Duos can lead runs and change the tides of a game. For the Indiana Pacers, these are the most productive duos this season.
To start this season, the Indiana Pacers were defined by a duo.
A questionable move in the eyes of many, the Pacers announced at the start of the year that Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner would start alongside each other for the 2019-20 season. Both bigs playing their most reliable games in the paint, there were reasonable questions about how this fit would play out.
NBA teams are often defined by duos. Though each team has five players on the floor at any time, the wrinkles that a team can run between two players are often the defining aspects of how they get things done.
One of the most consistent-run plays in basketball history, the pick and roll, relies on the decision making of the opposition between two players.
Yes, teams are at their best when all players are moving and doing their part, but often each of those movements is between two players. Whether it be a screen from one player to free up another, a pass from one player to another, or a seal to clear the lane from a big man, the bond between one player and another can often make or break the play.
So, which Pacers duos are the best?
Here, we’ll look at some of the statistically greatest duos on the Pacers from this season. While these players put up the best numbers, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the most talented or structurally sound duo on the team. While, yes, individual plays are often defined by two players, the context of the other three teammates around them matters and can significantly influence the metrics which a duo produces.
Many of these duos are actually very much unpredictable, several caught in the middle of Nate McMillan’s rotations. While they may seem coincidental, each of these duos has played at least 350 minutes together this season, and a majority of them greater than 600*.
These duos aren’t conventional, and won’t be the go-to duos when a playoff game is on the line, but over the course of a season, they have excelled over the course of a substantial sample size.
We looked at best net ratings for this article, but the best defensive rating duo was Justin Holiday nad Malcolm Brogdon, with a defensive rating of 102.4. The best offensive duo was Jeremy Lamb and Aaron Holiday with an offensive rating of 114.8.
*Minimum threshold for this article was 300 minutes