Postgame: Three thoughts on Pacers following unsightly loss
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
INDIANAPOLIS – The Pacers’ locker room was not the most uplifting place to be late Tuesday evening.
Roy Hibbert sat slouched with his head down in the corner, as reporters scurried to find more productive players to speak with. Hibbert had played just 8 minutes in the second half of a brutal loss to Toronto. After signing a max contract, all of a sudden Hibbert is missing shots right and left. He’s been held under 10 points in five of the Pacers’ eight games.
Meanwhile, George Hill sounded far less confident than you’d like for a guy inked as the starting point guard for the next four seasons. Hill talked about how he never played point guard growing up and is still learning the position and struggling to get all five players involved in the same game or even the same possession.
Let’s be clear: The Pacers look an utter mess right now. It’s ugly. Especially on offense. At what point does the magic orb around Frank Vogel, shielding him from criticism, melt away? He has no movement to his offense. No imagination. They take care of the ball like the federal government does our tax dollars. Bad passes happen all the time. Paul George is not coming into his own like people hoped. He’s shooting 40 percent and averaging nearly four turnovers a game. George talked about becoming an All-Star. No sign of that yet. The bench doesn’t look any better. Ian Mahinmi’s had one good game, maybe two. D.J. Augustin’s done virtually nothing.
Here are three thoughts following Indy’s 74-72 loss to Toronto at Bankers Life Fieldhouse:
1) Indiana had a season-low 12 turnovers. Look inside those 12, though, and you’ll know the problem isn’t fixed. Entering Tuesday, only four teams were averaging more. Turnovers were not an issue last season, so the sudden outbreak is strange. Although George is a main culprit, nearly everyone on the team is responsible for throwing bad passes. Seven of Indy’s 12 giveaways came on ill-fated attempts to move the ball from one player to another. David West tried to play Andrew Luck. The pass went sailing out of bounds. West also threw away a post-entry pass. Hibbert lobbed an awful post-entry feed of his own into the row of photographers on the baseline. Hibbert later cost the Pacers the ball when he wasn’t paying attention and Lance Stephenson’s pass hit him in the leg. George threw a pass away. Hill gave away a pair. The Pacers continue to be inaccurate going from Point A to Point B, and teams that cannot pass the ball effectively often have to take higher rates of challenged shots in the halfcourt offense. That’s a definite long-term problem. The only reason Indy even had a chance to win Tuesday was because it found 23 points on the fast break. When Toronto had a chance to set its defense, the Pacers were virtually hopeless.
2) Vogel said he removed Sam Young from the rotation with the idea of trying a nine-man group for at least a few games. It’s difficult to argue that decision, as Young has contributed nada offensively, and the struggle to score is what ails Indy. The wing that must step up, however, is Gerald Green, not Young. Green’s had two very good efforts but struggled the vast majority of the other games. He has a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights, suddenly-I’m-on-a-team-with-expectations look to him. I wrote in the offseason that because Green averaged 20.5 points per 40 minutes last season, he was a solid bet to provide needed bench scoring. Thus far, Green’s 40-minute average is about 13 points, a much more run-of-the-mill figure. If Green doesn’t get it going, the Pacers might need to trade for a scoring guard by February’s deadline.
3) Eight games in, Indiana has yet to play a good one. The competition hasn’t been great, and a couple opponents – the Kings and these Raptors come to mind – couldn’t throw it in the ocean. So, how many wins can we expect the Pacers to end up with? Entering the year I thought 43-44 wins was the basement. Forget winning in the high 50s. That wasn’t truly realistic and now is clearly not. Other than Danny Granger, the team has been almost completely healthy. Don’t expect that to continue. In the always-weak Eastern Conference, it’s hard to imagine Indiana missing the playoffs entirely. But if they were to slip to around .500 at 42 or 41 wins, the Pacers might put themselves in that type of danger.
