The schedule played a role in the Pacers defensive improvement

The Indiana Pacers saw an uptick in their defensive numbers before getting gouged by the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading to questions if their defense had actually improved.

The defense wasn’t expected to carry the Indiana Pacers this season but as the Pacers go into the 50th game of the season, the defense is 15th in the NBA in defensive rating.

After a good start to the season, the defense leveled off and even dipped into the bottom third at times in November and December. But in January, they’re ranked 5th in the NBA.

When asked what might be the catalyst for Indiana’s improvement, Pacers guard Cory Joseph posited that a mix of renewed effort and studying their own mistakes were the reason.

“Our rotations improved. When we do break down, I think our energy in terms of scrambling to the next available person has improved as well,” Joseph said before being asked if there were fewer mistakes being pointed out in the film room.

“I don’t know about less,”  Joseph said with a laugh. “But we’ve had a lot of film sessions where we looked at our mistakes and where we can get better.”

Of course, these comments came earlier in the week before the Cleveland Cavaliers offense dropped 115 points on Indiana.

Indy Cornrow’s Caitlin Cooper offered her own theory on both why the Pacers defense had improved in January and what was going wrong against the Cavaliers last night.

It was a valid point as games against the Utah Jazz (20th) Phoenix Suns (27th), Portland Trail Blazers (14th) Los Angeles Lakers (28th), San Antonio Spurs (18th) and the Suns once again had the Pacers playing mostly poor offensive teams this month according to NBA.com’s offensive ratings.

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So is it the schedule or is it a better approach by Indiana that led to better defensive ratings?

As is the answer to most questions used as literary devices, it’s a mixture of both.

Cooper’s point stands as the schedule helped get the Pacers defensive rating down, but it’s worth noting the Pacers a strong performance against the Cavaliers earlier this month, as well as the Milwaukee Bucks, the 8th best offense in the NBA. They were gouged by the Bucks in the first January meeting, but for what it’s worth, Victor Oladipo was out of the lineup.

But outside of the losses to Cleveland and Milwaukee, the Pacers were only beat up on defense by the Miami Heat.

So the Pacers are inconsistent defensively against some of the NBA’s better offenses, but they’ve shown the ability to shut them down as well.

“We’re a team that plays with a chip on our shoulder. As long as we play with energy and play together, we can compete with anybody,” Joseph said.

Indiana’s defense probably didn’t evolve into a top 5 defense, but much like their season defensive rating, they’re still around average.

But Joseph is right. They’ve shown they can compete with every team they’ve played — save the Houston Rockets — especially when their defense shows up.

Next: Physicality is a state of mind for Domantas Sabonis

Indiana’s defense won’t be their calling card as the All-Star break approaches, but on some nights, it can determine the Pacers’ fate. The Pacers still need their offense to carry the weight, but the defense isn’t slacking off, either.