Despite rocky return, Malcolm Brogdon wills Pacers to win: 'Not sure we win without him'

INDIANAPOLIS – Malcolm Brogdon came to Indiana to become a leader. The leader.

The type who clinches the game with free throws but blames his own rust on putting his team in a tight game to begin with. The player who’s calm enough to shoot through a 3-for-12 start — launching and making shots off the same looks he badly missed early-on.

The starter who had no reason to be calm, but whose poise in the face of frustration and failure helped resuscitate a reeling Pacers squad desperately in need of a win Monday against Philadelphia, 101-95.

“I think (he) makes all the difference,” backup point guard T.J. McConnell said of Brogdon’s return after missing eight of the Pacers’ past nine games. “I’m not sure we win tonight without him.

“We can always count on him, and he always delivers.”

Because of a litany of ailments, his Pacers teammates haven’t gotten to play with Brogdon at his best in more than a month. A torn ligament in his right pinkie finger benched him for a game then sent his shooting marks south of 38% for most of December. Despite that he helped will his team over title contenders like the Celtics and Lakers.

And after a sore hamstring and lower back, along with strep throat, the fourth-year point guard is still searching for the consistent, All-Star-caliber player he set his sights on after leaving Milwaukee this offseason.

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What looked like a sure-fire All-Star performance in his first seven games as a Pacer — 23.7 points, 9.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game — has turned into a roller coaster screaming downhill at times. Monday night, playing his first full game since Dec. 22, Brogdon was the only Pacer who could describe how his own early struggles hindered a reeling squad in the first half.

“It takes a while to get your rhythm back, and tonight was one of those nights. In the first half, I didn’t have my rhythm, and that messed up our chemistry a lot. Guys were trying to adjust to me being back in the lineup,” said Brogdon of his team’s 49-40 deficit at halftime. “I was just hoping I’d get my rhythm by the end of the game, and I was able to do that.

“My teammates really trusted me with the ball.”

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Brogdon is cognizant of how his own rhythm and confidence flow into the rest of the starting lineup.

His 2-for-8 start proved a microcosm of the Pacers’ shooting woes from the leaders on down. Starters not named T.J Warren shot just 5-of-22 in the first 24 minutes and were a barrage of Justin Holiday 3-pointers away from trailing by double-digits.

The point guard’s frustrations were holding him back. He knew it. But he couldn’t show it. To Brogdon, that’s the difference between a leader and an offensive weapon. Shooters have off nights. Leaders can’t.

“You just try to be calm and make sure the guys see me calm,” he said.

Added coach Nate McMillan: “That’s what we brought him here to do, to be the guy that leads us. We brought him here to be the guy late in ball games we can play off of, and he’s been doing that.”

It’s why he played all 12 minutes of the third quarter, where the Pacers trailed by as many as 11 points and finished even, 69-all. He made just a single shot, but it encapsulated Brogdon’s development in his 40-game stint in Indianapolis.

Even while he’s been sick, sore and stiff this past month, Brogdon has made a point to work on step-up jumpers. As the primary ball-handler, the former second-round pick has been forced this season more than ever to take his own shot. To step into open looks instead of creating them with screens and frantic cutting, taking his own shot instead of launching off teammates’ help.

With a 2-for-10 line midway through the third quarter, his bomb from the top of the key with 2:43 left in the period pulled the Pacers within 65-64, injecting some much-needed hope into the team and crowd.

“From last year to this year, that part is so different,” said Brogdon of his shot creation. “I’ve been working on those all season, even while I’ve been injured in practice. Those are the shots I’ve got to make.”

His biggest one came nearly 12 minutes later, Indiana still trying to hold onto a game so crucial for future playoff jockeying. Again, Brogdon brought the ball up the floor, Ben Simmons’s 6-9 frame slacking off him just enough for Brogdon to step into a 28-footer on a rope. He entered with 5:38 left in the game and assisted or scored on 10 of his team’s next 12 points, putting them ahead two possessions, 99-95.

He’d barely shown flashes of it all game – heck even in the past month – but McMillan knew the leader he had on his roster when it mattered most Monday night. So did his teammates, and maybe most importantly, so did Brogdon.

“A leader and a closer, that’s what I want to be for this team,” said Brogdon after a team-high 21 points to go with nine assists and seven rebounds. “A guy that leads by example, leads vocally, leads in every way.

“A guy that can close games, who you can rely on with the ball in my hands at the end of a game.”

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown