Indiana Pacers: Beaten Up, but Off on the Right Foot
By Shane Young
Opening night is supposed to have a different enthusiasm, a lot more zealous attitudes.
Beginning their season in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Indiana Pacers were surrounded with completely different feelings, expectations, and a whole new roster compared to October 2013. Just one calendar year ago, this team entered the year facing the Orlando Magic, with every intention of winning 56-60 games and owning the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Consider this the 1996 San Antonio Spurs. Whether it was a major injury (Paul George) or a heartbreaking departure (Lance Stephenson), the Pacers are just a name everyone is picking to finish near the bottom of the barrel. The same thing happened to the Spurs in ’96-’97, when they were trying to repeat their 59-win, second overall seed finish. With a catastrophic injury, they had the door slammed back in their faces, and only managed to win 20 games the next year.
This weird, unusual bunch in Indianapolis doesn’t mirror the roster San Antonio had, but they could mirror the results.
Having David West (ankle), George Hill (knee contusion), and C.J. Watson (bruised foot) all missing the season opener, the Pacers still out-lasted the Philadelphia 76ers, 101-91. Brett Brown brought his young, inexperienced D-Leaguers into their first game of the season, and actually kept it competitive for three quarters. At many points, there were times where you looked at the Pacers’ performance and wondered if they were going to be on the same level as this 76ers team that’s projected to win less than 22 games.
It’s impossible to get to that point, however, since Sam Hinkie isn’t worried about throwing talent on his roster, or even picking up some in the free agency market. Wins don’t persuade them. The thought of winning forces an instant U-turn, and accelerates them into the opposite direction.
Starting with the lineup of the newly integrated Donald Sloan, C.J. Miles, Solomon Hill, Luis Scola, and Roy Hibbert, Indiana didn’t get fantastic results from their first unit. They were a -6 in plus-minus for the first half on Wednesday, and that lineup wasn’t used a ton down the stretch of the game.
Surprisingly, the lineup of Rodney Stuckey, Damjan Rudez, Chris Copeland, Lavoy Allen, and Ian Mahinmi was used for the second-most minutes on the court (10) and they finished with a +5 in plus-minus on the night.
Perhaps that shouldn’t be considered a large surprise, though.
After all, each of those five guys were off the bench, and they all had the same mentality. Come in, prove yourself, and fight for minutes. This is actually a perfect scenario for the reserves, who have chances to enter games this first week and make splashes. Considering that two starters (Hill and West) and a backup floor general (Watson) will all be back before December, there’s a limited amount of time they have to shine before minutes become scattered.
“We’ll be fine, man. We have a lot of guys out,” Stuckey said following the win. “It gives opportunities for a lot of guys to step up. For the first month or so, that’s how it’s going to have to be.”
Sloan, in only his 13th career start in three years, was as aggressive and comfortable as he’s ever been. His 16 points were higher than any performance he had with Indiana last season, and it also marked a career-high in his NBA career. It didn’t matter if it was coming off screens, attacking the basket, or using his superb pull-up skills … Sloan was getting the job complete. Some would argue his first game as a starter this season proved he could be a better point guard option than the normal starter, George Hill.
Hill doesn’t actively rebound the ball like Sloan loves to, and doesn’t seem as well-rounded. Along with the 16 points on 46.2 percent shooting, Sloan stayed around the paint for most of the night and grabbed 10 rebounds. One of Sloan’s underrated abilities was shown on Wednesday, and that’s being able to use his ball-handling to create space and shoot from the mid-range. He can maneuver around the court smoothly, and get any shot he wants when defenders are in front of him. Hill isn’t the type to impress you with his separation skills, and has never been a pull-up shooter.
Standing out even more was the impression Roy Hibbert left on everyone in the Fieldhouse. We’re just six months removed from one of the most infamous and appalling playoff depressions in a player’s career. It was Hibbert’s disturbance in the 2014 postseason that forced everyone to take him out of the top centers in the game, even if his defensive competence stayed at a high level.
It just went to prove that this league is driven by offense in this generation. Everything except his defense dramatically dipped in the second half of the season, but nobody could give him credit for still being an hellacious rim-protector. All they were worried about was how many points he was going to contribute, and how many shot opportunities the offense would allow Hibbert to have. Offense is not 100 percent of the game, yet there will be no changing the way the public reacts to a player of Hibbert’s imbalance.
Nonetheless, Hibbert silenced everyone on his negative side in the opener.
Scoring 22 points and grabbing eight boards, he was superior against Philadelphia’s front line of Nerlens Noel, Brandon Davies, Malcolm Thomas, and Henry Sims. Considering the general public only thinks of one of those names as important (Noel), it wasn’t a difficult task. In addition to his 6-of-8 shooting, Hibbert was inspiring to the rest of the team by getting to the foul line. He did so 13 times, and knocked down 10 of them. He’ll always be in the top 5-10 of big men when it comes to free throw efficiency, because he doesn’t struggle to the high degrees of Andre Drummond, Josh Smith, DeAndre Jordan, or Dwight Howard. That’s one of the ways he’ll be able to out-shine other centers on any given night.
It was Hibbert’s defense, however, that shut down the building once again and helped Indiana get a 13-point win.
Seven blocks is something of a tradition for Hibbert on opening night now, apparently. Last year vs. Orlando on the opener, he threw back seven shots, but didn’t have nearly the greatest offensive game. That was thanks to Paul George, who already took it upon himself to be the offensive juggernaut for Indiana.
Now, it’s their big man, and he’ll serve as a primary option all season long. He tried to downplay his new piece of the pie during the offseason, but everyone knew it was only because he was trying to stay quiet to the media.
Rodney Stuckey, who was on a minutes limit with a sore foot, played exceptional off the bench.
He was able to supply the Pacers with a point a minute average, scoring 16 points in 16 minutes. Getting 37-40 points from the bench last season would’ve been a laughable question with these Pacers, who had the 27th ranked bench in the league in terms of offensive production. But, they did so in their first win, and Stuckey was a large part of that.
Will Stuckey stick with the second unit, even after he completely recovers from his injury?
“Probably not. I think he’ll be a starter and a big minutes guy,” Vogel said.
Stuckey was even able to knock down two 3-point jumpers throughout the game, and that’s never been something he’s comfortable with. He’s a career 28.8 percent outside shooter, and nothing less than 34 or 35 percent indicates that you’re ready to shoot a high volume of those shots.
Nonetheless, he worked extensively on his touch from deep this summer, since he knew it would only make his free agency options open up, and give teams more of an incentive to sign him off the market. Indiana will sure love to use his new abilities.
“What Rodney Stuckey can do is put the ball in the basket,” C.J. Miles said. “So, I mean, once you get three layups and to the free throw line four times, you get rhythm. Guys start backing up off you, and you gotta keep them honest. That basket keeps growing, and by that time, the basket was as big as the arena by the time he got those 3-pointers.”
For a team that was just as stubborn about long-range attempts as some of the worst organizations in the league last season, the Pacers showed great promise in the opener.
24-25 attempts is where they need to be, and that’s what took place against Philadelphia. If it continues, you can guarantee more than eight are going to fall once this unit gels together.
Indiana will continue their 2014-15 season with a second straight home game, taking on the Memphis Grizzlies on Halloween night. It’ll either be a trick or treat for the fans hoping to see a 2-0 record.