Same results, different year
Familiar shortcomings played into yet another sweep for the Indiana Pacers. The toughest pill to swallow was yet again not having their best player come playoff time. This would devastate any team in the NBA trying to make a postseason run and the Pacers are well too familiar with it. Coach Nate McMillan did an amazing job playing with the hand he was dealt but ultimately his reluctancy to change his offense would be his downfall.
In today’s game, the 3 point shot is king followed by shots at the basket. The Pacers offense feeds off the midrange which due to analytics is considered something of the past. I personally love the midrange shot due to its effectiveness that it could open up the floor for spacing. I only like it though if the shots are of high quality, either being wide open or having a player that can consistently hit them. Nate’s offense has been one of the talking points of why this Pacers squad would have a ceiling. Could what would be considered an archaic style of basketball really work in today’s game?
The tipping point came in the playoffs. The Pacers offense looked absolutely lost. Kudos to the Heat as they are a very solid defensive team but McMillan seemed as if he had zero answers to counter it. The offense was compiled of dribble handoffs between 3 players that ultimately ended up in a turnover or bad shot. The ball movement was nonexistent.
Myles Turner refused to work in the paint until Game 4 and didn’t take advantage of the mismatches created when smaller wings of the Heat, such as Duncan Robinson, would get switched onto him. I believed this could be one way to generate some offense would be for Myles Turner to win that mismatch by either scoring or getting fouled. This would eventually draw a double team and the Pacers would then be able to work inside out. The players even looked disinterested in the offense.
McMillan’s third sweep in this tenure with the Pacers would lead him to be dismissed. This comes at an odd time since Kevin Pritchard announced that would extend McMillan for another year. Nate was dealt a bad hand by not having his best players but two straight years of sweeps, reluctancy to change his offense, and possibly losing his voice in the locker lead the Pacers parting ways.