Another forgettable Summer League game for the Indiana Pacers as their struggles continued with a loss to the Atlanta Hawks by a final score of 87-67. Alize Johnson led the way with his second consecutive double double with 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Pacers held out most of their NBA players with minor injuries.

This was painful to watch for much of the game. Indiana made just 4 of 29 of their 3-point shots and turned it over 15 times. The Hawks were also holding out many of their better players including DeAndre Hunter and Cam Reddish.

Most of the enjoyable content came from the broadcast team of Jared Greenburg and Vince Carter (other than not being able to pronounce Alize correctly), who chatted with Malcolm Brogdon for much of the third quarter and were a pleasant distraction from the mediocre product on the court. Usually the Summer League broadcasts are painful but those two managed to have fun despite having a dreadful game to call.

Aaron Holiday (sore hip), Edmond Sumner (sore foot), Brian Bowen II (sore back) and Goga Bitadze (lack of visa) were all held out of this one. This left Alize Johnson as the only player with an NBA contract for the Indiana Pacers and it showed. Not that the team’s performance in the first two games were any better but they were more interesting (Game 1 notes, Game 2 notes).

Alize Johnson

He performed exactly how you would expect him to. He played hard on both ends. He fought for every rebound. Often going up against Bruno Fernando of the Hawks, his final line of 18 points and 10 rebounds looks pretty good. He was the only Pacers offense in the first half as he scored 14 of the team’s 31 points.

At halftime, Alize Johnson has 14 of the Pacers 31 points. He also has six rebounds. The announcers still have no idea how to say his name. pic.twitter.com/JnPfcpSESE — iPacers.com (@iPacersblog) July 9, 2019

He hasn’t shown anything new to his game at this point in Summer League but still showing what he can do simply by outworking guys. Johnson has always looked like he could fill a role with the Pacers by doing just that if given the opportunity. He’s 0 for 6 from 3-point through three games, joining in a team-wide struggle from deep over these three games.

Alize Johnson pushes the pace on his fourth rebound and gets the bucket off the pick and roll. He has 7 of the Pacers 12 points. pic.twitter.com/DdQdt44kSh — iPacers.com (@iPacersblog) July 9, 2019

DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and Shizz Alston

The only other players in double figures were the two best names on the roster.

Continuing to look like a possible candidate for a 2-way contract, Akoon-Purcell scored in double figures for the third consecutive game with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. He was 5 for 13 from the field, but just 1 of 6 from deep.

Shizz Alston scored in double figures for the second consecutive game. He ended up with 10 points (4 of 13), 4 assists and 5 rebounds.

Loling at the bench guys poking fun at Shizz Alston for taking an eternity to line up his three-pointer, which caused his shot to be after the buzzer: pic.twitter.com/fgdoRZsi45 — Tony East (@TEastNBA) July 9, 2019

That’s really it on the basketball that was played on the court. Not much worth writing about tonight but there was some good content outside of the game:

Aaron Holiday

Holiday didn’t play in this one but he still got the Vince Carter stamp of approval as did Domas Sabonis.

“Sabonis, I like him. He’s going to be a go-to-guy now.” — iPacers.com (@iPacersblog) July 9, 2019

Malcolm Brogdon

Some highlights from Brogdon’s time during the broadcast included comments on growing up in the same area as Jeremy Lamb, talking about how much he’s looking forward to playing with TJ McConnell, and

Brogdon says that Lamb was a year ahead of him but was always the guy that people said was better than him growing up. They never got to play on the same team until now.

Fun nugget with Brogdon on the broadcast with his history growing up with Jeremy Lamb. pic.twitter.com/BDS0GM4zii — iPacers.com (@iPacersblog) July 9, 2019

Brogdon gaving a glowing review of “ultimate competitor” in McConnell and talked about the potential of Sabonis and Turner as well.

Malcolm Brogdon loves TJ McConnell and is very excited about playing with Domas Sabonis and Myles Turner as well. pic.twitter.com/qCPWmCMCXa — iPacers.com (@iPacersblog) July 9, 2019

And of course, his overall excitement for joining the Indiana franchise.

"I've always admired this team from afar… I just think it's a great situation for me." New Pacer Malcolm Brogdon joins the @NBATV crew to talk about joining the #Pacers ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/eulRK5Fadx — Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) July 9, 2019

TJ Warren

Another new Pacers player was also in the building along with his mentor David West. TJ Warren was interviewed briefly by Dennis Scott and talked about his excitement when he heard he was getting traded to the Pacers and the confusion that’s bound to happen in practice with three TJs on the roster.