| Pacers Can’t Take Advantage Of Opportunity Authored by Andrew Perna - February 9, 2009 - 3:17 pm
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They were within striking distance of the eighth, and final, playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, heading into a stretch where just four of their ten opponents possessed winning records.
The return of Mike Dunleavy on Jan. 7 had also appeared to change the team's luck, as they stood 6-5 with Dunleavy in the lineup after that late-January win over Charlotte.
Eight contests later, the Pacers have fallen to 20-32 and stand four games behind the Nets for the eight seed with four other teams standing inbetween New Jersey and Indiana.
"We're not satisfied by the win-loss record, and that includes the front office all the way down to the players," general manager David Morway told RealGM recently.
Included in their recent run of four losses in five games were demoralizing defeats against the Knicks, Timberwolves, and the Wizards.
Sunday night's loss to Washington came in dramatic fashion, with forward Caron Butler pushing his team past the Pacers with a game-winning jumper. It was just the latest in a long line of games that haven't gone Indiana's way in the final moments.
"We feel that's improving right now," Morway said of the team's execution late in the fourth quarter. "We've won several times at the end of games recently that we might have lost earlier in the season. A lot or our health issues have played a part in that, and having Mike [Dunleavy] back has helped us in those situations."
Of course, Dunleavy left Sunday's game early in the first quarter because of soreness in his troublesome right knee and did not return. However, it's hard to believe that he truly would have made a difference down the stretch against Washington. The Pacers didn't have an issue scoring, they just needed to somehow stop Butler and Antawn Jamison from putting points on the board at will.
The loss was also Indiana's eighth-straight road defeat, and dropped their mark to 6-21 on the season.
They continue to send mixed signals though, with their last two wins coming against teams with winning records -– Orlando and Miami. They had also put together a seven-game home win streak prior to their loss to the Knicks on Jan. 31.
Indiana will face Cleveland (at home) and Milwaukee this week prior to the All-Star break, with should have been a celebration for the franchise. Instead, it could turn into a depressing weekend if they drop both of the aforementioned games and Danny Granger isn't able to fully participate in the weekend's festivities.
Granger has been suffering from an achy right knee as of late, which has hampering his effectiveness and shooting stroke at times.
"No chance. I'll hobble through that game if I have to," Granger told the Indianapolis Star of Sunday night's All-Star Game, his first. "No way am I bagging that one."
He has only missed one game with the injury, but his shooting has taken a hit. Granger was 16-for-48 over a three-game stretch from Jan. 27 to Jan. 31.
This weekend's events in Phoenix could be renamed "The Danny Granger Coming Out Party," because it'll be a rare appearance on national television for the fourth-year forward. It's just too bad the team's record wasn't a better reflection of their play this season.
With that said, at what point do the Pacers become just a bad team, instead of a competitive club that simply can't close games in the second half and closing minutes?
In my opinion, they are teetering on the edge of becoming simply a poor team. Only seven clubs have a lower winning percentage, and the Pacers employ the third-worst defense in the NBA. They are decent (14-11) at home, but as mentioned above, downright horrible away from Conseco Fieldhouse.
Twenty of the team's thirty-two losses this season have come by eight points or fewer, but they aren't going to get any style points for their heart-breaking futility.
Heading into Tuesday's battle with the Cavaliers, the Pacers have 30 games left in the 2008-09 regular season. Their schedule is favorable enough, with just thirteen of those games coming against teams that currently have winning records, but they haven't provided any indication that they'll take full advantage of their "soft" slate.
It might appear as though some kind of move before the Feb. 19 trade deadline would help the team make up their deficit in the playoff race, but Indiana is unlikely to swing any deal that will increase their payroll this season, or in any other.
That means they'll likely hang onto two of their biggest trade pieces, Marquis Daniels (team option) and Rasho Nesterovic (expiring), who will both come off the books this summer.
"We aren't anxious to make a deal, but obviously we've gotta talk because we're not good enough and we certainly want to get better," Morway said of the likelihood that he and team president Larry Bird would make a trade within the next ten days.
It's worth noting that Indiana just underwent a pretty significant roster overhaul last July, less than seven months ago.
"You've gotta give a team a chance to stabilize and play together, and find out how they fit together," Morway added. "We've got a lot of chemistry off the court, and I think that'll soon carry over onto the court.
"T.J. [Ford] was hurt for a while, and having him back healthy has made a difference, but, you know, chemistry is an important part of this and guys understanding their roles, getting comfortable with their roles, and understanding how each other plays is often underestimated in terms of importance."
Every time it appeared as though they turned a corner this season, the Pacers have stumbled back a few steps. They have one three-game win streak this season, but have runs of three or more consecutive losses on five separate occasions.
I figured that the Pacers would be within four or five games of .500 at this point in the season, but instead they sit twelve games from even. Luckily, the East is relatively wide open from the seventh seed (Philadelphia, 25-24) down to fourteenth place (Toronto, 19-34).
The way the East has played out thus far, I'd venture to guess that Indiana will need to finish around 38-44 in order to have a shot at grabbing the final playoff spot in the conference. Of course, that's assuming the rest of the conference remains on their current pace.
In order to reach 38-44, they will need to close the season 18-12. Their schedule makes such a finish possible, but that hasn't meant a thing for the topsy-turvy Pacers this season.
Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM's Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com |
