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Home Wins Key For Pacers’ Playoff Push

By Matthew Handel

Mar 15, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) looks to pass the ball while Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) defends in the second half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana Pacers defeat Boston Celtics 103-98.Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) looks to pass the ball while Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) defends in the second half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana Pacers defeat Boston Celtics 103-98.Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Indiana Pacers’ remaining schedule is favorable on paper, but they will still need to get it done on their home court regardless.

The Indiana Pacers started a stretch during which they will play eight of nine games at home and it hasn’t started as well as they had hoped it would. They dropped one of the first games against the Toronto Raptors, 101-94 in overtime. Poor free throw shooting (70 percent) and lack of rebounding (57-48 in favor of the Raptors were two things that ended up costing the Pacers that game.

The next game against the Oklahoma City Thunder was a monster game for Paul George, 45 points and seven rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to get the job done, the Pacers lost this home game as well, 115-111. Once again, free throw shooting (73 percent) and rebounding (45-34 in favor of the Thunder) ended up being the reasons the Pacers lost this one.

Good news for the Pacers, these two games against really tough teams were down to the wire.  The Pacers avoided getting blown out and that is a good sign heading into the playoff push.

But, the Pacers won’t be playing in the postseason if they can’t take advantage of this favorable home schedule coming up. They did take advantage of Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the worst team in the NBA, coming away with a 91-75 win.

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The next five games, the Pacers’ opponents have a combined record of 145-202. Obviously, that means that these teams haven’t had the best seasons and the Pacers need to capitalize on this weakness.

Correcting their poor free throw shooting and rebounding better are two areas that need to be fixed if they want to make a strong playoff push, but there are some things the Pacers have done well over the past three games. One of those areas being passing. The Pacers are a combined 15 assists better than their opponents over this three game stretch.

Ball movement is always important for a great playoff push and it is nice to see the Pacers already doing well in this area.

Another area the Pacers have been strong in is avoiding turnovers. The Pacers have a combined nine turnovers fewer than their opponents the past three games. Ball movement and ball security are two of the most important areas that make a team great, if the Pacers continue to do well in these areas, they will see more wins than losses on the upcoming schedule.

Along with these keys to more success, George having All-Star caliber games can’t hurt, this game against the Thunder is exactly the type of game the Pacers would love to see George continue to have in the future.

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It wasn’t just his scoring that was impressive, ball movement and rebounding were a couple of areas that were in the shadows of a great scoring show. Obviously 45 points every game is a tough task, but the closer George can play to this game, the more wins for the Pacers.

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