The Indiana Pacers Had the NBA's Best Record in February

The Indiana Pacers went 2-1 in week 18, facing off against three of the NBA’s top teams.

The Indiana Pacers, as a Team, are Smoking Hot Right Now

The 2014-15 Indiana Pacers, the team given multiple injured player exceptions to bring A.J. Price back to the team, the team owning multiple seven-game losing streaks in one season, and the team still missing their best player, had the best record in the NBA in February at 7-2. They also had the fifth-best offensive rating and fifth-best net rating, according to NBA.com.

How in the world did the Pacers do this?

The offense has been scorching hot, with the team putting up 107.2 points per 100 possessions (5th best in the NBA in February) on 47.2% shooting (1st) and 40.3% from 3-point range (3rd). Their resulting effective field goal percentage was 52.3% (3rd), and the Pacers also kept their turnover rate was down (to 13.1%, 5th)

Rodney Stuckey is averaging 19 points per game since February 8. He is a monster and probably deserves to win the NBA MVP this season.

The Hometown Hero George Hill just got his first career triple double, and his minutes restriction has been lifted. He put up 17.4 points per 36 minutes in February while hitting 40.3% of his 3-pointers. He also brought a boat load of clutch play and professional savvy that helped Indiana win games late that they have been losing all year. When he is on the court this season, the Pacers are 8.1 points per 100 possessions better.

David West shot 50.5% for the month. He didn’t light up the scoreboard, points-wise, but he averaged 12.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per month. These are easily his best shooting and rebounding numbers of any month this year, and this was also his highest assist month. He shot particularly well from 16 feet and beyond, hitting 54.5% of those shots in February. A lot of this is because Hill is back. The two are running the pick-and-roll together brilliantly again at times, and Hill assisted on 21 of West’s 49 made shots over these nine games.

Lavoy Allen and Ian Mahinmi are both back in action.

We also know that Paul George is attempting to return to real life NBA basketball games in less than two weeks (on March 14), and is already back to practicing in full. Depending on how PG’s return goes, this could be a team really hitting it’s stride at the right time.

The Indiana Pacers Currently Hold a Playoff Spot

Yes, the 7th and 8th seeds in the East currently deserve an asterisk. Yes, they both having a losing record, Yes, there are indeed only a few games between the 7th seed (Miami Heat, who just gained Goran Dragic and lost Chris Bosh for the season) and number 12 (the Detroit Pistons, who just traded for Reggie Jackson to shore up the point guard deficiency without losing either Andre Drummond or Greg Monroe).

All of these things are true.

However, this is the team that had a seven-game losing streak this year. The Pacers, for all their early injuries, are now in control of their own playoff destiny, and are potentially two weeks from having their full roster available with the return of Paul George.

Much has been written about this already; the Pacers returning to strength while their foes face mounting injury issues, thePacers easy strength of schedule and heavy home tilt for the remainder of the year, on and on. I’m not going to go far into detail on this.

The fact remains, however, that this Indiana Pacers team is now in position to meet their preseason goals set after Paul George’s injury, and could be one of the most terrifying 7 or 8 seeds in a while.

Rodney Stuckey Remains En Fuego

Rodney Stuckey had his first non-double-digit scoring game off the bench this week against the Thunder, but still averaged 18 points per game for the week, and dropped 30 on the Warriors. Stuck is scoring efficiently (51.2% from the field and 54.5% from behind the arc), which has been … a pleasant surprise, given his career shooting history.

These numbers are probably unsustainable, but greatly helpful to the team’s current plight.

His string of recent hot play has coincided with him coming off the bench, and the role seems to suit him well. Playing with the second unit seems to have two distinct advantages for Stuck: 1), he can expend more energy in concentrated bursts knowing that he’s returning to the bench, and 2) he doesn’t have to worry as much as to whether he’s taking shots away from hungry mouths down low as much. He can have a little less conscience in his shooting, which is often freeing for score first type guards.

It’s doubtful that Stuckey can keep this level and efficiency of production up, but the team will obviously take as much of this play as Stuck can give them.

Ian Mahinmi Is an Offensive Machine!

O.K., not quite an offensive machine, but Ian Mahinmi is playing aggressively on the offensive end recently. Ian has never been known for his offensive prowess, but he is efficient in the shots he takes (7-of-15 last week), and is shooting 58% on the year.

Aggressive Ian brings a much different offensive repertoire than Roy Hibbert, showing brutish post plays and slashing dunks that just aren’t in the Big Fella’s skill set.

However, this comes with a huge drawback: Mahinmi is shooting 32.8% from the line this year, and was 2-of-12 (16.7%) from the charity stripe last week.. Cleveland went to a “Hack-a-Ian” strategy, to use Quinn Buckner’s words, and it worked to perfection, as Ian went 1-for-9 in the game, and the Pacers went to a Luis Scola/David West front line when Hibbert needed rest.

Mahinmi isn’t historically a terrible FT shooter (he’s never finished below 60% from the charity stripe for a whole season), and early hope was that this would turn around, but he’s actually getting worse as the season progresses.

If he stays shooting the way he has been, the Pacers might wind up giving Lavoy Allen some minutes at the center position. Lavoy isn’t nearly the defender that Ian is, 1-on-1 or at the rim, but teams won’t intentionally put him at the line to waste Pacers possessions.

The Indiana Pacers Week Ahead

Games: vs Philadelphia (3/1), vs New York (3/4), vs Chicago (3/6), vs New York (3/7)

Prediction: The Indiana Pacers go 4-0, beating Philly and the Knicks (twice) fairly handily, while scratching out a win against the reeling Chicago Bulls, who are once again minus Derrick Rose

Last Week’s Prediction Results: 3-0

Season Long Prediction Results: 33-22

What to Watch For: GODNEY STUCKEY, remaining the what to watch for leadoff for at least another week while his play remains strong … Other teams going to the “Hack-a-Ian” technique as he continues to struggle from the line … C.J. Miles, due for another ridiculous game… George Hill, all over the court, all the time, doing all the things … Roy Hibbert, rediscovering his aggressiveness on the boards and on D… C.J. Watson, playing slightly better while putting less strain on his injured feet now that George Hill is off his minutes restriction …

Next: Pacers Way Better With George Hill on the Court?

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