When the Indiana Pacers were on the brink of losing, Victor Oladipo stepped up and saved the day.

Victor Oladipo is one of the most clutch players in the NBA. We learned that last season, and we are seeing that again this season,

Last week, Oladipo was involved in three clutch possessions that either gave the Pacers some late wiggle room or sealed the win altogether. His brilliance and gravity with the ball allow the Pacers to get creative at the end of games, and ultimately he is the propeller that drives the Pacers boat.

How did he do it? Let’s take a look, game by game.

To sink the Knicks, multiple possessions of Oladipo genius was required. It started off with some All-Defense like brilliance, with Vic showing off his quick hands to embarrass Tim Hardaway Jr:

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What a play.

The play starts off with a terrible screen from Noah Vonleh. Vonleh makes very little contact with Oladipo on the screen, but in all honesty, it doesn’t even matter – he starts rolling before Hardaway even dribbles. That means Vic can slide over and be in the way before THJ even drives, making the pick effectively useless.

Hardaway thinks Oladipo is over-committing, so he attempts some variation of a crossover to get by Vic. But he left the ball exposed for way too long:

Oladipo graded out as an “A” perimeter defender in our talent grades, he was in the 95th percentile in this category last season. That’s his calling card right there, turning defense into easy offense.

After that play gave the Pacers the lead, they still had work to do. Up three points with a minute and a half to go, Vic did that work:

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Honestly, what do I even say here? Tim Hardaway Jr. played solid defense. Victor Oladipo is just a slightly above average outside shooter. There was enough time on the shot clock for a screen. All things considered, this shot is just Oladipo having, as Tim MacMahon notoriously calls it, “cajones”.

More analytically, Oladipo graded out as an “A-” outside shooter last season. This season, he is shooting 30.2 percent on pull-up threes (as of November 7th). That’s not a great figure, but it is a shot that you can live with late in the shot clock.

But in the clutch, sometimes you have to just throw out the number(s). Oladipo has been working on this exact shot after practices with Pacers assistant coach Bill Bayno, and here he actualized it in a game setting. The culmination of data, talent, and practice led to a beautiful bucket.

But he wasn’t done. He pulled the dagger out the Knicks heart just to shove it right back in, and this time even harder:

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I’ll have to ask Jacob and Crajis for player talent grades on “jumping out of bounds and turning around to find the open man” situations, but Thad Young certainly gets an “A” in that category.

On this one, the data makes more sense. Oladipo is shooting 45.5 percent on catch and shoot threes, a very good figure. He alertly slides to the corner when Young jumps out of bounds for the ball in order to be a safety valve, but he ends up being much more. He’s a great perimeter shooter, and he put the game away.

Just two nights later, he did it again:

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This bucket comes thanks to Vic, just in a much, much different way that the first two.

The possession starts with what appears to be a screen from Bojan Bogdanovic, but he has no intention of actually setting a screen. Instead, he is ghosting the screen and immediately running into the open space at the top of the key.

Why is there open space? Because the Bulls are throwing the kitchen sink at Victor Oladipo to prevent him from driving to the basket:

Vic is told to make a read here. If he gets a matchup he likes, he can take it to the rim. If he draws the double team, he can set up Bojan Bogdanovic for a wide open shot attempt. He makes the right read and the ball whips out of his hands, and eventually to Darren Collison for the game-winner.

Victor Oladipo’s 95th percentile playmaking is on display here. You can cut off his clutch scoring all you want, he will still find a way to beat you. That is what playmakers do. His one-on-one grade is actually in a higher percentile (97) than his playmaking. You have to live with getting beat by his elite shot creation, and he will probably beat you anyways.

He topped off these clutch masterpieces with a movie-like ending against the Boston Celtics:

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Remember that pull-up three-point percentage from earlier? Well, two of those makes were in incredibly clutch situations.

This one is interesting. Victor Oladipo graded as a C- Defensive rebounder last season, but he is the low man on this defensive possession. That allows him to snag the ball and immediately push, which would normally be a good thing.

But he slows down. It seems like he and Kyrie Irving both assumed a timeout was going to be called (truth be told, as a viewer, so did I) and they slow to a walk. You can see Brad Stevens shouting at Irving to get up on Dipo on the sidelines, but it was to no avail.

Once Vic realized no timeout would be called, he burst by the out-of-position Irving. Al Horford, who is sitting just to bit too deep while covering Domantas Sabonis (watch the clip again and look how open Sabonis is when Oladipo lets the shot go), can’t quite get a hand up to contest adequately. And bang. Three points. Pacers lead.

And that wasn’t even Vic icing the game! He did that a few moments later:

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This is a well drawn up play by Stevens, using Kyrie as bait coming toward to ball to draw in the defenders and then hitting Tatum with a cross-court pass for a 1-on-1 chance at the winner.

But Victor Oladipo reads the play (and the not great pass by Hayward) perfectly. That incredible defense was on display again, and the Pacers won because of it.

Oladipo’s shooting splits in the clutch seem fake. 61.1/58.3/87.5 is not a stat line I’m comfortable describing. How he does it is a beautiful combination of talent and IQ. How he does it is perfectly calculated. It’s amazing, and it currently has the Pacers looking good early in the season.