The Indiana Pacers continue to let games get away from them after taking double-digit leads, but they remain in the top half of the NBA in this week’s power rankings roundup.
In the last week, the Indiana Pacers let two games with double-digit leads become losses, making it a total of four in the month of January. After starting the season at 11-5, the Pacers have gone 11-14 in the last two months.
Indiana hasn’t been playing .500 ball since November, but they’ve managed to remain in the top half of the league in this week’s power rankings roundup.
The Pacers begin this week with an average ranking of 12.6 after dropping an average of 2.6 spots.
If you are looking for some silver linings, you might turn to NBA.com’s John Schuhmann for some optimism from Sunday’s loss.
"Some very Pacers-like turnovers turned a three-point lead into a nine-point loss in Boston on Wednesday, and some un-Pacers-like defense against the Wizards and Nuggets extended the losing streak to three games. But with three rotation guys out, rookies Myles Turner (25 on 11-for-13) and Joe Young (15 on 7-for-11) each had career highs in what was an ABA throwback game (129-126) in Denver on Sunday."
After reminding us how tough of a week it was for the Pacers, ESPN’s Marc Stein pointed out that by allowing Will Barton to score 15 points in the fourth quarter on Sunday, he tied Paul George and several other of the NBA’s best as far as scoring in that quarter goes.
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"Painful ending to a rough week for the Pacers: Will Barton shook loose to score 15 of Denver’s 45 points in the final period Sunday night to move into a tie with James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler and (you guessed it) Indy’s Paul George for the league lead in fourth quarters with at least 15 points. Those five guys have all done that trick three times this season."
CBS Sports’ Matt Moore highlighted that the Pacers are trying to use a winning formula, but it doesn’t appear all the ingredients are mixing well.
"It’s notable that though the Pacers’ offense isn’t good (18th per possession), they play at the seventh-fastest pace, which makes for easier buckets, and they have the third-best defense in the league. That’s a very Warriors-like formula, but they’re also more susceptible to slips like Sunday against Denver."
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The Pacers continue their road trip with a visit to Phoenix to face the Suns on Tuesday before closing out their week with a back-to-back against the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.