Indiana Pacers Hovering Around the Middle of the Power Rankings
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers slip a bit in the power rankings thanks to their win-loss-win-loss pattern over the last 13 games.
The Indiana Pacers have been consistently inconsistent, but predictably so coming out of the All-Star break. They’ve followed a win-loss pattern for 13 games, beating some of the NBA’s better teams while struggling to close out and win others.
That leaves them at 36-34, just two games above .500.
As ESPN’s Zack Lowe noted in his excellent post on the Pacers, Indiana is painfully average.
"Regardless of who succeeded Vogel, Teague would ignite a drive-and-kick machine and free George to work more off the ball. Nope. Their shot selection profile hasn’t budged: They’re 19th in total drives, 28th in shots within the restricted area, 27th in 3s, and toward the top in mid-range jumpers. They’re 15th in offensive efficiency, and 17th on defense. They might be the most average team in the league."
With all that in mind, it isn’t surprising to find that the experts have them around the middle of the NBA for some time now, and this week, slightly below average.
17. Paul George is trying his hardest this month—27.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 51% shooting ain’t bad—and the Pacers are hanging in there. That said, they’ve now alternated wins and losses for a franchise–record 14 straight games. (Last Week: 15th) — <a href=. @Jeremy_Woo. Sports Illustrated. JEREMY WOO
16. The NBA schedule can be so weird sometimes. Indiana visited Toronto on Sunday for the teams’ first of three meetings this season, which isn’t merely late for two clubs that reside in the same conference but also a record (according to Elias) for two teams that met in the previous postseason. The 25-point pounding Indy absorbed bookended a week that began in equally disappointing fashion, thanks to the mere 81 points scored by the Pacers in a loss Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. But here’s a tidbit that has to hearten Pacer People even with their team perilously close to .500 and in danger of losing the sixth slot in the East standings that they’ve occupied for so long: Myles Turner celebrates his birthday Friday. And he’s only turning 21! (Last Week: 13th) — <a href=. @ESPNSteinLine. ESPN. MARC STEIN
@MattMooreCBS. CBS Sports. MATT MOORE. 19. Indiana is 14 games over .500 at home. So if it makes the playoffs, go ahead and pencil them in for at least one win. (Last Week: 15th) — <a href=
16. With Atlanta’s injuries, the Pacers should have a real shot at climbing into fifth place in the East. But they’re closer to ninth place (1 1/2 games ahead of the Heat) than they are to fifth (two gams behind the Hawks), they haven’t won two straight games since Feb. 6, they lost to the Knicks on Tuesday (scoring 29 second-half points against a bottom-10 defense), and they got thumped in Toronto on Sunday. They remain a bad road team (having shot 16-for-70 from 3-point range in their last three road games), but play four of their next five games at home, where they’re 4-0 since the break. (Last Week: 13th) — <a href=. @johnschuhmann. NBA. JOHN SCHUHMANN
They helped themselves out last night with a win over the Utah Jazz, but if this pattern holds, expect a loss to the Boston Celtics, a win over the Denver Nuggets, and a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers over the next week.
Next: Myles Turner: The Underutilized Future of the Indiana Pacers
Or, the wheels fall off and Indiana misses the playoffs entirely. Maybe they go on a winning-streak. Who knows with this weird team.