The last few Decembers revealed much about the Indiana Pacers, whether we wanted to accept those truths or not.
“A long December and there’s reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last.” is the opening line from Counting Crows song “A Long December” and one of my favorite songs. It also could be a sentiment shared by the Indiana Pacers.
The month of the December often tells us what to expect from the Pacers the rest of the way.
Last season the Pacers went 7-8 in December and began a trend of never straying far from a .500 record. Nearly every win was matched by a loss and even the occasional winning streak matched by a losing one. Indiana broke even at 21-21 through January to March before saving their playoff hopes with a 5-1 record in April. Hell, Indiana went 8-8 in November last year, so perhaps December doesn’t determine their future as much as it gets us past qualifying everything with the small sample size disclaimer.
Two Novembers ago had Indiana fans even more optimistic as the Pacers went 11-2 in the month of turkey. But a 7-9 December gave way to two months of losing basketball before the Pacers 14-8 in March and April.
Things didn’t go well in December of 2014 when Paul George was out with his leg injury, but with David West, George Hill, and others missing games as well, that was expected. December’s record, however, proved an omen of things to come as Indiana fell short of the playoffs.
You have to go back to the season of The Struggle in 2013 to find a December what wasn’t a predictor of things to come. Indiana cruised through that season until March came along and suddenly the Pacers were dead before they even knew it. We knew they wouldn’t beat the Miami Heat, but it took until March and a GQ cover shoot to know the implosion was coming.
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Indiana stands at 12-10 going into December this season as they’ve exceeded the low expectations set for them. However, they’re doing that thanks to Victor Oladipo and others playing at a level few, in any, expected.
The good news, however, is Indiana’s schedule so far wasn’t easy. While the Houston Rockets soundly beat the Pacers twice, they’ve knocked off the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, and Detroit Pistons so far.
While RPI (Relative Percentage Index) is something you typically only hear about when the NCAA tournament teams are picked, it is worth noting that in the NBA, the Pacers are ranked 8th in RPI. Indiana might be playing better than expected, but they’ve beat quality teams along the way.
They’ll be tested by the Boston Celtics, Pistons, an improved Cavaliers team this month, but they’ve also got games against the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Atlanta Hawks. It isn’t hard to see this team getting out of the month with a .500 record or better.
If the Pacers can take care of business against some of their easier opponents while putting up a fight and winning a few against the higher quality ones, then their December record will improve compared to the last few seasons.
And if that happens, maybe then we can really start believing in these Indiana Pacers. they just might be legitimately good.
But let’s see what December tell us, first.