Five things to know as Pacers head West
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Assistant Editor
The Pacers start a five-game road trip out West in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon. They will arrive two games ahead of the second-place Miami Heat.
1. Leaving the Leastern Conference: The imbalance of the league is that teams like Miami and Indiana in the East fatten their records on a softer schedule against poorer teams like the Bucks, Cavaliers and Bobcats, while coaches in the West have a conference where nearly everyone is competitive. In fact, a team with one of the top players in the NBA – the Anthony Davis-led Pelicans – entered Friday two spots from the standings basement.
The Clippers were 11-5 on the season heading into a road game against the Kings on Friday. Last season, the Pacers were 1-1 against the Clippers, with each team winning on the road.
A crazy basketball stat from the second of those meetings? Los Angeles’ second-half point total in the game the Pacers won: 63.
At the Staples Center on Sunday afternoon, the juicy matchups are Jared Dudley (8.2 ppg) vs. Paul George (23.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg); Blake Griffin (21.6 ppg, 10.9 rpg) vs. David West (12.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg); DeAndre Jordan (9.9, 12.8 rpg) vs. Roy Hibbert (11.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 3.9 bpg); J.J. Redick (15.9 ppg) vs. Lance Stephenson (13.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.9 apg); and Chris Paul (19.0 ppg, 12.2 apg, 5.0 rpg) vs. George Hill (12.8 ppg).
2. Portland on fire: When the Pacers last saw the Blazers in January, they were slumping badly with six straight losses before blowing out the Pacers.
Currently, the Blazers have won 11 of their past 12 games. The Portland matchup is sandwiched between the Clippers and Jazz.
3. Jazz singing blues: There was a point in time where some people thought the Pacers would be better off with Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks as a wing combination of the future. Well, Hayward is averaging 16.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists a game, while Burks is at 10.4 points with 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Hayward’s true shooting percentage is 48.4, while Burks’ is 44.8.
By comparison, George’s true shooting percentage is 58.9 and Stephenson’s is 53.9. Hayward and Burks have combined for 13 points less of player efficiency rating.
The other weakness for the Jazz, besides scoring, is defense. They don’t do it well. That is why they have the worst record (2-14) in the NBA. They do have Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors, though.
4. Test the best: While Indiana has won its last three visits to the Staples Center, they haven’t had as much success playing on the road against Oklahoma City and San Antonio, two clubs the Pacers could meet in the NBA Finals. They’ll want to show they are on par with the Spurs and Thunder.
Indiana is off to a hot start. The question is where they go from here against the rest of the league’s elite. San Antonio and Oklahoma City have been among the game’s very best offensive teams the past three seasons. The Pacers can stymie anybody. But will these road games be played at their preferred slow pace?
5. Cope vs. Solo: Chris Copeland is out there for one reason: buckets. In his past 58 minutes entering Friday he had scored 31 points. He had a 67.7 true shooting percentage over those seven outings.
Solomon Hill had been dropped from the rotation after two solid outings and seven ineffective ones but returned for Friday’s 93-73 win over Washington. It still seems as if Frank Vogel is sliding toward Copeland as his backup small forward, but Hill’s defensive mobility will definitely test Vogel’s commitment to Cope on this trip.
