The inevitable finally happened. While it took longer than it should’ve been, the Indiana Pacers now head straight to the summer after being eliminated by the Wizards in a disappointing 142-115 loss.
After sneaking themselves into the playoff discussion by drubbing the Hornets earlier, in typical 2020-21 Pacers fashion, the Blue and Gold brought poetic justice through a similar rout, but found themselves on the wrong side of the coin.
For the first time in six seasons, the Pacers face an early offseason. There may be some silver linings, such as the lottery finish, pleasant player surprises, and avoiding the conventional first-round exit, but all of those couldn’t possibly defeat the elephant in the room: that this season was a flat-out, straight-up disappointment.
Indiana managed to turn those lofty yet rational preseason expectations into “what were you thinking” pipe dreams. The proverbial injury bug continued its rampage in the Circle City, yet for every context that starts morphing into an excuse and for every mistake under the clever disguise of a risk, the Pacers are now left dangling in the middle.
As Pacers fans look in hindsight about what went wrong this year and with the season now f̶i̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ over, we commence this ceremonial season review series by zooming in on the good, bad and ugly from the 2020-21 campaign.
Despite a turbulent year, the Indiana Pacers find some saving graces this season
The Good No. 1: Caris LeVert’s one of a kind rise
Swapping the disgruntled Victor Oladipo for Caris LeVert will easily go down as one the franchise’s best trades ever. The 26-year-old was due for a breakout campaign after basically lying under the shadow of Brooklyn’s marquee stars. In Indiana, he was slated to be that guy as he arrived with All-Star expectations upon him.
But things rarely go as planned. Horror suddenly creeped in after his medical revealed a mass in his kidney. The health scare, which sidelined him for a good chunk of the season, instantly put a hold on the star’s future.
However, he made a triumphant return after the All-Star break, immediately leaving his mark on the team as a franchise cornerstone. While COVID sidelined him in the play-in, he finished the campaign tallying a career-high 20.2 points and 5.2 assists per game, giving the Indiana Pacers a potent cog for the future.
The Good No. 2: Ahh, finally some imperfectly good offense
The main rationale for firing Nate McMillan and bringing in Nate Bjorkgren was the across-the-board desire to have a better offense as the lack of which has proven to be a detriment to the team’s playoff success.
After ranking 18th and 19th in offensive rating in the past two seasons, the Indiana Pacers made a slight jump to 14th, but more than the modest surge is the good habits that have the offense a lot smoother despite the injury-brought instability to the roster.
Most impressive is the improvement of the team in the half-court, with the team generating the second-most assists in the league. The Blue and Gold has also veered away from plodding basketball, now ranking 4th in pace. Though they are still below average in three-point attempts and accuracy, all these have culminated into an attack that produces the fifth-most points per game.
The Good No. 3: Mr. Oshae Brissett brought subtle fireworks
Late-season signings are rarely monumental, yet the Indiana Pacers managed to find a jewel in the desert with sophomore Oshae Brissett, whom they initially signed on a 10-day contract before impressing in spot starts to secure a long-term bag from the front office.
The second-year forward was not a name that rang bells in Indianapolis when he first arrived, but he easily turned out to be a revelation. Ending the year averaging 10.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and a block per game on a remarkable 42.3 clip on triples, the Syracuse product figures to don the Blue and Gold for a long time.
Brissett is a quintessential 3-and-D player in the league who will certainly improve in future seasons. It remains interesting, however, to see how he impacts the way the front office will maneuver in the summer given the roster overlaps with T.J. Warren and Myles Turner’s return.
The Indiana Pacers were hoarded by a healthy dose of blunders this season
The Bad No. 1: Pacers and locker room drama is new
In the latter part of the season, reports of locker room turmoil brought unwarranted and rare national attention to the Indiana Pacers. These alleged falling-outs between the players and the coaching staff exacerbated a down stretch for the Blue and Gold as they nearly shot themselves in the foot away from even the play-in tourney.
The notable jawing between Goga Bitadze and assistant coach Greg Foster in the loss against Sacramento did nothing but ignite the flames on the chemistry front. While they soon reconciled and the team downplayed the affair as competitive spirits oozing out, this is unfamiliar territory for the Pacers, especially with the team being known for its resiliency in the past few seasons.
