Mediocrity Leads To Mediocre Week In Power Rankings for Indiana Pacers
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers’ stretch of mediocrity is showing up in this week’s power rankings roundup as they drop a few spots but are still a top 10 team.
The Indiana Pacers aren’t bad, but they aren’t as great as they were in November. That’s began to show in a steady slide out of the top 5 of the power rankings and to the edge of the top 10. Indiana had a pair of small losing streaks in December to fuel that decline, but if Paul George plays like he did in the final quarter against the Pistons then maybe things will start looking up again for the Indiana Pacers.
Without all the precincts reporting, the Pacers average rank this week is 9.5, falling an average of 1.75 spots in the power rankings.
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The Pacers road woes played a big part in the month of December as NBA.com’s John Schuhmann noted in his 9th place ranking of the Pacers, the same as a week ago.
"Some big plays from Ian Mahinmi against Atlanta on Monday and a big fourth quarter from Paul George (he scored the team’s final 21 points)against Detroit on Saturday got the Pacers important wins last week. They’ve still lost six of their last seven games on the road, where they’ll play nine of their next 11. But after visits to Miami and Orlando this week, five of the other seven road games are against teams under .500."
Considering Indiana had a losing record in December it is actually a little bit of a surprise that they remained in the top 10, but that is also a testament to how well November played out for the Pacers. Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo sees some hope for Indiana after Saturday’s win.
"It was an up-and-down month for the Pacers, who went 7–9 and fell back to earth a bit after losing just twice in November. The New Year is already off to a better start—just ask Paul George, who scored a ridiculous 21 straight points to close out a win over the Pistons."
CBS.com’s Matt Moore pointed out that the Pacers have struggled against Western Conference teams while doing just fine in the East, which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.
"The East is the better conference this year, and Indiana is 14-6 vs. the East this season, just 5-8 vs. the West. I don’t know if that’s a sign of how good they are in key matchups, or more of proof that they just match up very well with the East teams."
Next: 2015: A Year of Change for the Indiana Pacers
We’ll update this after the final power rankings come in, but this week will give the Pacers a chance to move closer to the top 5 again as they face the Miami Heat on Monday night and will remain on the road for games against the Orlando Magic, New Orleans Pelicans, and the Houston Rockets.