When Victor Oladipo Pushed Lebron To The Brink...

In 2018, Victor Oladipo was the best two-way guard in the entire NBA. He blossomed into an all-star, won the Most Improved Player of the Year, made first-team All-Defense and pushed LeBron and the Cavs to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. But then, injuries derailed his career, forcing Dipo out of the league by the age of 30. Victor was pretty nice in Orlando and OKC as well, but in his first season as a pacer, he took his game to a whole nother level. From a reliable second option, he became the alpha dog while leading the league in steals, which brought him a lot of these. He was a defensive menace, not afraid of anyone, no matter how big they were. Dipo came to Indy in the Paul George trade and was immediately handed the keys to the franchise, and he didn't disappoint. In his sixth game ever in a pacer's uniform, Victor brought his team from down 9 to a tight finish by scoring 13 of his 23 points in the fourth period. And he saved the best for last. He swishes the huge 3 over Aldridge and tells Indy fans, I'm here. On the other end, Paddy Mills got a wide open shot at the end but fired an airball and the Pacers hung on to win the game. Next up to experience his clutch genes were the Chicago Bulls, who took a 13-point lead in the final period. But Oladipo scored 11 of his 27 points when it mattered the most, setting up another wild finish for the home crowd. That was a gutsy pull-up 3 by Victor in transition, catching the Bulls by surprise to take over the lead. And eventually, after the lorry marking it at the end, the Pacers won another tight game. Two nights later, LeBron and the Cavs came to town and took a 6-point lead at the half, but coming out of the break, Oladipo caught fire. Victor hits his first 3 shots of the quarter, getting fancy with it against J.R. Smith. In his prime, he was one of the shiftiest guys in the league, if not the quickest. Wow, Kevin Love had no chance of stopping that, so on the next play, he drew back a little bit. Wrong move again. Dipo was hunting for love every time down the court to the point it got unfair. This forced the Cavs to replace him with Jeff Green, but it didn't matter because… When a player of his caliber gets into his rhythm, there's not much he can do about it. A 20-point explosion by Oladipo in the third period turning a 6-point deficit into a 3-point lead. So when push came to shove in the last moments of the game, the Pacers looked for their new savior. That was a killer snatch back. Poor K. Love, he could only watch as Dipo nailed what turned out to be the dagger. Not to forget that he outscored LeBron in this one as well, 33-29. Vic was playing his best basketball of his career, and the Denver Nuggets saw that first hand. The Black Panther throws down the reverse jam to pump up the crowd to the max, but in the final frame they saw a similar scenario with their team trailing by 8 points in the clutch, so it was time for Oladipo. Boy, when he backed up to give himself a head of steam, he was truly unguardable. The game went to overtime where Dipo continued to cook. A career high 47 points in another crunch time takeover for Victor. He was on a tear. By averaging 24 points, 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals per contest, he earned his first nod, and the Black Panther made sure to have a memorable weekend. In the second half of the season, Oladipo proceeded to break ankles left and right, leading the Pacers to a solid 48-34 record, good enough for the 5th seed in the East. He bumped his averages from 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal on 44% shooting in OKC, to 23 points, 5 boards, 4 assists and 2.5 steals on 48% efficiency in Indiana. This brought Vic the most improved player of the year award. He was also a part of the third all-NBA team and first-team all-defense. It was the most fruitful season of his career by far. So, the time came to put his powers to a real test against LeBron James in the Cavs in the first round of the playoffs. And right off the bat, he surprised everyone. Deepo got scorching hot in the first half, hitting 4 of 5 from beyond the arc for a 17-point lead. And he made sure to keep his foot on the gas pedal in the last period as well. Vic put on a show in the Game 1 victory in Cleveland, stunning the home fans with 32 points on 67% shooting from distance. However, James bounced back and took a 3-2 lead in the series with this clutch block on Oladipo. And the game winner afterwards. With their backs against the wall, the Pacers responded in a furious fashion. Deepo puts the king on a poster. He had a monster triple-double game of 28 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 steals on 58% shooting from the field in the blowout win at the end. And Game 7 came down to the wire as well with Oladipo racking up 30 points to keep the Pacers alive and chasing in the clutch. But it was just too much of LeBron James who closed out the series with 45 points. Regardless, for a moment in time, Victor Oladipo stood shoulder to shoulder with the best player in the world and came very close to pulling off an upset. Unfortunately, the following season, the injuries came and Deepo was never the same. During his 4-year campaign with the Pacers, he played in only 139 games of the 328 possible. Then he bounced around for 3 more seasons and actually made his deepest playoff run in 2022 with the Miami Heat. After a long time, he was pretty healthy, giving them a solid 10.5 points per game off the bench before eventually losing Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. And a year later, Victor was out of the league. Another player that was unstoppable in his prime but had a sharp decline afterwards is Isaiah Thomas. He snapped the Warriors' historic 54 home game winning streak all by himself. I detailed the epic clash of IT and Curry right here in this video, so check it out and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.