| Pacers Remain Committed To Indiana, Winning Authored by Andrew Perna - March 31, 2009 - 7:07 pm
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The Pacers led 35-21 after the first quarter at the United Center, and rallied back from a third quarter deficit to take a 97-96 lead on a three-pointer by Danny Granger with a little more than six minutes left.
However, the Bulls dominated the final half of the fourth quarter, finishing the victory with a 16-9 run to all but ensure that Indiana would miss the postseason for the third straight spring.
Sunday’s results inched the Pacers back into the conversation, with Indiana downing Washington and Chicago falling to Toronto, but they are still 4.5 games behind the Bulls with eight games to play.
Even if Indiana defeats Chicago on Tuesday night at Conseco Fieldhouse, they remain firmly planted behind the eight-ball in the playoff race.
Needless to say, the organization is disappointed that they weren’t able to end their growing playoff drought. “Our goal is always to make the playoffs, and I think that’s always your goal at a minimum,” Pacers general manager David Morway told me on Monday.
If you make the safe assumption that they’ll miss the postseason for the third straight season, the streak would be the team’s longest since the mid-1980s when the Pacers missed the playoffs five consecutive years (1981-82 to 1985-86).
On the surface, when looking at their losing record (31-43) and reading about their financial struggles, you might consider Indiana to be a sinking franchise. Looking deeper, that’s far from the case.
“Our players are playing hard, and overall I think we’re satisfied with the progress that we’ve made as franchise and a team,” the general manager said.
Morway isn’t simply patting his player’s on the back. They truly have played hard this season, frequently shorthanded. Twenty of their 64 games have been decided by three points or fewer, a mark no other team in the NBA can touch. Indiana is 8-12 in such contests, while San Antonio, the team that has taken part in the second-most close contests, is 11-6.
“It’s also difficult because if you go back and look at our games, the number close games we’ve been in, and the buzzer-beaters we’ve lost, has been pretty remarkable,” Morway analyzed. “If you look at our record, it’s obvious that those types of games haven’t gone our way most of the time, but to our guy’s credit they have continued to fight and compete.”
The Pacers are actually relatively good when a game comes down to the final few possessions. They are 23-31 (0.425) when you remove their games decided by three points or less, just a touch above their winning percentage in such games (.400). In comparison, the playoff-bound Pistons (2-8), Heat (2-6) and Rockets (5-8) are considerably worse in close games than in others.
Injuries are something all teams must deal with, but Indiana has suffered more than the average club this season. Morway refused to use their poor health as an excuse, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that they have been shorthanded for a majority of the year.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries, and I’m not going to use that as an excuse because that’s part of the game, but losing Mike Dunleavy pretty much for the year was definitely difficult,” Morway admitted.
Only guard Jarrett Jack has appeared in all of the team’s 74 games this season, with every other member of the team having missed at least seven contests.
Missed Games In 2008-09
Mike Dunleavy – 56 games and counting
Marquis Daniels – 20 games and counting
Danny Granger – 15 games
Roy Hibbert – 12 games
Troy Murphy – 9 games and counting
T.J. Ford – 8 games
Jeff Foster – 7 games
Regardless of injuries, Morway and team president Larry Bird have spent the season evaluating the roster they overhauled less than a year ago.
“We knew that we were going into a rebuild, and that it was going to take some time, but our guys have bought into coach [Jim] O’Brien’s system, they’ve played very hard all year long, they’ve been tremendous on the court and off the court, in the community they’ve been great, and they are playing really well right now,” Morway concluded.
Some might contend that the Pacers have been rebuilding for three seasons, but that is far from the truth. Yes, they missed the playoffs in both 2007 and 2008, but it wasn’t until last summer that they truly decided to reconstruct the team by dealing perennial All-Star Jermaine O’Neal.
Remaining in the postseason conversation in the first year of a major overhaul is a nice feat, even if it’s disappointing that the Pacers aren’t going to qualify for the playoffs in a season when the Eastern Conference could welcome as many as three teams with losing records to the dance.
“We feel good about the direction that we are going, but it’s always hard because you want to be in the playoffs and you want to be competing in May,” Morway said.
Granger has been the biggest reason for optimism in Indiana, thanks to his 25.0 points per game, good enough for sixth in the NBA.
He made his first All-Star appearance in February, and is the team’s unquestioned leader. Yet the front office isn’t impressed with just his growth, but the work ethic and dedication that a majority of the roster has shown.
“We’ve seen a lot of bright spots, a lot of our guys are developing and we have a lot of young players that are coming along,” Morway said when asked to evaluate the team. “In addition, some of our more veteran guys have been terrific leaders. Our rookies are really coming along, you know Brandon [Rush] has been terrific lately and Roy [Hibbert], for a center, which usually take longer to develop, is really improving. Both of those guys are also really hard workers as well.
“Obviously, Danny [Granger] has had a terrific year, as has Troy Murphy. At the beginning of the year Larry [Bird] said that he thought Troy would have his best season, and that has come to fruition. Jarrett [Jack] and T.J. [Ford] have played really well. Jarrett’s played all year, and we’ve had T.J. hurt. We are lucky that Jarrett has been able to stay healthy and play well.”
In my last piece, I pointed out all the bright spots on the team, which at the time was getting headlines for the financial troubles instead of their determined play. Even though the official titles of both Morway and Bird are basketball-specific, the Pacers are a very integrated franchise.
“You can’t run a basketball team properly without remaining aware of the team’s financial standing as well,” said Morway, who added that he speaks to the team’s ownership often to remain involved in the process.
As a team, the Pacers are fine. It’s their troublesome Conseco Fieldhouse lease that is causing some concern in the city of Indianapolis. However, as I analyzed two weeks ago, attendance at the Fieldhouse is up and fans now have a team that battles every night to get behind.
They still sit 28th in the league, but now average 13,893 fans. That’s a nice increase from just two weeks ago. With six more home games before the end of the 2008-09 season, they could conceivably eclipse last year’s average attendance by 2,000 patrons per game.
“There has never been any indication by Mr. Simon that he plans to move the Pacers, and he remains fully committed to the city of Indianapolis,” Morway said in response to rumors that the team could depart. “Herb and Mel are probably two of the guys that are most known for the evolution of Indianapolis over the last 20 to 25 years.”
It may not be reflected in their record, or by the headlines in the mainstream media, but the Pacers are on the right track. They are committed to both winning, and to the city of Indianapolis.
In order to make a full transformation and return to elite status that commitment needs to start with the fans, transfer to the players, and advance all the way up through the front office and to the ownership.
The Pacers already have that framework in place.
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 |
