The Indiana Pacers currently have one of the leagues best defenses. What are they doing so well?
The Indiana Pacers defensive rating currently sits at 102.4, the second-best figure in the entire league. No team has finished a season with that strong of a number since the 2015-16 season. What the Pacers are doing on the non-glamorous end of the floor is remarkable.
Good defense can be hard to truly appreciate. Forcing the other team to score a low amount of points is good, obviously, but it is really hard to do. Often times it is overly simplified to anecdotes like “it’s a make or miss league” or “defense wins championships” but rarely does anyone say how teams get it done on that end of the floor.
For the Pacers, it’s a wide variety of ways.
A cursory scan of stats shows you the easiest way they give up a low amount of points: they force a lot of missed shots. Given the shot profile that opposing teams have against the Pacers, it is expected that they would shoot 45.8 percent from the field. But the Pacers, thanks to solid closeouts, crisp rotations, and a little bit of luck, allow only 43.8 percent of those shots to fall. That +2 percent difference is the second-best mark in the league, trailing only Milwaukee.
Against the average team, this is an open shot. But not against the Pacers:
Most teams just concede defeat once the shot is that open. They blew a coverage, it’s over. But not Cory Joseph, who shoots out of a cannon over to closeout on Bjelica and make the shot harder. He missed for a reason. The Pacers are 6th in the league in contesting 3-point shots per game. Part of that is that they allow the 18th most attempts in the league. The other part of that is they closeout hard and never give anyone extra wiggle room.
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Effort goes a long way, but good instincts and talent go much farther. The Pacers just play a bunch of smart dudes with tons of basketball acumen. Even when the specific Pacer isn’t necessarily agile or quick, they can competently play on the defense end of the floor thanks to solid positioning and communication.
The team never stands around. They force the ball out of the middle and try to keep it away from the rim, and they are successful. Teams only take 32.51 percent of their shots at the basket against the Pacers, the 12th best mark in the league. Even better is that Indiana makes these shots hard, they are tied for 7th in at the rim defense, only allowing a hair over 60 percent of these shots to fall.
The man behind this phenomenon is Myles Turner, one of the best rim protectors in the league. Turner is causing opponents to shoot 11.1 percent worse on shots 6 feet and in, one of the best figures in the league for players who defend a high frequency of shots around the rim. Even when Turner isn’t swatting his matchups shot back to where it came from, he is still using all of this body and reach to ensure it is as challenging as possible to put the ball through the net:
The Pacers are allowing the 2nd fewest points in the paint thanks to a healthy combo of keeping the ball out of the middle of the floor and Turner’s exceptional work protecting the paint. The paint tends to be an area where opposing teams can get efficient shots off, but the Pacers make it a point to not allow this to be the case.
Speaking, of easy points, the Pacers pretty much give up none. The concede the 3rd fewest putback points per game, they accentuate the idea of boxing out every time on the defensive end of the floor. On offense, they commit the 9th fewest live-ball turnovers, which often lead to easy points for the other team. Playing refined offense, in turn, helps their defense. Additionally, Indy commits the third fewest shooting fouls in the league. Free throws are the most efficient play result in basketball. Preventing them is a great way to have a stellar defense.
The Pacers fight for loose balls, they are in the top half of the league in deflections and loose balls recovered. The closeout as hard as anyone. They grind you down and make you get a good look – they are 4th in the league in defensive pace, forcing their opponents to go an average of 14.84 seconds before finding a shot. All these ingredients blended together create a terrific concoction: success.
The team does everything well. Schematically, they force tough shots and don’t break down. Meticulously, they grind you down and make it hard to find a good shot. Devotedly, they work their butts off and fight like hell for loose balls. These are the hallmarks of an elite defense.
The Indiana Pacers hold teams under 100 points all the time. In this day and age, that is noble and impressive. Their defense makes them the great team that they are, and going forward it should continue to be their best team quality.