Indiana Pacers continue to defy expectations, move up power rankings

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.

@KennyDucey. Sports Illustrated. KENNY DUCEY. 12. As you recovered from your Thanksgiving feast this weekend, Lance Stephenson was busy dropping 34 points on consecutive nights. Is he back? <em>Is Lance back???</em> (Last Week: 16th) — <a href=

ESPN . 13. Prior to Saturday’s loss against the Celtics, the Pacers had reeled off a season-high five straight wins. During its win streak, Indiana had the best 3-point percentage (47 percent) and fourth-best offensive efficiency (111.6) in the league. <em>— Jose De Leon </em>(Last Week: 19th) — <a href=. @ESPNNBA. ESPN

9. Indiana is easily the surprise team of the season early on. They started off well, but when they went through a rough patch it was assumed they were turning into what everybody thought they would be. They proceeded to rip off five straight wins and gave the Celtics a fight. The defense is still not great, but the Pacers look good enough to be a playoff team in the East. (Last Week: 16th)— <a href=. @ChrisBarnewall. CBS Sports. CHRIS BARNEWALL

Victor Oladipo suffered a bruised knee midway through the fourth quarter of Friday’s game against Toronto, but Lance Stephenson saved the day, scoring 13 points in the fourth for the second time during the Pacers’ five-game winning streak(their best offensive stretch of the season). The streak came to an end with a game against the league’s best defense (and without Oladipo) on Saturday, though the other end of the floor was more of an issue. Boston got to the line just nine times, but shot better than 50 percent from the field for the first time this season. The Pacers lead the league in opponent free throw rate (21 attempts per 100 shots from field), but no team has allowed more points per game in the restricted area. (Last Week: 14th) — <a href=. @johnschuhmann. NBA. JOHN SCHUHMANN. 15

11. Add the <a href=. @GeraldBourguet. Hoops Habit. GERALD BOURGUET

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.

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