What Happened To The Indiana Pacers?
The NBA season is more than half over. While it may seem depressing, it is a good spot to take a moment and see what happened to the Indiana Pacers.
Forty-two games into the season and the Indiana Pacers have 23 wins. Not exactly the amount they were hoping to have at this point in the season, but the only thing they can do is try to improve in the second half of the year.
Pacers fans, coaches and players are all feeling the same way right now, disappointed. The line doesn’t stop with them though, team president Larry Bird is not as satisfied as he was back in November.
The Indianapolis Star reports that Bird wants to see the Pacers play with a much faster pace. He also says that while playing faster is ideal, he understands that head coach Frank Vogel might have to make changes to his original plan, to make sure that they can make the playoffs.
While pace may seem like the biggest problem to Bird, their defensive inconsistency has to be at the top of the list as well. They just gave up 129 points to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday — the second-most points allowed of the season. Even though they only lost that game by three points, for a team that ranks in the top ten for opponents’ points per game, this is way too high of a number.
November was a different story
Bird had talked about the way the Pacers played in November and for good reason, as they went 11-2 in that month. Their record has declined each month since. In December they were under .500, going 7-9. So far in January they have a record of 5-5. If you take a look at their points per game for each month, it has stayed very consistent for the months of November, December, and January. 103.9, 103.6, and 102.6 are the points per game numbers for those months in order.
What about that defense that we talked about struggling? In November it was lockdown, giving up an average of 93.5 points per game for the entire month. In December and January it was a totally different story, giving up 102.7 in December and 101.2 so far this month. These stats go to show that in order for the Pacers to get back to winning ways, getting the defense back to tops in the league has to be priority.
Defense isn’t the only reason the Pacers have been slumping lately. Rodney Stuckey, Pacers role player, is currently sitting out with an injury (bone bruise in right foot) and is set to come back in a couple weeks. Stuckey was averaging 11.3 points per game last month and when he is healthy, he is a huge piece of the success puzzle in Indiana.
More hoops habit: 25 Best Players to Play for the Indiana Pacers
We have talked about Paul George needing role players to step up and take some pressure off of him, Stuckey can help this cause with his scoring. When Monta Ellis and Stuckey are at their best, they can be a great combination to score much-needed buckets.
Is there any hope left?
The Pacers haven’t totally self-destructed, but if they continue to play the way they have as of late, then they will miss the playoffs this year. Getting their defense back in form, getting Rodney Stuckey back, and playing how they did in November, are the things they need to do to save their season.