8p9s Roundtable: The Indiana Pacers’ Long December
By Ben Gibson
With a much more difficult December schedule ahead, how many games are the Pacers above or below .500 at month’s end. They are currently 11-5.
Barth: I can see them at 20-12 after December playing just above .500 for the month. Nobody wants to play the league’s best team (Warriors) or take on the league’s best defense (Spurs), but with the way this team is humming I’d expect them to pull out an upset or two before the year is out. The games that scare me the most actually are Toronto and Atlanta since they have always been matchup nightmares for us in the past.
Hughes: I have them losing to the Clippers, Warriors and Spurs. They could win every game, really, and I wouldn’t be surprised. So 13-3 in the month (if that happens, sheesh…) that would make them 16 games above .500.
Furr: I believe the Pacers can go 8-8 in that stretch, and stay 6 over .500. That is a brutal month though. We will get to see whether the November Pacers were real or not very quickly.
Washburn: I think the Pacers will be 19-13 by the end of December, finishing up right at .500 for the entire month. Portland, Brooklyn, Sacramento, and Minnesota can PROBABLY be counted as wins. Golden State and San Antonio can PROBABLY be counted as losses. There really are a lot of games that will depend upon how well the team plays. In truth, though, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pacers win or lose to any of these teams besides perhaps Brooklyn.
Gibson: I think they’ll be at least .500 on the month, but the Pacers falling back to Earth won’t say much about them beyond a tough schedule this month. If they fall below .500 on the month, much less the season, it might be time to recalibrate expectations. They’re going to drop a few, but how many and in what fashion will determine whether it is time hit the panic button again or not. I think they’ll be 5 or 6 above the .500 mark.
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