Some Good, Some Bad…Not Enough Good

It wasn’t a game that the Pacers were realistically expected to win.  The Spurs are simply a better team, and it was in their house.

For a while, there, though…(sigh).

Though there are a lot of reasons for the Pacers and their fans to want a relatively fast start, it is actually more important to understand that these early games serve another purpose.  These games are to figure out who the Pacers are now, how far away they are from being who they want to be, and how to bridge the gap.

From last night’s game, there are a lot of things to like about who they are now, but it is quite a ways from being who they want (need) to be.  Before getting into some of the details, I want to talk about the players, primarily focusing on two separate units – Starters vs. Reserves.

Most of the positives last night come from the starters – particularly the main three (I can’t bring myself to call them the “Big Three” at this point) of Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, and Darren Collison.  Offensively, these three were extremely efficient, posting a combined .641 TS% on their way to 73 combined points.  The 10 turnovers was a bit much, but their performance was very strong, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters.

Josh McRoberts played very well in his 24 minutes, and Mike Dunleavy was solid – with the notable exception of free throw shooting.  On the whole, the starting unit is probably the best thing about these Pacers these days.  Four of the five slots look to be pretty well defined, while the shooting guard slot does have some questions as Brandon Rush returns and Paul George develops.

The bench was a mixed bag.  T.J. Ford played relatively well in his 18 minutes, including a few very nice defensive stands, but he did struggle in the fourth and missed two big freebies just like Dunleavy.  Paul George also had a pretty decent floor game, though his shooting (1-for-5) was absent again.  James Posey and Solomon Jones worked hard, but were largely non-factors as the bench was outscored 32-17.

Much of the nuts and bolts of the recaps have been discussed by this point, but here are some overall observations worth noting:

• The Pacers most pressing areas of concern yesterday – defense and turnovers – are their most pressing areas of need today.  Given the 121 points per 100 possession they gave up, and the 23 turnovers, it’s really a miracle they were even in this game.

• Speaking of miracles – about that shooting.  The Pacers posted an eFG% of .584 and TS% of .610, and that’s pretty much what kept them in it.    Wouldn’t count on many repeats though.  The Pacers took over 58% of their shots from outside of 15 feet, hitting 23 of 45 there.  Using last year’s league average, they’d normally expect to only hit 16 of those shots, and deliver an overall XeFG% of .468.

• Last year, the Pacers opened the season in Atlanta.  On the road against a playoff team, they had an impressive offensive night (eFG of .603) despite struggling with turnovers (25).  They hung tight until a Hawk run early in the fourth opened the game up for good.  The Pacers lost 120-109.  Last night, the Pacers opened in San Antonio.  On the road against a playoff team, they had an impressive offensive night (eFG of .584) despite struggling with turnovers (23).  They hung tight until a Spurs run early in the fourth opened up the game for good.  The Pacers lost 122-109.  That will be quite enough of the similarities to last year, thank you very much.

• The Pacers will have to sort out some kind of answer off the bench at the big positions.  Solomon Jones is far too limited, and you have to wonder how much Jeff Foster really has left in the tank.  Tyler Hansbrough isn’t really ready to provide a big impact, but I have to believe that he’s going to end up in the rotation soon, anyway.  My prediction is that you’ll see a “big man” rotation of Hibbert-McRoberts-Hansbrough-Posey by the middle of November.   Hibbert and McRoberts will start, but McRoberts will play with Hansbrough, while Posey pairs up with Hibbert in a “small” lineup.

Yeah, I know.  Pretty broad generalizations off of just one game.  I just couldn’t resist.