St. John’s basketball: JaKarr Sampson starts for Pacers as playoffs arrive

Former St. John’s basketball standout JaKarr Sampson logged a start for the Indiana Pacers in its final regular season game ahead of the pending NBA Playoffs.

The NBA restarted regular season has come to an end as the playoffs are quickly on the horizon but prior to the finish of the season, there were still some seeds to be determined.

Not that seeding matters at all in this season’s playoffs due to the bubble setting in Orlando, Florida, but for players, coaches, and fans it’s always nice to see the hard work you put in all season, layoff, and restart pay off.

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Despite sitting a slew of its star players, the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers squared off ahead of its upcoming playoff series with one thing on the line, who would be the No. 4 seed and who would be the No. 5 seed?

Indiana will be wearing its home uniforms more often than Miami next week after its 109-92 victory on Friday afternoon but in a game where there was no Jimmy Butler or Victor Oladipo, former St. John’s standout JaKarr Sampson was inserted in the starting lineup for the Pacers.

In 23 minutes of action, Sampson chipped in ten points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.

The 27-year old is typically a role player off the bench for head coach Nate McMillan but for his underrated and under appreciated efforts the Ohio native saw extended minutes for his Pacers.

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JaKarr Sampson has excelled in his very role coming off the bench with his only dud of the restarted season with a 12 minute scoreless outing against the Phoenix Suns back on August 6.

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Game One between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Playoffs will be on Tuesday, August 18 at 4:00pm EST and the game can be seen on TNT.