The Indiana Pacers were one of the best teams in the league in terms of ball movement in the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs. However, through three games of their Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the New York Knicks, the Pacers have become stagnant in their ball movement. This cost them in their devastating Game 3 loss, and if they don't turn it around, it could also cost them a trip to the NBA Finals.
Indiana is still up in their series against the Knicks, and they are in a good spot to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000. However, the series is not over yet, and New York has already made it clear they are not going to give up. The Pacers have a lot of things going well for them, but they need to keep making adjustments to capitalize on their series lead.
The Pacers must get back to their ways
In the regular season, the Pacers averaged 330.5 passes per game. Only the Golden State Warriors (332.2) averaged more, and the Pacers were significantly ahead of the third-place Chicago Bulls.
Through the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Pacers bumped it up to 337.1 passes per game, which was the most by a mile. However, in three games against the Knicks, this has dropped to 276.7 passes per game.
A big reason Indiana's offense works as well as it does is because of how well they move the ball. That hasn't necessarily changed--they just do it a lot less often, which is not ideal. This was also one of the reasons the Boston Celtics suffered an upset loss to New York in the second round. Despite being one of the best offensive units in the NBA, they struggled to move the ball, and it made their offense stagnate at the worst times, much like what Indiana saw in Game 3. It was far from the only (or even biggest) reason they lost the series, but it still played a role regardless.
The Pacers are just two wins away from making it back to the NBA Finals. A championship victory would do great things for the organization, but in order to even think about raising a banner in Indiana, they must get through the Knicks first. They should feel good about their chances of doing so, but the series is far from over, and they must continue to bring their A-game.