The first thing that stands out about the Indiana Pacers ' loss to the Atlanta Hawks in preseason on Saturday night is the way the Pacers lost the rebounding battle. Now, while it is certainly Fair to be pushed around a bit in the paint by a frontcourt of Lu Dort, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu, the Pacers did so without even putting up a fight.
Atlanta had 10 offensive rebounds to Indiana's zero, and those extra 10 possessions certainly made the difference in a game the Pacers ended up losing by two with a final score of 119-117.
The possession margin has become such a huge part of the winning formula for any and all good teams in the NBA. While rebounding is a new arrow in the Pacers' quiver, their identity was always tied to winning this margin by dominating the turnover differential and by constantly creating full-court opportunities to get easy shots in transition.
However, in that same game against the Atlanta Hawks, the Pacers showed their typical level of forcing turnovers, but lacked their normal flair and efficacy in finishing those opportunities. In a game that ended up being so close, Indiana's 13 points off turnovers – less than one point per turnover – is simply not good enough to be acceptable, let alone a core tenet of their identity.
The difficulty of artificially creating the fast break
Not all turnovers are created equal. What that is to say is that the ideal steal or block sparks a transition opportunity. Not all of those steals, deflections, or distractions can do that, though. Most will simply result in the team going the other way.
That is exactly why so many teams have invested in good offensive rebounders. If extra possessions are already so hard to get, then you might as well try to get the ones that are easiest to score off of. Running in transition is excellent when you can actually run, but simply mediocre when it just results in another half-court set.
By comparison, offensive boards usually lead to either a putback layup or a quick reset out to attack a defense that is still not completely set.
Pursuing this new (really old, and only now coming back into vogue) strategy works for teams that have not already set up their own systems, but is not worth abandoning everything that the team already is for.
No, if the Pacers can't match the volume or efficiency of offensive rebounds, they will simply need to find a way to turn their fast-break offense into an ever-present part of what it means to defend against Indiana's style.
Offensive boards don't take quite the same emotional and physical toll that constantly tracking back does. The Pacers are ready for this. Other teams shouldn't be.
And yet, we have nights like Saturday in which the Pacers simply do not get any easy options, and their identity feels so far away from what they are putting on tape.
Jack McKinney, the coach who birthed the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers, famously had McKinney Miles. Maybe it's time for Rick Carlisle to trademark the Car-misle so that Indiana can get back to playing their own brand of basketball.
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