Vogel to Bench All Five Pacers Starters Tonight in Milwaukee

The Indiana Pacers just keep getting more and more interesting. And tonight, we’ll find out if their second unit is good enough to defeat the worst team in the NBA.

Why the second unit? Because all five members of the starting five — Roy Hibbert, David West, Paul George, Lance Stephenson and George Hill — are being rested tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks.

It is one of the most bizarre moves by a coach in an important stretch run, ever. The Pacers sit in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind the Miami Heat. Vogel said all five starters will return to practice Thursday and will play Friday against Miami as the Pacers try to win the season series and the accompanying tiebreaker.

The troubles of the Pacers have been well-chronicled, including a feature item that ran Monday on this site and pointed out the deficiencies of the second unit, especially since Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen were dealt for Evan Turner at the trading deadline.

Tonight, we’ll see what they can do under the spotlight.

More from Pacers.com: “We’re going to rest them and try to heal up some various bumps and bruises involved with all five guys, Vogel said. “We’re not playing well as a basketball team right now and the starters aren’t playing well. Our bench is not playing well. We want to try to get the starters on track by getting their legs back under them and getting them healed up.”

Why all five?

“If you sit one or two guys for the game, nobody ever finds a rhythm,” Vogel said.

Indiana will use just its fourth different starting lineup of the season tonight: Donald Sloan, Evan Turner, Rasual Butler, Luis Scola and Ian Mahinmi. George, West and Hibbert have played in all 78 games this season. Hill and Stephenson have missed five and two games, respectively.

“It’s a great decision, great decision for both our second unit as well as our starters to rest … [and] for our bench guys to get some rhythm as well,” said Paul George. “It’s great for us moving forward. We all went through a rough stretch of the season. I think it’s common for guys to be fatigued, a little tired at this point, but I think this is a great call from coach.  We still have our sights on the No. 1 seed but the most important thing for our team is fixing our team.