Pacers Keep on Winning

 It was a near perfect week for the Indiana Pacers. Starting on January 29^th, the Pacers went on a four-game winning streak that included wins against a couple of solid teams. They had wins at Orlando and defending champion Dallas. They were also able to beat Kevin Love and the Timberwolves as well as the New Jersey Nets. However, they were not able to win five games in one week when the Magic came to Banker’s Life. The Magic left out Super Bity with a four-point win.

            By going 4-1 in the past five games, Indiana has a 16-7 record and holds the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. It’s a tight race for the top seeds, and one that is ever-changing. The Bulls, Heat, 76ers, Magic, Hawks and Pacers are separated by five games. Even though we have already beaten the Bulls, they and the Heat are the likely contenders for the top two spot. That leaves the other four teams to battle for the 3-6 spots.

I’m a little biased, but I believe the Pacers are the best out of all of those teams; although our record against those teams doesn’t really prove that. We have played the Hawks and 76ers once. We beat the Hawks but lost to the 76ers, mainly because we were without three key players. We have a 1-2 record against the Magic but still have one game left against them so that record could end up at .500. Indiana will face Atlanta two more times and Philly three more times. Two of the 76ers games come in the final five games of the schedule, so those will most likely play a huge part in which team gets a higher seed for the playoffs.

           

There are three players that have really stepped up their game in the past week. First is second-year man Paul George. George had a career-high 24 points against the Nets and has shot .533 from three-point range in the past five games. Veteran leader Danny Granger is also performing at a high level. Granger had a season-high 36 points against the Timberwolves and has averaged 23.5 points in the past five games. It’s nice to see Granger scoring a lot of points, and more importantly, taking good shots. In the beginning of the season, he still had the mentality of “I have to do everything”. It seems like he has realized that his teammates have the ability make baskets too.

            Last, but still least, is Lou Admundson. Admundson was added to the team before the season began and he has yet to impress me, but he is slowly chipping away at my disgust to him. In the past two games, Lou has gone 8 for 8 on field goals. He still has a lot of work to do to become a consistent force off the bench, but he is showing improvement from where he was at the beginning of the season.

Next 7 games for the Indiana Pacers:

2/7- vs. Utah Jazz (13-10)

2/8- at Atlanta Hawks (16-9)

2/10- at Memphis Grizzlies (12-13)

2/11- vs. Denver Nuggets (15-10)

2/14- vs. Miami Heat (18-6)

2/15- at Cleveland Cavaliers (9-13)

2/16- vs. New Jersey Nets (8-18)

            Six of those games are winnable for the Pacers. Can you guess the one that’s not? That’s right, the Heat. The last time we played Miami they man handled us, and that was without Dwayne Wade. The Jazz and Nuggets are playing well right now, but so are the Pacers. We’ve already beaten Atlanta, Cleveland, and New Jersey so they shouldn’t be a problem. 

UPDATE 2/14: Pacers got off to a good start with a victory against Utah. It all went downhill from there as they lost the next three. The team is playing good but they're just getting beat by better teams. I may just be making excuses but our bench is really sub-par. We have money and cap space to sign a good player and that's what we need to do. Our starting five can compete with anybody. It's our bench players that are failing.

            Watch for my next Pacers’ post in a couple of weeks.

2011 Pacers Off-Season

Pacers' mascot "Boomer"

            The Indiana Pacers finished the 2010-2011 seasons with a losing record, but made it the postseason under interim coach, Frank Vogel. He is youthful and seems to connect with the young Pacers team. The Pacers increased their scoring average from 97.8 points per game to 102.1 points per game after Vogel took over from fired head coach Jim O’ Brien.

            
            Vogel took advantage of his younger players, and seldom-used players under O’ Brien's reign. Tyler Hansbrough, "2010 Player of the Year" at the University of North Carolina finally looked like the star he was expected to be. He became a starter with Vogel and added a sense of aggression that the Pacers had definitely lacked before.

            
            Vogel also played around with the lineup until he found one that was firing on all cylinders. It was great to see players I had never even heard of make a contribution to victories. Vogel has not yet been given the Pacers head coach job for the 2011 season, but he is considered to be the leading candidate. He knows the system and the players, and has shown he can win. Hopefully, he’ll be back again leading the Pacers to the playoffs.

Frank Vogel

Here is who the Indiana Pacers currently have on their roster:

Guards- Darren Collison, Mike Dunleavy*, T.J. Ford*, A.J. Price, Brandon Rush, Lance Stephenson

Forwards- Danny Granger, Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, Solomon Jones*, Josh McRoberts*, James Posey

Centers- Roy Hibbert, Jeff Foster*.

*-free agents

             

            Collison, Granger, George, Hansbrough, and Hibbert are the definite core of this team. They are all young players who all have great potential, not to mention the standard starting rotation. Dunleavy is a solid shooting guard, but he’s not getting any younger or better. T.J. Ford has been a disappointment so far. Price, Rush, Stephenson, Jones, Jones, and Posey are just names that could be replaced with anybody. Sure, they’re all good players that know the system, but none of them will ever be all-stars. Foster and McRoberts are both good backups for their respective positions, and sometimes started games.

            

            Larry Bird said in a recent press conference that he wants "10 players that can be competitive every night” . From the 15 players currently listed, I see 7, maybe 8. If the Pacers office can nail this 2011 NBA Draft, then Pacers will have a very bright future.