THE Indiana Pacers are now in the race for the play-ins after a dreadful run in February. Coach Rick Carlisle couldn’t replicate the momentum of his heliocentric attack after the NBA All-Star break. Now the Tyrese Haliburton and the Bennedict Mathurin-led team has a lot of catching up to do if they want to gain home-field advantage in the playoffs or even just clinch a guaranteed playoff spot. However, one glaring statistic may have just revealed their problems.
THE The Pacers lead the league in losses against teams that have a winning percentage below 30%, according to Tony East of Sports Illustrated. The Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs include teams that haven’t gotten into some sort of rhythm to improve their record.
Rick Carlisle’s team has lost to this group of teams five times this season. This can prove how inexperienced the team is, how their defensive mistakes are very exploitable, and how volatile their offense tends to be most of the time. The Pacers have a 1.2 net rating, which is good for 13th in the league, but that’s not the whole story. Their defense, which equates to a rating of 118.9, is ranked in the bottom five in the league. Only the Pistons, Hornets, Hawks and Wizards have worse grades.
The Pacers are on fire in the middle of the season
Plus, the generational offense they are running could collapse at the end of the season. The Pacers currently have an offensive rating of 120.1. But, Tyrese Haliburton is not looking the same after the injury and NBA All-Star weekend. He now only generates 14.7 points at a rate of 44.8% across the three levels. It’s a far cry from the days when he averaged 24.2 points while stopping 49.6% of his shots.
The Pacers also needed his production as a floor general to increase. Instead, his average of 12.7 assists per game dropped significantly to 8.6 dimes each night. To make matters worse, he also remained scoreless during their defeat against the New Orleans Pelicans despite playing 23 minutes. Will other players like Bennedict Mathurin or TJ McConnell take charge of the Pacers?
About the Author
Jay is a lifelong motorsport and tennis fan. His need for speed may no longer be present on the grid or on the courts, but it has remained with him throughout the writing.
