Indiana Pacers Offense Keeps Opponents On The Move

The Indiana Pacers offense has picked the pace of their offense compared to their recent past and been more effective on that end of the floor as well.

The “Blue Collar, Gold Swagger” era of the Indiana Pacers was defined by their stellar defense and grinding style of play, certainly not the pace of their offense. But his offseason Larry Bird declared the team would embrace the modern NBA’s pace and space philosophies, and no longer be the plodding, middle to back of the pack offense they had been.

So how does that translate onto the floor? For starters, the Pacers have increased their offensive rating to 102.1, without sacrificing defense as their rating stands at 98.9 for a nice +3.1 net rating. That is better than last season (100.8/100.9/-0.1) and compares well with the Eastern Conference Finals teams of 2014 (101.5/96.7/+4.8) and 2013 (101.6/96.6/+5.0). This season’s team is two points worse than those ECF teams, but they are still a work in progress so I’d say that’s encouraging as they are trending that way.

One of the other effects of this is they’re forcing opposing defenses to keep moving more than they had in the past.

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The Pacers may not fully be embracing the smaller and faster ideas they talked about before the season, but they are getting there. Thanks to Nylon Calculus’ Seth Partnow, we can see that through the 14th of January, the Pacers offense is in the top half of the league when it comes to defensive movement. I don’t think that is an end all stat by any means, but Golden State is near the top as well as the San Antonio Spurs. It isn’t surprising to see those faster pace teams also tend to have higher offensive ratings as well. It is far from conclusive data as plenty of “bad” teams are also ranked high as well, but it seems that if you want to get open shots, keeping the ball and your opponent moving is key.

Just moving the defense around wouldn’t mean much if it were for the fact the Pacers offense has improved over the past few seasons as well. C.J. Miles and Monta Ellis have been positive contributors, even though C.J.’s 3-pointing has slowed, Monta’s ability to both create for himself and his teammates has benefitted everyone in a Pacers uniform. Many of the more used lineups with Ellis on the floor shoot around or better than 45%, slightly better than the team’s 44.7% field goal percentage. And yeah, it doesn’t hurt to have Paul George back too. All of them help push the pace of Indiana’s offense and have been fairly efficient in the process.

A perfect example of how and why the added movement creates better offense was demonstrated by the rookies the other night against the Denver Nuggets. When the ball moves around the floor, the defense has to follow it. And when Indiana gets into their offense early and forces the defense to keep spinning around to track the ball you get multiple opportunities for baskets. Moving the ball, spacing out the defense are more than just fundamentals and popular adages; they work.

Though they struggled against Denver, on the season Indiana has managed to play at a higher pace without sacrificing their defense, which still ranks third in the NBA this season. The offense is still a work in progress at times and will likely get better as Myles Turner, Joe Young, and Glenn Robson III develop. The younger Pacers have shown plenty of positive signs offensively as they get extended minutes thanks to a number of injuries affecting the Pacers. Frank Vogel has always coached strong defensive teams, so there is little reason not to expect them to catch on sooner rather than later.

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If Indiana continues to be a defensive juggernaut and the offense improves, whether it is a small ball or a more traditional approach, the Pacers will want to keep their foot on the gas and make sure opponents can never get settled on the court.