The Indiana Pacers Road Woes Continue in December
The Indiana Pacers have been terrible on the road in the month of December, giving up over 109 points per game and going 1-5.
After an impressive 103-91 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on December, the Indiana Pacers were on a high. They had just capped off the second game of a four-game road trip and had won six straight. What followed was an ugly string road performances that saw the Pacers give up an average of over 120 points in three games and 109 points in the month of December.
Why is this?
Looking at each game individually, there are some key similarities. Against Portland after the win over the Clippers, it was a failure to hold the Blazers’ hot shooting. Portland shot nearly 52% that night, including 50% from long-range on 18-of-36 shooting. Additionally, for those who remember (but won’t want to), Allen Crabbe had the huge game, hitting for 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting including 4-of-5 from distance.
Against Utah two days later, again it was a failure to limit one player from making a major impact — this time Derrick Favors, who had 35 points and 13 boards on 14-24 shooting. Utah wasn’t lights out by any means, shooting 46.7% from the field including 34.8% from beyond the arc.
The game against Detroit exactly one week later was sandwiched in between a home loss to the Warriors and a home win against Miami the night before a return to the Palace. Again, Indiana allowed the Pistons to run the floor and hit half their shots while giving up 13 triples. However, instead of one player taking the bulk of the charge against Indiana, it was a number of players as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Ersan Ilyasova, and Reggie Jackson combined for nearly 60 points on 22-of-42 from the field.
The fourth of five road losses again came a week later and again on the second night of a back-to-back against Memphis. It was the only road loss in which Indiana did not allow over 100 points, but the offense struggled massively as they failed to hit 40% of their attempts including an abysmal 18% (5-of-29) behind the three-point line.
And finally, in their most recent road loss, the Pacers got smacked by the Spurs after a couple days rest from the clash with the Grizz, losing 106-91 while allowing San Antonio to shoot just under 52% overall. Again, one player rose above the rest, as the giant-killer Kawhi Leonard dominated the team who drafted him, netting 24 points on 10-19 shooting.
After examining the five losses and massive defensive breakdowns, a couple things stand out.
First, the Pacers are absolutely terrible on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
Offensively, the 101.5 ORtg isn’t terrible but is below their average of 102.6. The biggest kicker is the difference between DRtg on back-to-backs and their average DRtg (99.3). Even with the extra day of rest, the DRtg drops by almost ten points while the net increases by nearly the same amount.
Especially in the month of December, the numbers are ugly. While it’s true Indiana has been forced to deal with a packed schedule, their attempts at being more prolific offensively have resulted in major sacrifices defensively and thus the horrific ratings.
From a lineup standpoint, two of the Pacers most used five on the floor during December have been amongst the worst statistically.
The starting five of Hill, Ellis, George, Miles, and Mahinmi have been pretty poor offensively but even worse defensively. It should be said, though, that some of these lineups have played such a small sample together that they could be discarded. But, organized by minutes played together it doesn’t look much better.
That first lineup and the Pacers go-to spread is terrible. Only a couple sets of five make the grade considering minutes played this month, but oddly enough, Indiana’s “big” lineup featuring both Allen and Mahinmi has been one of the better fives, even without the offensive production expected.
All of this begs the question, what is the solution?
Well, the lineup adjustments are certainly part of Vogel’s plan, but I’m not sure there’s one clear-cut answer. Being smarter with the ball in order to limit fast break points and hitting the boards more to take away second chance points is a start, but transition defense is still very much a work-in-progress.
Fortunately, the team is back home again tonight — albeit against a tough Hawks team — but the bad news is that they will soon head on a road trip again, playing four of their first five away from home in the new year. The Pacers did manage to win on Saturday in Minnesota, playing a fantastic fourth quarter to get past the Wolves. So the hope is that they can build on this and continue to fix what ails them away from home.