Indiana Pacers leap up power rankings thanks to their win streak

The Indiana Pacers are back in the thick of it after winning four of their last five games. They aren’t eating up cupcakes, either.

The Indiana Pacers are back in the playoff hunt after ripping off four wins in their last five games, improving their record to 8-10. While that fourth win against the Orlando Magic wasn’t considered in this week’s power rankings (they come out on Monday, typically), it’s just part of a larger trend.

These Pacers might be pretty good.

There are certainly reasons for skepticism: Victor Oladipo’s and Bojan Bogdanovic’s above average shooting, Indiana’s above average defense, and a few other players playing better than expected. But at the same time, we’ve only seen glimpses of what one might call “the real” Myles Turner, so maybe these Pacers aren’t even as good as they can be.

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Regardless of how good or bad this team ends up being, they remain entertaining as they’re offense remains one of the NBA’s best. They’ve punished opponents by being the best team at turning turnovers into points over the last week while also getting out into transition to keep defenses off balance. It also helps in the past week they’ve limited their opponents second-chance points and forced opponents to grind out points instead of giving them away.

They’re likely somewhere near the middle of the league, and that’s generally where the experts put them this week in their power rankings.

Both Kenny Ducey of Sports Illustrated and John Schuhmann of NBA.com bumped up Indiana 10 spots, while CBS Sports’ Chris Barnewall respectably bumped them up 8 total spots in his rankings.

The Pacers averaged a rank of 16.25 this week as they moved up 8 spots on average. It helps many teams in the Eastern Conference had so-so weeks, but the Pacers’ mix of pace, big nights from different players, and relentless shooting are why they’re hovering around the middle of the NBA power rankings this week.

KENNY DUCEY. 16. Outside of the Celtics and Raptors, no one else really had a week to write home about in the NBA, hence the giant leap. As most of the East shuffled its feet, the Pacers made a statement. <a href=. @KennyDucey. Sports Illustrated

ESPN . 19. A season-high fourth straight win on Monday against the Magic will put the Pacers two games above .500 for the second time this season. The 3-pointer has been key for the Pacers during their three-game winning streak as they’ve shot 51 percent from beyond the arc in those games.<em> — Jose De Leon</em> (Last Week: 23rd) — <a href=. @ESPNNBA. ESPN

CHRIS BARNEWALL. 16. Look at the Pacers. They play hard and fast which is catching a lot of teams off guard right now. More importantly? Domantas Sabonis is making the front office look real good right now for trading him. (Last Week: 24th)— <a href=. @ChrisBarnewall. CBS Sports

JOHN SCHUHMANN. 14. The Pacers have rebounded from a slide to win three straight games, scoring 118 points per 100 possessions (and shooting better than 50 percent from 3-point range) against three better-than-average defenses. Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic and Myles Turner all had big games last week and Lance Stephenson had a big fourth quarter (13 points, two big threes) as they came back from 22 down against Detroit on Friday. They’ve overwhelmed some teams (like Memphis on Wednesday) with their pace, though they’ve slowed down a bit, ranking 20th in pace over their last eight games. After Monday’s game in Orlando, they’ll play nine of their next 11 games at home (Last Week: 24th) — <a href=. @johnschuhmann. NBA

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It won’t be easy to keep winning as the Pacers take on the Toronto Raptors on Friday and then the Boston Celtics on Saturday in a back-to-back. They’ll take Sunday off before facing the Orlando Magic again on Monday.

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