Pacers News: Pacers unexpected win over Jazz a great souvenir from road trip

The Pacers turned a road trip full of struggles into a success after beating the Jazz with a 48 minute effort to head home 2-2, with a pair of close losses that brings back the ghosts of west coast roadies past.

How many times have the Pacers dump games out west that seemed like wins heading in and then turned the tables to earn an unexpected win against a better team? Through five coaches, several different rosters it always seems the same. The Portland loss? I’ve seen that script play out at least 10 times, like a classic movie on TNT. But with the big win over a healthy Jazz team on the last game, the Pacers can return home with some momentum to build on.

Of course, with Philly at the Fieldhouse on Saturday, that momentum can halt in a hurry or expand. The Pacers do have quality wins over Miami, a hot at the time Knicks team and the Jazz, showing they can play with anyone when putting for a quality 48 minute effort regardless of who is on the injury list.

Myles Turner has really captured a subset of the Pacers momentum with his play over the trip. As Rick Carlisle pointed out after his 25-point effort against the Knicks, look past the points for Turner’s impact.

Turner averaged 13.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.75 blocks over the trip while also making 10 of 19 threes (52.6%). More importantly, the consistent impact over the four games is big for Turner, including the way he rebounded from a slow start in Portland. Instead of another ‘here we go, again’ game, Turner made key threes and plays around the hoop to keep the Pacers in position to win down the stretch (which unfortunately didn’t happen).

Also, Turner showed up against an elite center matching up well against Rudy Gobert which eventually led to a weird kerfuffle after Turner stoned Gobert at the rim which did a few times throughout the game.

Like the Pacers, hopefully Turner can build on this momentum with Philly in town. Even if Joel Embiid doesn’t play, another Turner nemesis Andre Drummond will be in Embiid’s place. If Turner can avoid foul trouble and continue to impact the game in his unique way at both ends of the floor, the Pacers will be in good shape for another win.

Here’s my favorite Tweet from the Turner/Gobert throwdown.

Check out the links:

Game Rewind: Pacers 111, Jazz 100 | Indiana Pacers

Pacers vs. Jazz: 3 reasons Indiana handed Utah its first home loss - Indy Star

Indiana Pacers: Caris LeVert (back) out for second consecutive game

Pacers, Myles Turner leave Utah with a 'huge W' and morale boost - by Scott Agness - Fieldhouse Files with Scott Agness

Rudy Gobert, Myles Turner tussle ends in four ejections in Pacers win over Jazz

Indiana Pacers take down Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz in SLC - SLC Dunk

The Triple Team: Jazz get into 4-ejection skirmish, play bad basketball, and lose to Indiana on a dark day

Rudy Gobert unplugged: Utah Jazz center goes off after ejection vs. Pacers - The Salt Lake Tribune

SLC Dunk Podcast: Post game reaction to the Utah Jazz losing to the Indiana Pacers - SLC Dunk

Jazz-Pacers fight: Here’s a breakdown of what happened - Deseret News

Jazz outplayed by Pacers amid frustration, fighting, ejections: ‘We have a lot of things that we have to clean up’ – The Athletic

Indiana Pacers: Player grades from thrilling win over the Utah Jazz

Power Rankings Notebook: Defensive changes, plus early look at team records | NBA.com