8p9s Roundtable: Are the Indiana Pacers Going To Make a Move?
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers are now on a four-game losing streak and looking dysfunctional, is it time to make a change?
The Indiana Pacers are currently on their longest losing streak of the season at four games, prompting some soul searching as the team sits three games below .500.
Depending on who you ask, this is either Larry Bird’s fault for building the team on the fly, Nate McMillan for not getting more out of his players, Paul George for not doing enough, or something else entirely. Nobody knows for sure.
Though Indiana hasn’t played as badly as they had earlier in the season, the results are pointing to the need for something to change, for something to happen.
While fingers are getting pointed in all directions, we gather the 8 Points, 9 Seconds staff for another roundtable to examine the issues.
When the season began, would you have expected the Pacers to look like this at 15-17?
Will Furr: I don’t find it supremely surprising. I thought we would be looking at a team that would be 5-6 games over .500; this Pacers team isn’t markedly worse. I don’t think it’s a stretch to see the Pacers, if healthy, go 5 or 6 games over .500 the rest of the way and finish in the ~44 win range.
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Jon Washburn: I didn’t expect this, but I wouldn’t say that this is unexpected. I would have predicted Indiana to be in the 18-14 range, so when one factors in their early season injuries, this actually isn’t too far off. The bigger concern is not their record, but the actual way they’ve played. You know…somewhat lifeless and uninspiring.
Josh Padmore: I did temper expectations a bit, because all of the new faces with the team, but I didn’t expect them to play this poorly.
Ben Gibson: I expected them to be on the right side of .500. We knew there were issues with the roster, but it seemed like the collection of talent could overcome that. It seems like Monta Ellis, in particular, was pushed to the limits of his capabilities on defense, and the team has struggled to make up for his and other players liabilities.