Indiana Pacers Slipping in the Power Rankings This Week
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers slip in the power rankings as their inability to find consistency gives the experts reasons to doubt them.
The Indiana Katy Perrys, um, I mean the Indiana Pacers only know inconsistency this season. Mixed in with decent wins are head-scratching losses.
Some of the losses — say to the Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks — might be attributable to the matchups, but nonetheless they diminish wins against teams like Atlanta Hawks and improving Miami Heat.
That’s why this week some of the experts have them sliding while some have them moving up. Last week they averaged a rank of 13.4, but this week that’s dropped to 14.8.
15. C.J. Miles has been sneaky good for Indiana this season: since the All-Star break, the swingman’s averaging 12.4 points per game in just 26.4 minutes, hitting 42% of threes and playing a critical floor-spacing role. The Pacers need the most out of their smaller parts to hold onto a playoff spot. (Last Week: 13th) — <a href=. @Jeremy_Woo. Sports Illustrated. JEREMY WOO
13. Maybe the mere one-game gap that separates sixth-seeded Indiana and seventh-seeded Detroit in the East is wider than it appears. The Pacers last week completed a four-game season sweep of the Pistons to make it six wins in a row over their division rivals and improve to a gaudy 26-7 in the teams’ last 33 meetings. Yet it’ll realistically take a few road wins to bring the Pacers any lasting comfort, because they continue to sport the worst away record (11-22) among the 16 teams leaguewide that awoke Monday morning in a playoff spot. Two nights before its latest Detroit demolition, Indy suffered a 12-point defeat at struggling Charlotte in which it earned only three trips to the free-throw line all night, good for a new franchise low in the team’s 41-year NBA history. (Last Week: 14th) — <a href=. @ESPNSteinLine. ESPN. MARC STEIN
The Pacers continue to be just stellar at home, which is great for them. Unfortunately, they have more road games than home games left. Going .500 the rest of the way is kind of a best-case scenario at this point. (Last Week: 16th) — <a href=. @MattMooreCBS. CBS Sports. MATT MOORE. 15
13. The Pacers have alternated wins and losses since the All-Star break, doing just enough to hold onto the 6 seed in the East without threatening the Raptors or Hawks. The bigger difference between the good Pacers and the bad Pacers has been on offense, where they’ve committed 12.8 turnovers per 100 possessions in the five wins and 18.0 per 100 in the four losses. The most important win came Sunday against Miami, when they committed just nine turnovers, got 28 points and 10 rebounds from Paul George, and didn’t get outscored with George off the floor. They still have one of the East’s toughest remaining schedules, but have a pretty good chance at a second straight win when they visit the Knicks on Tuesday. (Last Week: 12th) — <a href=. @johnschuhmann. NBA. JOHN SCHUHMANN
18. The Indiana Pacers should probably be thankful for the Pistons, Bulls and Hornets, because otherwise we’d be paying more attention to their up-and-down play this season. This week alone, they alternated between double-digit losses to the Hornets and Bucks and solid wins over Detroit and Miami.<br />Luckily, the Pacers have been able to climb to sixth in the conference standings despite the sporadic fluctuation. The question is what — if anything — they can do in a first round matchup with the Wizards or Celtics should they hang on to their current playoff spot. (Last Week: 13th) — <a href=. @GeraldBourguet. Hoops Habit. GERALD BOURGUET
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They have a chance to gain back ground if they take care of business against the New York Knicks tonight, the Hornets on Wednesday, and then the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.