The Bad No. 2: The East improved while Indy faltered
As the Indiana Pacers regressed, their counterparts have conversely made tremendous leaps this season. Teams such as the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, New York Knicks and Washington Wizards were a lot more competitive than last year, and in addition to the East’s powerhouses, the Blue and Gold couldn’t do anything but look up.
Talent-wise and when healthy, the Pacers have what it takes to even compete for homecourt advantage in the playoffs. But given the rise of their East rivals and the general improvement in the conference, the road to relevancy seems harder to trek by the day.
The Bad No. 3: What’s next for Aaron?
The Indiana Pacers were high on Aaron Holiday, and despite expectations for him becoming overblown every season, there are layers in the front office putting their trust on the 24-year-old. While he has eclipsed the normal production of a late first-rounder, he has simply regressed this year to an extent where you can only wonder if Indy’s brass overestimated him.
To be fair, a bulk of his decline is a result of lesser court time, playing approximately seven minutes less than last season. However, it’s no asterisk that his inefficiency persists, shooting a career-low 39 percent from the field.
There is still room for the youngest Holiday in Indiana, but with Malcolm Brogdon and LeVert as the obvious alphas in the backcourt, and T.J. McConnell cementing himself as one of the league’s best bench players, finding opportunities to grow donning the Blue and Gold will be more difficult for him.
These utter mistakes ultimately derailed the Indiana Pacers this season
The Ugly No. 1: Where art thou, defense?
How the mighty Indiana Pacers defense has fallen.
After basically an entire decade of impressive showing on defense, the Blue and Gold has mightily regressed as a point-preventing squad this season, falling to 14th in defensive rating after ranking 3rd and 6th in the same department in the previous two campaigns. And if that doesn’t paint a clearer picture for you, the Pacers give up 115.3 points per game, which is the sixth-worst in the league.
Losing shot blocking phenom Myles Turner for long stretches didn’t help, but Indiana is fundamentally flawed this season. They are aggressive on defense, ranking 5th in steals and 1st in blocks, but the Pacers are proofs that being good at picking pockets and swatting shots cannot overcome the lack of an upper echelon perimeter stopper and a rim protector aside from Turner. Switching schemes on defense often have been more gimmick than genius as well.
The Ugly No. 2: Injuries, of course
If we’re being honest here, this entry should never be erased in the list of ugly things that hamper the Indiana Pacers. Injuries almost magnetically attach to the Blue and Gold so much that fans would be illogical to expect a relatively healthy season anymore.
The Pacers were off to a great 6-2 start until a season-ending injury to T.J. Warren fomented a long string of ailments for the team. Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis had their customary short-term injuries, Myles Turner was held out indefinitely, Jeremy Lamb seemed iffy in his return and LeVert was absent for more than a month due to his medical condition. Without those injuries, this season could’ve scripted itself a lot better.
I guess that’s a spiritual product of the team’s name sounding in assonance with the word “injuries”. A goofy takeaway alright, but at this point, can we really get an explanation for this yearly Indy custom?
The Ugly No. 3: New Nate never nailed it
Letting go of the old Nate for a new one seemed like poetic justice to underline the franchise’s wish for something more modern despite operating with their old-school principles. Nate Bjorkgren was an exciting addition to man the sidelines for the Indiana Pacers, but after a great start, the bell curve just went down and it never really got up again.
His reported friction with the players, mishandling of the staff, abrasive communication style and micromanagement abruptly came to light, and all those aggravated his noticeable on-court miscues running the team. From peculiar defensive schemes, laying out Thibodeau-ian minutes allocation to key cogs and head-scratching rotations, his out-of-the-box thinking has caused a lot more harm than good for the Pacers this season.
There is some context to these, as in the injuries and instability, but they don’t absolve him from his shortcomings this season. Already on the hottest of hot seats, the Indiana Pacers head into the offseason with the future of the new Nate as one of the biggest questions looming over the team, even though he still has a guaranteed year left in his contract.