3 takeaways from the Indiana Pacers first half
We are halfway through a very successful Indiana Pacers season so far. Let’s brainstorm some key things we learned in the first 41 games.
If you could script it, celebrating the conclusion of the season’s first half by getting incinerated by the Boston Celtics is not how the Indiana Pacers would have plotted it out. Alas, that is how it ended. Fortunately, Indiana had the New York Knicks to chase away that bad aftertaste Boston left. The season’s second half began much better than the first ended. Which was a shame because the first half offered so many highs.
The Pacers backed up the promise they inspired a season ago, finished the first half seven games better than their 2017-18 selves did. Those Pacers, with their magical run that reignited a dormant fanbase, hit the midway point 21-20, in fourth place in the Central Division and 11 games behind first place Boston in the Eastern Conference.
These Pacers hit game 41 at 27-14, three games behind first place Toronto and established in the third spot in a five team race to the top of the Eastern Conference.
Where the Pacers are today would have been a dream not even 12 months ago. But it’s not a dream, it’s the Pacers reality. Indiana by nearly all objective measures is one of the elite teams in both the Eastern Conference and the entire league. They are one of six teams with a winning record at home and away from home. There are eight teams in the league with a point differential of +3.0 (the mark of a good team) or better, the Pacers are a +5. The league average is an even 0. The team has gone a calendar year without losing three games in a row.
When we wrote our quarter-way recap the main question was: can the Pacers build on a volatile first quarter. They were up and down, struggling to string wins together. Indiana was just five games over .500. They showed flashes that they were a good team, but those flashes didn’t last long enough to offer confirmation. Since then the Indiana Pacers have gone 15-6, they are now 13 games above .500. They’ve had a 7-game win streak and a 6-game win streak.
The road will not get easier. March will be a particularly challenging gauntlet (Indy plays Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Portland, the Los Angeles Clippers, Boston, and Golden State once plus Denver and Oklahoma City twice). That’s a tall task for any team. At the same time, 23 of the remaining 38 games are at home, a distinct advantage for Indiana.
That’s all in the future though, let’s pause for the past, specifically for three takeaways from the season’s second quarter.