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Overall
Win/Loss Record (as of February 28th): 36-22 (first place, Central Division)
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7
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This Month:
6
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Team
Statistics and League Rank (as of February 28th)
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Individual
Statistical Leaders (as of February 28th)
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Worst Player
of the Month: Gerald Green
 After what many saw as a breakthrough season last year, Gerald Green has proven by his poor performance this season how looks can be deceiving. Green started the season rather disappointingly as he posted rather mediocre numbers averaging a little over seven points per game while shooting under .400 from the field. It would not get any better for Green as his numbers plummeted at 2013 as his scoring dropped to 5.5 points per game while shooting .261 from the field by the end of January. On February, Green was essentially nonexistent as he played just four games and average 1.8 points per game while shooting .158 from the field. What could have and should have been a savvy dark horse acquisition for the Indiana Pacers has become a full fledged bust as Gerald Green has proven to be disappointment yet again. |
First Player
of the Month: Lance Stephenson
 His numbers may not jump out at you, but Lance Stephenson has probably been the most solid and consistent Pacer player thus far this season. Unlike his teammates whose numbers seemed to have bounced up and down as the season progressed, Lance Stephenson's have remained relatively stable scoring a solid eight to nine per game while consistently shooting .450 or better. He may not be the flashiest player nor the most noticeable as he does not take that many shot attempts; however, what few shot attempts he may takes, he had been rather efficient in connecting. At the same time he does all the little things as well woth his scrappy defensive play and rebounds rather well for a shooting guard as he has average slose to four per game this season. While most of the focus has been centered around his All Star teammate Paul George, Lance Stephenson can certainly be considered as one of the Pacers'unsung hero that has propelled the team to be amongst the Eastern Conference's elite. |
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Analysis:
It took them a few months, but the Indiana Pacers have now started to perform and produced like the elite NBA team that many envisioned them to be at the start of the season. At the end of 2012, the Pacers looked average at best barely skimming five games over the .500 mark while leading a rather sad, week, and poorly performing Central Division; however, now at the end February, the Pacers have elevated themselves out of the shadow of mediocrity to rise among the top teams in the league. It did not look as good at the end of January when the Pacers went a passable 9-6 as they finished the month losing three of their last four games; however, that all changed once February came around. It was upon the arrival of February that the Pacers went from simply a good team to become a great team as they simply crushed their opponent as they went 9-3 winning in rather impressive fashion against rather impressive competition. Now awake with their eyes wide open, the Pacers look to make believers out of those who have doubted them for much of the season as they look to prove that they are a more than worthy adversary and contender for a NBA title.
What started as a 21 point win against the lowly Detroit Pistons (1/30/2013) to cap off a unimpressive January turned into a five game win steak where the Indiana Pacers made short work of rather impressive competition. They started February win an impressive 13 point win against the East's top team, the Miami Heat (1/1/2013) then followed that with double figure margin wins against their division rival Chicago Bulls (2/4/2013) and Eastern Conference playoff mainstay, the Atlanta Hawks (2/5/2013). They followed those three impressive performances by simply squashing the Philadelphia 76ers by 19 holding the team to just 69 points and .348 shooting from the field (2/6/2013). Indy suffered a couple of minor setbacks losing rather close games--both in overtime--to the Toronto Raptors (2/8/2013) and the Brooklyn Nets (2/11/2013); however, the Pacers bounced back in splendid fashion winning their next five straight games by an average margin of nearly 22 points per game with the most notable being a 34 points spanking of the New York Knicks (2/20/2013), a team in possession pf the second best win total in the East.
Altogether Indiana won a grand total of 18 games and went from being a team that hovering around mediocrity with a mere 18-13 record by the end of 2012 to raising themselves at third place in the East with a 36-22 record. With such an impressive performance, it begs one to answer the question: if the Pacers were capably of playing so dominantly in January and February, how come they did not do so at the very start of the season. They had the same team at the end of November as they did in the end of February virtually injury free, save for the one that has kept last season's leading scorer Danny Granger sidelined for most of the season. In fact, if someone would have told those who follow the NBA that the Pacers after starting their season at 7-8 would go on and take third place in East Conference, they would not have taken that prediction seriously at all. One can also go as far to say that the Pacers' ascension from mediocrity to NBA elite can be considered by many observers as one of the best comeback performances of the 2012/2013 NBA season and what makes this even sweeter for Indy fans is that their team has done so well without the help of a majors marquee player as the other teams in the Eastern Conference has.
Sure, the team has been blessed thus far by the improved play of Paul George, whose impressive performance earned him a selection on the Eastern Conference All Star Team; however, he certainly cannot be placed in the same boat as the Heat's Lebron James or the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony. George is not even in the same league as notable second tier players such as Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett or even a player such as Atlanta's Josh Smith, who has yet to receive even his first All Star selection. In any instance, the Pacers do not have any real names that pop out at the fans or the media as they have kept relatively low profiles throughout much of the regular season. Yet despite not have the star power as the two two teams ahead of them, or even the marquee names of the team's under them, they Pacers have risen up to reach the plateau of the two of the best teams in not only the conference, but overall in the league as well.
Despite posting such an impressive performance to finish the month of February among the top three teams in the East, the Pacers still remain rather flawed entering the final stretch of the regular season. Regardless of the huge jump in scoring from averaging under 92.0 points at the end of December to close to 95.0 by February's end, the Pacers still remains a team that still struggle on the offensive end as the still rank near the bottom in scoring and field goal percentage while at the same time rank among the worst teams when it come to committing turnovers. Their defense still remains top notch as ranked among the best teams in the league in points and field goals allowed; however, despite such impressive defensive intensity, the Pacers rank near the bottom of the league in forcing turnovers. They still have little or no idea how to turn defense into offense as they still lack the ability to make their opponents pay on the offensive end with the team's reality poor shooting and inability to finish on the other side of the court. It will be very interesting to see whether or not Indiana can overcome their weaknesses as they head into the regular season's final stretch.
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Monday, May 6, 2013
SDH Presents the NBA's Worst to First for January and and February: 6. Indiana Pacers
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