The Indiana Pacers are seven games above .500 and are in a good spot to make another deep playoff run. Even after making their conference finals last season and dealing with a slow start to the current campaign, the Pacers look even better than they did last year. They are a significantly better unit on defense, and the team is much more complete overall. Additionally, each player has continued to buy into their role.
There is still a lot of work remaining before the Pacers can consider themselves contenders on the same level as the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, but it is clear that they are approaching that territory. Furthermore, they are a legitimate playoff threat and will be a challenge for anybody they face in the postseason. However, there is one specific flaw the Pacers have that they must work out in order to solidify themselves as title contenders.
Rick Carlisle says the Pacers must start games on a better note
After the Pacers' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, head coach Rick Carlisle expressed his frustrations toward one specific area the team must fix--their slow starts to games.
"You cannot survive doing this and having these kinds of poor starts," Carlisle said. "We gotta look in the mirror. I've gotta look and consider everything. We gotta be better at the beginning of the game. We've gotta go harder and we've gotta fight harder."
"When you don't start well, you're always leaving too much to chance," Carlisle said. "... You have that kind of a horrible start and get down by 22 points, it's a massive hole on the road. We're a long way from home. There's plenty of reasons why we gotta avoid this."
Though the Pacers only lost by seven, this was largely because of their performance in the second half. After the first quarter, the Pacers trailed the Lakers (who were without LeBron James and Luka Doncic) 44-22. Additionally, it became a 12-point deficit for Indiana less than six minutes into the game.
Furthermore, in the Pacers' win over the Los Angeles Clippers last Thursday, it was a similar story. They went down 42-22 after the first quarter and faced a double-digit deficit just three minutes into the game. The Pacers also did not have a lead at all in the first quarter. Regardless, they completed the comeback and won by seven.
These slow starts have been a trend for the Pacers, especially in the past few games. While they are mostly turning things around during the action, this is a bad habit they must quit, especially if they want to compete for a championship.
A slow start during a few games in February is not a big problem in the grand scheme of things, but it can become one if it continues into the playoffs, where they will take on the best teams in the league.
Fortunately, there is a lot of time for the Pacers to fix this problem and turn things around. Ultimately, they are too talented not to. However, it is something worth monitoring the rest of the way as the Pacers look to continue climbing the standings.