Indiana Pacers Are Looking Lost
I don’t know where to really recap tonight’s game as it just felt flat all around. But then again, last night’s game felt that way as well. The defense hasn’t been the same menacing defense we’ve seen this season. The offense isn’t flowing. Paul George is hitting shots he was hitting before. Roy Hibbert took who knows how many shots tonight, and definitely missed a bunch of shots. George Hill obviously voiced his frustration last night, and I think that’s an overall sentiment for how the team has been playing. Even someone as solid like David West has looked off. I don’t need a stats sheet to tell me that things are starting to slide the wrong way for this team. Just look at the body language. All these guys are so telling with their physical appearance. I know that’s a huge sign of how this team is performing. Their confidence looks completely gone, and tonight should have been a win.
Well, so should have last night been a win. If you want to make noise you have to get that momentum going. The Pacers right now have no momentum. If they struggle come Monday night against Cleveland, there might be some big concern happening. I think there’s going to need to be some “team meeting” or something tomorrow morning before heading to Cleveland for that game. This team has got to straighten out whatever is going on. It’s like there’s a cloud over them, and they can’t shake it off.
As a fan, I always want to believe so strongly in the Pacers, but they’re making it tough now. I hope they didn’t peak too early like a college team does. Just like those teams heading to the NCAA Tourney, you want to be playing your best basketball come that time of the year. With such a good month of February, March has looked kind of ugly. They’re 4-4 this month with those losses coming at the hands of the Celtics, Heat, Lakers, and Sixers. Not terrible losses, well that Sixers one is. And add in the Celtics one, when you considered they didn’t score the last five minute of the game. And the Heat one was terrible as the Pacers had played that Heat team so well in the first two meetings. And the Lakers one, well they were nine point favorites, so that’s a bad one too. Okay, so the losses have been terrible this month.
I know they’ll finish in that top two or three seed for the playoffs, and they should win the division. But this team doesn’t look ready for the playoff run that fans want them to make. I would expect a run to the Conference Finals is the expectation. Right now, the Pacers might be lucky to make it out of the first round. Even then, that should be a dog fight. They have to figure out what’s going on, and correct things soon or else fans will really start turning away.