With an eighth of the season complete, here’s where the Indiana Pacers stand in the East, and some other trends going on in the lesser Conference.
At the time of this writing, the Indiana Pacers are 5-7 and have just lost their fourth game in a row. That the 5-7 start feels, what’s the word? Disappointing. It’s good that it feels that way. If I told you three months ago that the Pacers were going to start the year 5-7 you would have likely had one of two reactions.
A – Wait, what! Why are they trying? They’re supposed to be tanking for some nameless 18 year-old that won’t be good in the NBA for another 3-5 years, if ever!
B – 5-7? No way, they’re going to be lucky if they win 5 games, period.
But a lot has changed since then. The Pacers have shown life, they’re actually really good on offense, not Golden State “good”, but top five offense “good“. Victor Oladipo is looking like a star, Darren Collison is wheeling-and-dealing, Thad Young (39 percent) and Bojan Bogdanovic (41 percent) have found their shooting strokes, and Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis have spent most of the season not playing together (mostly due to injury). The Pacers have yet to be healthy all year.
The Pacers aren’t a complete product, at all. Their defense leaves a lot to be desired, but the Pacers are still one of the eight teams in the East with a net positive rating (Celtics 9.6, Raptors 5.2, Magic 4.3, Pistons 3, Pacers 1.5, Wizards 1.1, Hornets 0.4 and 76ers 0.2), and Indiana isn’t exactly squeaking onto that list.
That it took a resplendent second half and 40 points from Kristaps Porzingis and a combined 69/21 from Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, to beat Indiana over this past week, aren’t terrible. On one hand, it means, other decent teams need herculean performances to catch you. On the other hand, it means, you can’t hold a lead.
All in all, the Pacers are average, have the look of a playoff team, and not an eighth seed who just made it in. Their offense is too good, their depth is strong at times, and will be stronger if they can ever get fully healthy. There is, however, a ton of basketball to be played but here are some other trends we are seeing in the Eastern Conference.
A lot of meh
Three tiers have developed in the East so far that should hold to form the rest of the year. The first is that Boston is good. The big reason for it is that their defense is in its own time zone. Their defense is 8.8 points better than the Conference’s average, and five points better than second place Orlando. It’ll be difficult for them to score enough when facing the West’s best, but they should be able to lock down most Eastern competitors.
The second is that Chicago and Atlanta are dreadfully awful. They are a combined 4-16 and neither really do anything well. Actually, that’s not fair. Because Atlanta is coached so well, they hang around before inevitably losing, and Chicago is good at rebounding (thanks, Lauri Markkanen), but when you’re only good at one thing, and that one thing isn’t winning games, it’s kind of like having the nicest casket in the cemetery. Sure it looks good, but you’re not exactly bragging to your neighbors about it.
The third is that not much is separating everyone else. 11 teams have between four and seven wins. What this means is that the vast majority of the East is decent but flawed. Some teams are like Charlotte: alright at everything but great at nothing. There’s Brooklyn, who plays fast but lacks the talent to capitalize on it. There’s Washington whose offense is just as amazing as their defense is terrible. New York is entirely dependent on Porzingis.
There’s a lot of average in the Eastern Conference. And two of the supposedly better teams, have decidedly not been.