The Indiana Pacers are a good basketball team. That isn’t what many expected when the season began.
The Indiana Pacers are defying the low expectations set for them when the season began. They’re sitting on a 12-9 record that isn’t bloated from feeding on the bottom of the NBA. Impressively, they are 7-3 in their last 10 games.
Now, they have lost a few games to below average teams, but with wins in the last two weeks over the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons, and Memphis Grizzlies, the Pacers aren’t looking like scrubs. They’ve taken care of business against the also better-than-expected Orlando Magic on two occasions.
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The Pacers are mortal, however, as they’ve lost to the Pistons, Houston Rockets, and Boston Celtics in the last 10 games. But those three losses aren’t bad ones. Indiana is far from being a legitimate playoff threat, but they aren’t pushovers.
We can thank Victor Oladipo’s continuing greatness, Air Guitar Lance Stephenson, and almost every member of the rotation stepping up when needed for these results. The question looking is how long can this last, but we’re a quarter of the way into the season. The small sample size qualifier is starting to fade.
Indiana’s defense is average, which considering our expectations, is actually pretty good. Their offense is among the NBA’s best. This Indiana Pacers team is good. Not great, but certainly good.
All of that is reflected in this week’s power rankings as Indiana averages a 12th place ranking. Putting up wins against above average competition put the Pacers as high as 9th but no worse than 15th in this week’s batch or rankings.
Next: Being thankful for these Indiana Pacers
With the Rockets tonight in Houston and the Raptors on Friday, the Pacers face a pair of litmus tests to prove the early season success isn’t too good to be true.