Fan Jam is a welcome back to the start of the NBA season promotional event heavily geared towards the kids which my grandson was with us. I saw a lot of young parents or mothers with their children today wanting to see their favorite players/team. Not as many of the older fans that attend games were present
The first 5,000 fans got a hot dog, chips, and can of soda plus an XL size Pacer t shirt. The Pacemates danced once and Boomer’s power pack did their dunking once. Of course the Pacers were trying to sell tickets to the upcoming season. Doors opened at 10:30, event started at noon with Carlisle introducing most of the organization except the front office. I think we were heading home by 1:30pm.
The format for Fan Jam was a 4 quarter scrimmage with a very short halftime. The assistant coaches were split up to coach the 2 teams while Carlisle was the emcee and watched. Real NBA refs were used but only obvious fouls were called. I’m sure it’s like practice for everyone working in the arena to put today’s event on.
Although they were present Isiah Jax and Furphy were the only players who didn’t play I think due to injury. Wiseman coming off an injury only played in the first half.
The white team was composed of the starters, rookies, James Johnson, and Kendall Brown.
The blue team was basically all the second team plus Quenton Jax and Swider.
Andrew Nembhard led the winning white team with 20 points and looked very aggressive going 6-for-8 from the field (2-for-3 from 3-point range) and 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Myles Turner added 13 points, Siakam 7 rebounds, while Tyrese Haliburton tallied 11 points and five assists in the victory. All of the starters looked good in my opinion. Freeman looked ok. Newton, Brown, and Johnson were non factors during their minutes.
Obi Toppin led the Blue team with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Jarace Walker(3 assists) and James Wiseman(3 rebounds) both added eight points apiece. Sheppard went 3-3 and Swider was ok but didn’t stand out. Q. Jax had a huge dunk and pestered Nemhard defensively at the end of the game. Benn Mathurin was aggressive but it wasn’t his or TJ’s day scoring going 1-8 and 1-5 respectively. Mathurin did have 5 rebounds and TJ had 3 rebounds and 7 assists.
After the scrimmage Myles took the mic and the rookies plus new staff members had to dress up in costumes selected by Turner. Next they each 1 by 1 sing a song Myles picks for them. Lastly the 3 rookies had a dance off showing their moves. Enrique Freeman was the winner of these events per the fan applause vote. There were also photo ops with selected players after the game but we didn’t stay for that and maybe other opportunities which always have long lines.
Overall it was a fun time where in a nutshell we watched a practice scrimmage game with lots of other fluff involved in the day.
Not much to report from game analysis so hopefully I can report back better insight from the preseason game in a week versus the Grizzlies.
Just saw an announcement that Furphy and Isiah Jackson are out for Fan Jam. Wiseman to be determined.
