Enjoy the ride, Pacers fans

A loss to the Philadelphia 76ers sent a significant portion of Indiana Pacers Twitter into full Armageddon mode.  While the game was nauseating, it is just one of 82; 1.2 percent of the season.  I promise guys, it’s going to be just fine.

The Indiana Pacers are now 29-15 on the season, which percentage wise is still good for third in the Eastern Conference.  For reference, they are five games ahead of last year’s team at 24-20.  Last year’s team would also go on to lose their next two games to fall to 24-22.  There was a boatload of optimism following that team’s every move last season.  For some reason, expectations have taken that blind optimism and appreciation away from a number of Pacers fans.

To put it simply, Pacers fans are having less fun with a better team.  Why is that?

Victor Oladipo’s perceived regression

Victor Oladipo led a spirited campaign last season as a budding, humble star.  His speed, backstory, and a fair amount of quirkiness made him one of the most likable guys in the league.  The Pacers could not survive without Oladipo on the court.  He carried the team and the city on his shoulders in a year where Pacers fans needed him the most.

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• Handing out early-season grades for Pacers’ Bruce Brown, Obi Toppin
• 3 positives, 2 negatives in Pacers In-Season Tournament win vs. Cavaliers
• 2 positives, 3 negatives from first week of Indiana Pacers basketball
• Should Isaiah Jackson’s days with Indiana Pacers be numbered?

This year has been a different story.  While Oladipo’s attitude has not changed a bit, his game has been nothing short of eyebrow-raising in some games.  His 6 of 20 night against the 76ers was one of a few concerning performances.

The biggest question of his offensive struggles is from his knee injury earlier this year that kept him out 11 games.  Is this a direct result of the injury or was he overachieving last season?  Personally, I believe the former.  I may be optimistic and I may be trying to suppress concerns, but it helps me sleep at night.

The other possibility is that the rest of the league has figured out his plan of attack.  They are swarming him as soon as he reaches the paint, as evidenced by his 20 percent success rate from 3-10 feet from the basket.  This is down 16 percent from last season where he could get to the rim seemingly at will.  Regardless, Oladipo has been and will continue to be the face of the franchise.  He will figure it out one way or another.

Free Agents not materializing

Tyreke Evans and Doug McDermott were brought in to replace Lance Stephenson and Glenn Robinson III in what at the time appeared to be upgrades in both rotation spots.  Inconsistent play has polarized both players’ perceived value to the fan base.  McDermott seems to love traveling as he continues to shoot better on the road than at home.

Evans, on the other hand, seems to be quietly turning a corner.  He has scored in double figures in eight of his last ten games since returning from a knee tune-up.  The Pacers are trusting him more as he is seeing more and more games with ten or more shot attempts.  It doesn’t look pretty yet, but it is starting to take shape for Evans (or at least kickstart some trade value).

The Turner vs Sabonis debate

This “one or the other” battle of the Pacers bigs has become a blight in the world of Pacers fans.  Each time one of them has a bad game you will see tweets along the lines of “If Myles/Domas had this bad of a game people would be slamming him”.

Of all the things that frustrate me as a Pacers fan, this is by far number one.  The Pacers are in one of the most fortunate situations in the NBA with distinct, elite bigs who each bring something different to their respective roles.  Such a commodity is typically celebrated, yet is constantly driven to the point of madness by fans of each player in Indy.  Point blank: both are supremely talented players who are young – both just 22-year-olds.  They will show moments of brilliance and they will show moments of growing pains.  Love it or hate it, they are both a long term solution and we don’t have to pick.

This debate does more harm than good.  Pacers fan can do better than this and I think they eventually will.

Moving Forward

The Indiana Pacers are a good team, whether they are great remains to be seen.  They are competitive and certainly better than what they showed against the 76ers, Celtics, and Raptors.  We have a couple options as fans: we can continue to overreact to poor shooting performances or we can decide to enjoy a competitive, likable team during an era in which they were expected to be perennial lottery performers.  The Pacers may or may not be what you want them to be, but that doesn’t make them a bad team one way or another.