after he picked up a second technical for punting the basketball into the stands in a moment of frustration. Luka will likely have big games in BLF in the future, but the Pacers did well to make sure his Indiana debut was not one of them. It’s a Game of Runs The Pacers, once again, got out to a slow start in this one. After an opening quarter in which the offense did not look good at all, the second unit was able to go on a very important run in the second quarter, where they turned a 1 point lead after one quarter into a 16 point lead by halftime. This quarter wound up being what won the game for Indiana, as the Mavericks were actually a +4 in the second half. Make More Shots, Win the Game Across the board in this one, the stats between the Pacers and Mavericks were strangely similar in almost every area. That is, aside from overall shooting percentage. The Pacers didn’t use a major advantage on the boards, or on turnovers, or anything else to pull away in this one. Tonight, it was as simple as putting the ball in the hoop more often than the Mavs. Credit to Indiana’s defense holding Dallas under 100 points. Player Grades? Don’t mind if I do: DARREN COLLISON PG, Indiana Pacers B+ DC played the fewest minutes of all the starters tonight, but he made good use of his chances. He set the tone for Doncic’s frustrating night early on when he had an impressive strip on a drive Luka took to the rim in the first quarter. His mid-range jumper was working, and he made a couple of threes. An aggressive second half led to an 11 point 3rd quarter for the vet. VICTOR OLADIPO SG, Indiana Pacers B- Look, we know Vic’s shot has looked flat since coming back from injury. It’s mildly concerning, but he’s being helpful in other ways in the meantime. 8 boards, 6 assists, and 3 steals are great contributions despite the poor shooting percentage. A few of his assists were very pretty. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC SF, Indiana Pacers D+ Not a great contest for Bogey, who has been struggling to hit from deep lately and went 0-4 tonight. He was a perfect 5 for 5 from the line, but his field goals just would not drop. He added some value on the glass, but this is not the “for sure Indiana’s best second option” we saw when Vic was injured. Look for Bogey to bounce back from this one tomorrow. THADDEUS YOUNG PF, Indiana Pacers C Some strong moves in the post and the ability to always hit the open man on fast breaks kept Thad useful in this one. His offense wasn’t working like it was against the Sixers last game, but a solid night nonetheless, despite being a team-low -6 on the night plus/minus wise.<doc-sep>
Last Updated: January 18 at 12:43 PM ET Matchup After being handed a 24-point defeat to the 76ers on Thursday night, the Pacers look to regroup as they prepare to face rookie Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. During their loss on Thursday, Indiana (29-15) struggled with shot-making, as the Pacers made just 9-of-29 attempts from beyond the arc and shot 40.2 percent for the game. "We didn't make shots early and we took that to the defensive end of the floor," explained head coach Nate McMillan after the game. "You're going to have nights when shots don't fall and your defense has got to hold until those shots fall. Tonight, we just gave in defensively." Among the Pacers struggling with their shot was Victor Oladipo, who made just 6-of-20 in the loss. In the locker room after the game, Oladipo talked about needing to be in attack mode more often. "It's tough," he said. "I've been trying to figure it out for the past, I don't know how many, games since I've been back. But at the end of the day, I just have to be myself. Do what I've been doing that got me to this level. There's nothing passive about me. I've got to be more aggressive and everything will take care of itself." He'll get his first chance to play with more aggression come Saturday night — when the Pacers will honor the legendary Slick Leonard — as the Dallas Mavericks (20-24) come to town. The Mavs' season has been defined by the emergence of rookie Luka Doncic, who has dazzled with his playmaking while leading all rookies with 20.3 points per game. Despite the inspiring playing from Doncic, Dallas' main problem all season has been winning games on the road. When playing in Dallas, the Mavericks are an impressive 16-6. But away from home, the Mavs have posted a paltry 4-18 record. As they continue their five-game homestand, the Pacers will look to capitalize on Saturday's matchup as they attempt to rebound from their loss on Thursday. Projected Starters Darren Collison Victor Oladipo Bojan Bogdanovic Thaddeus Young Myles Turner Luka Doncic Wesley Matthews Harrison Barnes Maxi Kleber DeAndre Jordan Pacers: PG - Darren Collison, SG - Victor Oladipo, SF - Bojan Bogdanovic, PF - Thaddeus Young, C - Myles Turner Mavericks: PG - Luka Doncic, SG - Wesley Matthews, SF - Harrison Barnes, PF - Maxi Kleber, C - DeAndre Jordan Injury Report Pacers: None Mavericks: JJ Barea - out (right Achilles surgery), Dennis Smith Jr. - questionable (illness) Last Meeting February 26, 2018: Despite carrying a four-game win streak into their road matchup with the Mavericks, the Pacers fell in Dallas 109-103. Indiana struggled to shoot from long range all night, making just 5-of-20 from deep. Dallas, on the other hand, was on fire, connecting on 14-of-37 as the Mavs grabbed the six-point win. "Defensively, we didn't do a good job of keeping it in front of us," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said. "They did a good job of moving the ball from side to side and getting downhill on us pretty much all night. And in the fourth quarter they just had a huge quarter." Myles Turner led Indiana with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 11 rebounds, and three blocks in the loss. Noteworthy The Pacers are 31-42 against the Mavericks and have lost three straight to Dallas. Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle was coach the Pacers for three seasons (2003-2007). Doug McDermott was traded to the Mavericks last season and played in 26 games for Dallas. Tickets The Pacers continue their homestand by hosting rookie sensation Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets » TV: FOX Sports Indiana - Chris Denari (play-by-play), Quinn Buckner (analyst), Jeremiah Johnson (sideline reporter) Radio: 107.5 FM The Fan - Mark Boyle (play-by-play), Slick Leonard (analyst), Pat Boylan (sideline reporter/host) Please Note: Inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Pacers radio broadcasts can be heard on 1080 AM instead of 1070. Hickory Night On Saturday night, the Pacers will honor the legendary playing, coaching, and broadcasting career of Bobby 'Slick' Leonard, who was the head coach for all three of Indiana's ABA Championships. Learn More at Pacers.com/Hickory » Basketball Day Indiana For the third season in a row, FOX Sports Indiana will celebrate Basketball Day Indiana with over 14 hours of basketball and the Pacers vs. Mavericks closing out the coverage.