Pacers News!

            The last post I had about the Pacers, I gave the article the title, “Pacers Struggling to Win”. That seems like an understatement given their past eight games in which they went 2-6. We are beating teams we should, but severely struggling against quality teams. Against the Bulls, Hawks, Heat, and Magic (all teams currently in the playoffs) we were beaten by an average of 10 points. We only lost to the Heat by two, and it was in overtime, but we’re past the point of trying to find “moral wins”. The Pacers are not the team they need to be to even compete in the playoffs.

            
            The biggest problem I see on a night-to-night basis is nobody on the team is consistently productive. Some nights Danny Granger and Paul George will be making shots but nobody else will. Then the next game those two will struggle but George Hill will have a good game. That is not how a great team plays.

There is only one man on the Pacers’ roster that you can count on to have a good game every night. That would be David West. West, the starting power forward, is averaging 12 points and nearly 7 rebounds a game. If you want to consider yourself a true Pacers and basketball fan then you have to appreciate what West does for our team. He doesn’t showboat, he doesn’t run his mouth (as Danny Granger did before the Knicks blew us out), he plays unselfishly, he doesn’t force shots (Granger and Paul George), and he plays hard every game. The only problem is the power forward position isn’t exactly a game changer in basketball. Besides Dirk Nowitzki, I can’t think of any MVP-caliber power forward. That doesn’t diminish West’s role though. He is a key player for our team and his experience plays a huge role on such a young team.

What has really been missing for the Pacers is All-Star center Roy Hibbert. Big Roy has been basically non-existent since the All-Star Break. Pre-All-Star Break, Hibbert averaged 13 points, a 51% field goal percentage, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. Post All-Star Break, Hibbert has averaged 9.6 points, a 41% field goal percentage, 7.4 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game (somehow he has more blocks). I’m not sure what is going on with Hibbert. It just seems like teams are playing him tougher and double-teaming him more often.

Ok, so how about some good news? The Pacers traded away a 2012 2^nd-round draft pick to acquire Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa comes from the Toronto Raptors where he averaged 12 points over his career. He also earned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2006. This is exactly the kind of move the Pacers had to make. Our bench is way too weak but this will give that unit some serious firepower. Now, George Hill we become the point guard and Barbosa will be the shooting guard. Those two on the court will be a formidable force against any other teams’ backup squad.

I’ll admit it, I’m a little behind my deadline of posting this story. I meant to have it done before last night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, but obviously that didn’t happen. That is not necessary a bad thing though. I set out to do nothing but complain about the Pacers woeful playing in the past two weeks. As you read above, I did just that, but after watching the Pacers cruise to a victory against the Clippers, my mindset on the rest of the season has completely changed.

The Pacers played magnificently against Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. We took great shots, played great defense, had production from the starters and bench, and never let the Clippers have the lead in the second half. Everything that I complained about in the four paragraphs above was nonexistent, and that is beautiful. If we played like we did against the Clippers every night then we would be way above 30 wins. Five players scored in double digits, including newly-acquired Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa may be the best pick up the Pacers have had in years. I know it was just one game, but he is definitely going to make a huge impact on how our bench plays the rest of the season.

I seriously believe this game will be the point in the season when the Pacers get back to playing outstanding basketball like they did in December and January. We are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference Standings with a 26-18 record. There are 22 games left (13 of which are at Bankers Life Fieldhouse) and I don’t see why we can’t win at least 14 of those. That would give us a final record of 40-26 and hopefully a fourth seed in the playoffs. That is my expectation for the rest of the season. This team is too talented to achieve anything less.

Final games in March:

3/22- at Washington Wizards (10-34)

3/23- vs. Phoenix Suns (23-23)

3/24- at Milwaukee Bucks (21-24)

3/26- vs. Miami Heat (34-11)

3/28- at New Jersey Nets (15-32)

3/29- vs. Washington Wizards (10-34)

3/31- at San Antonio Spurs (29-14)

            Seven games in nine days is a tall task, fortunately five of the games are against below-average teams. We came pretty dang close to knocking off the Miami Heat a couple of weeks ago. This final game against them may be the time we finally beat them. Plus, I will be going to this game and the Pacers are 5-0 with me in attendance this year. The game in San Antonio will be interesting. George Hill started his career in San Antonia but we traded Kawhi Leonard for him in the 2011 Draft. This will be the first chance for the Pacers to see what we gave up in Leonard.                    

UPDATE 3/21/2012: Longtime Pacer Jeff Foster announced he is retiring from basketball. The center has been fighting back problems all season. Foster was the last remaining player from the team that played in the NBA Finals in 2001. 

This leaves the Pacers' backcourt as this:

C- Roy Hibbert

PF- Lou Amundson

PF- David West

PF- Tyler Hansbrough

PF- Jeff Pendergraph

SF- Danny Granger

SF- Dahntay Jones
Indiana's front office will have to shop around the free agency pool and find another big man to take Foster's spot. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of great options available. The only two names I even recognize on NBA.com's list of free agent centers are Erick Dampier and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Both last played for the Miami Heat and both have 15 years of experience in the NBA.