The Pacers Are Rolling Out a Bizarre Starting Lineup to Save Their Season
Underdog NBA reported the lineup as 'Smith, Nembhard, Nesmith, Siakam, Zubac'.
The are officially throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. Underdog NBA dropped Indiana's starting five for Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks, and it is a certified sicko lineup featuring Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac, and someone simply named Smith.
Let us pause for a second on that last name. Jalen Smith is currently employed by the Chicago Bulls and nursing a hand injury, so unless Indiana executed a secret trade in the middle of the night or found a guy at the local YMCA, we are flying completely blind on which Smith is actually lacing them up.
You do not shake up the starting five when the vibes are immaculate. Indiana is riding a brutal losing streak, dropping recent games to the Memphis and after scoring a pathetic 90 points in a loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
This is the kind of lineup tweak you make when your team has forgotten how to win basketball games. The real basketball story here is Zubac anchoring the middle. Moving him into the starting unit gives the actual size to pair with Siakam, which they desperately need to stop the bleeding.
Meanwhile, Nembhard is already playing heavy minutes. He is logging over 32 a night this season, and now he has to orchestrate whatever this jumbo-sized rotation is supposed to be while figuring out who Smith is on the fly.
For the prop bettors, Zubac getting starter minutes is the only actionable intel here. Expect a bump in his rebounding opportunities while the rest of the offense tries to figure out the new spacing, but tread lightly until we see how this looks on the floor.
We will find out exactly who is playing and if this experiment works when they tip off in Dallas. If they drop another game with this bizarre new look, the panic meter in Indiana is going to break off the dial.