Pacers Podcast: Running past the Bucks and early playing rotation returns

Nate McMillan wants his team to play a fast pace, including solid defense without fouling and most importantly — take care of the ball.

For one half, at least the Pacers hit all the marks McMillian is preaching in preseason with 62 points, 10 fouls and five turnovers. It was so good in fact, the Pacers cruised through the second half at a far slower pace with more fouls but still took good care of the ball to earn the 101-83 win.

All this without Paul George in the lineup which expected to alter McMillan’s plans to start using his regular season playing rotation for most of the game. Nope.

McMillan stuck with his plan and just filled in the gaps where PG and C.J. Miles (knee) were missing. This pushed Julyan Stone into action to cover Glenn Robinson III’s reserve role since Robinson was bumped up to the starting lineup to cover for PG.

McMillan used 10 players in his rotation with Lavoy Allen adding reserve front court minutes. On episode 10 of Locked on Pacers we go through the thinking behind the rotation while wondering if we’ll see any other combinations in Orlando on Friday. That should let us know if any battles for minutes remain.

The pod is now available via iTunes here so please subscribe and leave a nice review. You can also listen via Audioboom below.