Key Takeaways from the Indiana Pacers Win Over the Detroit Pistons

The Indiana Pacers became a focus of the mainstream NBA world after their preseason opener. Paul George’s comments on his dislike of playing the 4 caused quite a stir and had Pacers’ fans sweating profusely. But after George’s performance against the Detroit Pistons and his public statements since, fans can relax ever so slightly and realize there is still a lot left to transpire.

George cruised to a video-game like performance by putting up 32 points in 23 minutes while got off to yet another hot start by scoring 20 points in the first quarter. The Pacers overall looked more sharp than their previous outing and showed some positive strides in their victory.

Preseason is debatably futile and inconsequential in the long run. The games are strictly about getting some practice on the stylistic pace change, getting the young guys some minutes in an NBA setting, improving conditioning, and building some semblance of on the court chemistry.

Anyone who has to face off against The Brow would be having second thoughts, but the truth is George has shown symptoms of a top-notch offensive arsenal against opposing 4s.

After the sometimes ugly preseason opener, this game was a little bit more entertaining due to PG’s offensive explosion. With all that being said it is now time to take a glance at five quick takeaways from the win in Detroit.

1. Paul George is thriving offensively at the 4

After a challenging first matchup with Anthony Davis (where Paul George appeared to be successful) he completely had his way with the combination of Ersan Ilysova, Marcus Morris, and Anthony Tolliver. See that’s the thing, he won’t be facing a superstar at the 4 every night. Surprising right?

This is something that George will realize the more matchups he sees; there are just not that many great power forwards in today’s game. Anyone who has to face off against The Brow would be having second thoughts, but the truth is George has shown symptoms of a top-notch offensive arsenal against opposing 4s.

He was 5-of-9 from 3-point range and was easily able to get whatever shot he wanted against the slower Pistons defenders. He is 8-for-17 from deep in his first two preseason games and he seems to have more freedom than ever before offensively. He now has 50 points in 46 minutes, and the talk about his strife at the playing the 4 will now begin to dissipate ever so slightly.

He did the majority of his damage either off of isolation or a never-ending series of screens that gave him more than enough space for a shot. The issue with defending George at the 4 is that bigs cannot chase him around screens or defend him one on one. Add all that up and that is how you get his offensive explosion.

From the beginning it was clear that his move to the 4 was to create advantageous matchups and that has proved to be true thus far. Who knows, maybe this performance was just enough to calm his mind on the whole idea.

Next: Good Pace and Bad Defense