The Indiana Pacers keep slipping down the power rankings and now they are outside the top 10.
It easily could have been a 4-0 week for the Indiana Pacers but against the Miami Heat and the Houston Rockets they blew double-digit leads before losing in overtime.
There is no denying the Indiana Pacers are a good basketball team. They rank 16th in offensive rating, 3rd in defensive rating, and their net rating of +3.4 puts them 8th in the league, but let downs like this are starting to cast shadows of doubt on Indiana.
Considering after the first week the Pacers were ranked in the 20s, this isn’t so bad, but it is frustrating for Indiana knowing they let a pair of games slip away from them this week. However, this is the lowest they’ve been ranked since the November 11th ranking roundup.
This week they have an average rank of 10.2 while averaging a drop of exactly one spot.
Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo puts the Pacers in 12th place with the reminder of how close the Pacers to breaking back into the top 10.
"Indiana is playing .500 ball since Dec. 16, but with a few different bounces we could easily be having a different conversation. In those 10 games, they’ve led the league’s in defensive efficiency while their offense has been bottom-five, with their three-point shooting running especially cold. That said, the Pacers’ last five losses were all dropped by four points or less, and three of the five came in overtime. These are the breaks, as they say."
And why are they losing those games? CBS’ Matt Moore reminds us how the Pacers have been failing to close out as of late as he drops them to 11th.
"Three of their last four losses have come in overtime. That’s bad luck. Wait, no, I’m sorry, that’s “a definitive struggle to effectively close out games.” Still, their defense is up to third-best in the league, further proof that Frank Vogel could teach Defense Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts."
NBA.com’s John Schuhmann pointed out a few good thing about this Pacers team though he has them ranked 11th right now.
"It’s funny how, after all the talk of small ball and better floor spacing, the Pacers are still an elite defensive team and their starting lineup has been the best defensive lineup in the league. But fourth-quarter defense was a problem as they blew two double-digit leads to lose in overtime in Miami and Houston last week. Monta Ellis turned up the playmaking (even after George Hill returned), averaging 9.3 assists in the four games."
If you are an individual that ultimately values math over the eye-test, take solace in the fact USA Today’s Sagarin Rankings actually moved Indiana up to 7th.
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The Pacers play host to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, hit the road for the Boston Celtics on the back end of a back-to-back, return home to host the Washington Wizards on Friday and then head west to face the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. All of those should be winnable games, but with the way Indiana has played lately, there are no guarantees.