Indiana Pacers: Disgusting Loss In Charlotte, Further From Playoffs
By Shane Young
Full disclosure — You aren’t considered “far” from the playoffs in the East unless you’re intentionally losing games. You have to miss shots atrociously, on purpose, in order to be out of the East playoffs.
The Indiana Pacers are trying their tails off — working just as hard as any juggernaut with 25+ wins — and still embarrassing themselves.
Their losing efforts aren’t intentional. It’s just easier for them to do. It’s much more common these days.
During the first meeting with Charlotte on Nov. 19, Solomon Hill turned into the hero for his late-game awareness. Hill rebounded off a Rodney Stuckey airball, and found himself able to score the game-winning put-back at the buzzer.
People cheered as Lance Stephenson walked off his former court in Indianapolis a man in new colors, and hanging his head in defeat.
In their second meeting on Saturday, there were no smiles or laughter from the Pacers. If there were, they were from the fans that chuckled in humiliation.
Traveling to Charlotte for the first time this season, the Pacers were trapped into their worst offensive performance of the year. To an even greater extent, it may have been the most distressing outcome of the last decade for the Pacers franchise.
Indiana scored 71 points in 53 minutes, as they lost 80-71 to Charlotte in overtime. Yes, that’s just 1.3 points per minute, where the average NBA offense operates at 2.1 points per minute. If it was going to happen to anyone, though, the Pacers would be in the handful of teams you could predict it from. Scoring just 101.8 points per 100 possessions, they rank 27th in Offensive Rating and it seems unwavering.
Playing without Kemba Walker (29.8 points per game in his last six) and Al Jefferson (out since Dec. 29), Steve Clifford’s Hornets didn’t have many hopes heading into Saturday. If anything, people expected Charlotte to just hang in there with a hungry Pacers unit and not make it look as vile.
What they didn’t anticipate was the Hornets being able to shoot 30.7 percent from the field and escape with a win. Something that bittersweet never happens.
It was just the 14th time in the NBA since 1985 that a team shot 30.7 percent or worse and won the game. Crazy enough, it was the second time this season. Oklahoma City and Houston battled in a war of waste, with both teams shooting under 30 percent. Houston won the game without even breaking 70 points.
This was Charlotte and Indiana’s time to shine, where only they know how to. Both teams are in the bottom eight when it comes to Pace (tempo). In addition, neither of them are exemplary from beyond the arc — Indiana ranks only 23rd in 3-point percentage, while Charlotte rests at a deplorable 29th. The stench was bound to fill the air in this one.
For the Pacers, it was the fifth time in the last two seasons they failed to break the 75-point mark. Folks wondered why they couldn’t break through the conference finals barrier that ferociously held them back from 2012-2014. It’s because their scoring options, outside of a healthy Paul George, have been as unreliable as it truly gets in the NBA.
Indiana also set franchise history with the disturbing loss.
It became the first time in Pacers’ history a team has scored 71 points or fewer while playing an overtime period.
Through everything Larry Bird has finally suffered this season — dating back to the summer — reality has finally struck the Pacers hard. Reality has smashed it’s bear claw on Indiana’s anguished faces, with the thud being heard throughout the Eastern Conference.
Killing Frank Vogel and the Pacers in Saturday’s loss wasn’t even the terrifying shooting numbers. It was the relentless amount of turnovers.
For a second, I thought I was in a soccer match. My eyes kept shifting from side to side, watching teams take turns stealing the ball.
Then, I started to twitch. Sometimes, you just can’t handle brutality without going insane.
The Pacers’ 19 turnovers against Charlotte marked the second occurrence this season they’ve coughed up the ball 19 or more times. None of them were pretty, but some of them were worthy of a cringe:
You applaud Roy Hibbert for having an aggressive mind and not wanting to settle for anything. But, the fact that he’s in his seventh year as a pro (with college experience!) and has little-to-no proficiency in his footwork is a major problem. You’d want him to be a bit more agile and capable on the move.
Other turnovers could’ve forced you into the fetal position:
The only other time Indiana had 19 turnovers this season was against Phoenix on the road. To give you an understanding of how unbearable Saturday was, realize that Indiana lost convincingly to Phoenix in December, 116-99. Charlotte needed an extra five minutes to put this Pacers team away. I’m not sure who that says more about.
In the entire game, both teams went a combined 4-of-36 from 3-point range, with the Pacers making just 2-of-21.
Things didn’t get interesting until late in the third quarter, when Hibbert played defensive emperor and swatted ex-Pacer Lance Stephenson on a driving layup attempt. After Stephenson got up off the floor, he ran next to Hibbert while heading to the other end.
Stephenson wanted to give his former teammate a friendly reminder of who he was messing with:
The exotic and mysterious “Born Ready” claimed that it wasn’t anything vengeful or cruel, but just a little shoulder-check.
“I didn’t hit (Hibbert) that hard,” Stephenson said. “He flopped. You know I can’t knock down big Roy, come on now.”
It drew quite the humor, especially for a game that warranted very little.
With the loss, Indiana now owns the second longest losing streak in the East. Having their fourth straight loss come against a team that’s also far below .500 isn’t healthy. They’re ahead of only Spike Lee’s Knicks, who have lost 16 in a row.
Even worse for the Pacers (or better for the future’s sake), they fell to three games out of the postseason picture on Saturday. Charlotte, a team that would rather stay in mediocrity than tank for a draft, is now just 1.5 games away from stealing Brooklyn’s spot at No. 8 in the playoff chase.
42 games down for the disastrous Pacers season, and 40 to go. It’s still hard to fathom the season already passing the mid-way point.
If there are optimists out there dying for Indiana to reach the playoffs for no particular reason, they may not want to hold their breath. Things aren’t looking bright.
In a time where this team should be finding positives for next year, they found nothing but disgust on Saturday.
“That obviously won’t be on ESPN Classic,” Clifford concluded.
Comedy Central may give it some air time.