| Back Down To Earth Authored by Andrew Perna - November 16, 2008 - 1:14 pm
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With an overhauled roster, featuring more new players than returning ones, and a playoff drought that stretched to two years last spring, it was expected that the 2008-09 season would at least be slow in the beginning.
However, instead of stumbling out of the gate with listless performances against powerhouses like the Pistons, Celtics, Suns and Cavaliers, the Pacers played well against each and handled the Nets (twice) and Thunder en route to a 4-3 record.
Seven games in, Indiana found themselves over .500 for the first time in almost a year.
On Friday night, with the 76ers in town, the Pacers appeared primed for yet another unexpected early-season victory. They led 22-2 less than eight minutes into the game, but coughed it up during the final moments in grand fashion.
Credit needs to be given to Philadelphia, who simply refused to quit, but as inspirational as the outcome was for the winner, no team ever wants to be on the losing end of a game they so thoroughly dominated in the first twelve minutes.
Instead, Indiana’s two-point loss ruined what could have been a four-game win streak and a 5-3 mark heading into Saturday night’s battle with the Bulls in Chicago.
The Pacers started slowly against the Bulls, who took a 55-47 lead after two quarters. They crawled back to make things interesting in the early moments of the fourth, but Chicago pulled away soon after thanks to the superb play of rookie Derrick Rose, Indiana’s porous transition defense and the Pacers’ nineteen turnovers.
The latter half of the final quarter turned into a track meet, but the fast-paced Pacers found themselves on the Wile E. Coyote end of the Acme race.
Even Ben Gordon, known more for his scoring prowess than anything else, took advantage of the Pacers’ lackadaisical defense. In one swift motion, Gordon grabbed a rebound and hurled the ball the length of the floor to Rose, who promptly brought the house down with a thunderous two-handed dunk.
The play certainly wasn’t the only great one for the Bulls, or poor one for the Pacers, in the final handful of minutes, but it was a perfect representation of how drastically Chicago outplayed Indiana with the game on the line.
Danny Granger, who missed the team’s win over the Nets on Wednesday and returned in the loss to the 76ers, appeared to be forcing shots with the Bulls’ lead quickly swelling. Rather than getting set in their offense, the Pacers looked flustered and almost lazy with the basketball.
If they weren’t turning the ball over, they were finding the back, or front, of the rim time and time again. The Pacers shot just 37.2%, including a 4-for-16 mark from downtown.
To struggle offensively is one thing, but failing to exert a respectable amount of effort on defense in the fourth quarter isn’t something that coach Jim O’Brien should tolerate.
Through seven (and a quarter) games this Pacers team appeared to have enough promise overcome their lack of “superstar” power. They were fun to watch, to root for and for the first time in nearly two years, they were winning games more often than not.
One would hope that Friday’s debacle didn’t have anything to do with Saturday’s poor effort, but such is life in the NBA when an 82-game schedule forces quite a few back-to-backs over the course of the five-plus month regular season.
However, despite back-to-back losses and a record that has now dipped below .500 (4-5), the Pacers can definitely take some positives out of their first nine games.
For starters, the loss to Chicago was truly the first time that Indiana’s defense looked really bad. Improving on that side of the ball was, and should have been, the team’s top priority heading into their second season under O’Brien.
And prior to the second half against the 76ers, the Pacers had done just that.
Even after Friday’s loss, they were still holding opponents to 95.4 points per game, down from 105.4 last season. Unfortunately, that same defensive effort wasn’t evident against the Bulls.
After such a strong start, including three losses that were almost tolerable because of what they showed against teams that should have been far-and-away better, consecutive losses has undoubtedly left a bad taste in the mouths of many.
Take a step back though, and think about where this team was just seven months ago. All of a sudden their current standing doesn’t seem nearly as bad.
The Pacers may have come back down to earth over the last few days, but their star should still be on the rise.
This group of guys has only played nine meaningful games together. We’ll need at least another nine or ten to surmise just how high, or low, they will soar this season.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail – Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com. |
