The Indiana Pacers bench, spearheaded by Ty Lawson, has outplayed the starters as of late.
There was quite a bit of excitement surrounding the Indiana Pacers acquisition of Ty Lawson, and why not? Lawson was a borderline All-Star in his time with the Denver Nuggets and was acquired for the price of letting Chase Budinger go.
It’s very rare that a 28-year-old impact player becomes a free agent midseason, but this is a rare and complicated circumstance. Lawson had been mostly unremarkable during his time with the Houston Rockets, who had hoped he would come in as a game changer. He has also had multiple run-ins with the law in the last few years. The Pacers acquired him without much risk or expectation, giving him an opportunity to lead the 2nd unit and help speed up the Pace(rs).
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Lawson has played in nine games so far, and the Pacers are 6-3 in games he’s played. (It should be noted that the Pacers have played only 2 playoff teams in this stretch, and Lawson only played five minutes against San Antonio before injuring his foot.) He’s averaging about 15 minutes per game (about 20 in the last three games), and has played predominately with the second unit. However, a small sample sized trend has emerged. Ty Lawson has become the engine that drives the second unit, and when the second unit plays well, the Pacers tend to win.
Using a very basic stat (pure +/- rating, which measures whether the team outscored the opposition (+), or was outscored by the opposition (-) during that player’s time on the court), it very much seems that Ty Lawson is a key factor for the Blue and Gold.
The Pacers are 5-0 when Lawson has a positive +/-, 0-2 when he has a negative +/-, and 1-1 when he’s neutral. Again, it is a small sample size, but the eye test agrees. Whether coincidence or not, Lawson coming off the bench has coincided with an improvement from C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey, and the Pacers bench has feasted as of late.
While nine games is far too small of a sample size to make any judgements, there aren’t very many games left, and Lawson’s presence has coincided with a stretch of improved play by the Pacers bench.
Most players and most instances would require significantly more skepticism.
But given Lawson’s prior play with Denver, his relative youth, and the fact that the second unit has not had a point guard at any point this year, there’s legitimate reason to hope the improvement is sustainable, and that Lawson can regain some of his former form with Denver to be an impact player for the Pacers as they approach the playoffs.