They call the NBA a make-or-miss league - and the Indiana Pacers are missing at a historic rate.
The Pacers enter the new week with a team field goal percentage of 40.1%. That's not just the worst percentage in the NBA. That's the worst field goal percentage for any team since the 1998-99 Chicago Bulls - another team with a decimated roster coming off of an NBA Finals appearance (though the Bulls' talent shortage was due to retirements and transactions, not injuries).
Before that, you have to go all the way back to the 1960-61 Boston Celtics to find a team shooting as poorly as Indiana.
How far does Indiana's shooting lag behind the rest of the league? The Pacers would need to make their next 63 shots just to catch up to next-to-last-place Memphis' 43% team field goal percentage.
Yes, the Pacers have been decimated by injuries. It's nonetheless a stunning free-fall for a team that was third in the NBA in field goal percentage last year and tops in the league two years ago. And it's the main reason why Indiana, home to one of the most fun-to-watch offenses in the league the last two years, has just one victory through 13 games.
Missing from near and far
The current NBA is all about scoring at the rim and from 3-point range. Indiana is struggling mightily in both categories.
The Pacers are last in the league in shooting percentage at the rim at 61.2%, according to the breakdowns at Basketball-Reference.com. The league's top teams are over 75% from the same area. Indiana is also last in the league in 3-point percentage at 40%. The NBA's best are over 40%, according to NBA.com.
It's a recipe for disaster in the modern NBA.
Who's missed the most?
The Pacers' equally historic rash of injuries almost certainly is the main culprit behind the historic shooting struggles. Indiana's season has been a parade of players who are unfamiliar with each other and playing unfamiliar roles. That's a formula for less-than-ideal shot selection.
Some are struggling more than others:
* Jay Huff, a lifetime .499 shooter, has a .369 shooting percentage this season.
* Aaron Nesmith made more than half of his field goals last season, but was making just 36.7 percent of his attempts this year before he was injured at Phoenix on Nov. 13.
* Jarace Walker had a 45.77 FG% in his first two seasons, but is shooting just .293 this year.
Statisticians insist that makes and misses don't "even themselves out" over the course of the season.
Indiana fans can take solace, however, that as more players return from the injured list and regain on-court chemistry, the Pacers' shooting numbers should improve. History says it can't get much worse.
And for what it's worth: That 1960-61 Boston Celtics team actually won the NBA title!