The Indiana Pacers were ready to show the NBA that they had reached an elite level very quickly and were the makings of a new spread offensive juggernaut. With their matchup against the Golden State Warriors in the spotlight, they seemed ready to end the streak and had an early lead at 21-15. The Warriors then displayed a bone crushing 22-0 run led by the splash brothers, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, who scored 18 of the 22 points in a four minute stretch.

The deficit got no closer than 11 points in the first half as the Pacers gave up 79 points and were trailing 79-60 at the half. Klay Thompson continued to torch the Pacers as he has in years past. By the end of the third quarter, Thompson had 39 points and seemed unstoppable as the Warriors lead reached 30 points in the third quarter. The Pacers did make a run as they outscored the Warriors 40-20 in the final quarter and got the deficit under 10 points in the final two minutes, but the Warriors simply kept the Pacers at arms length and made clutch free throws down the stretch and defeated the Pacers 131-123.

Paul George led the Pacers with 33 points and eight rebounds on 11-of-27 shooting, but the most telling stat was with the Indiana's starters. The starting unit had a +/- of -65 while the Warriors starting lineup had a +/- of +75. The Warriors truly showed the Pacers who was the master of the spread offense and who was the student.

The next contest was against a familiar rival in the Miami Heat. Indiana's coaching staff claimed they focused primarily on defense in the days after the Golden State loss and it showed in the game against the Heat. No team led by more than four points in the opening quarter as the Pacers defense carried them in the first half. The Pacers trailed 21-20 at the end of the first due to a slow shooting start from Paul George and C.J. Miles as they started 2-of-10 from the field. The Heat continued to slowly extend their lead as they led 39-31 on a Dwyane Wade layup at the 5:15 mark of the second quarter. While George continued to struggle from the field, he did a great job at attacking the rim as he was 8-of-8 at the foul line in the second quarter to help the Pacers close the gap to 48-47 at halftime.

The Pacers increased their defensive intensity and kept the game close with their aggressiveness and deflections. The game was tied at 60 when the Pacers outscored the Heat 17-8 in the final five minutes of the quarter to take a 77-68 lead going into the fourth quarter. Paul George continued to struggle from the field, but was making excellent decisions to help the team. The offensive scoring load was handled by Monta Ellis, who scored 14 of his 24 in the second half. A Dwyane Wade pull-up jumper cut the lead to 85-79 with six minutes remaining, but the Pacers outscored the Heat 11-4 the rest of the way and secured the victory 96-83. Monta Ellis led the team with 24 points, six assists, and six steals on 10-of-18 shooting.

The Pacers then traveled the next night to Detroit to face another rival in the Pistons. The game was moderately close through most of the first half but the Pacers were doing a terrible job of closing out on shooters. The Pacers were actually winning the battle in the paint, which is usually a good indicator for the team, but they did not seem to make the effort in transition, on defense, or in the turnover area of the offense. The game really opened up late in the second quarter when the Pistons knocked down three straight three-pointers, all in transition, and extended the lead to 10 at 65-55 at halftime.

The game got considerably worse as the Pacers began to argue more with the officials and failed to stay engaged in the game. Paul George, C.J. Miles and Monta Ellis only combined for 31 points on 11-of-33 shooting, in what was a lackluster effort that saw the Pacers turn the ball over 16 times as they lost 118-96. Amazingly, the Pacers shot 50 percent from the field, but so did the Pistons and they made 10 more threes than the Pacers did. If the Pacers want to win, they can’t take a day off on defense like they did against the Pistons.

The focus last week was the alarming signs of the Pacers defense and those problems continued. The Pacers gave up point totals of 131, 83 and 118 for an average of 110.7 points per game. The Pacers defense also allowed 49.6 percent shooting and an average of 11 three-point makes per game. This week, the Pistons and Warriors were basically at a shoot around against the Pacers because there was very little attention to details in those games on the defensive end. At one point in the Warriors game, Andrew Bogut was the beneficiary of three straight alley-oops where he was untouched on his way to the hoop. If the Pacers want to turn things around, they must defend at a higher level. They need to keep opponents under 100 points and under 45 percent shooting. With the faster pace the Pacers are playing at, more points are to be expected, but two straight weeks of over 110 points per game for a defense is horrible.

1st Quarter Recap

The first quarter of the season is finished and while there is some recent concerns, the Pacers are still on a good pace for a 50-win season and have shown some improvements. Last year, the Pacers were 18th in the NBA in win percentage at 46.3 percent, 24th in the NBA in points per game at 97.3, fourth in the NBA at opponents scoring at 97.0 points, and 16th at point differential at 0.3.

This season, the Pacers increased their win percentage and scoring, now at 61.9 percent and 103.9 points per game which is good for seventh and sixth respectively. Opponents scoring has only slightly risen to 99.0 points per game which is good for 10th in the NBA. The most encouraging stat is the point differential. This writer explained prior to the season that if the Pacers could only take a dip in defense but take a good jump in points and be at a point differential around +4.0, that would put them in a spot for a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers point differential lies at a +4.3 (all stats courtesy of ESPN.com and Fox Sports Net Indiana, stats were current as of December 13th) and currently sit a half game back for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. This writer also claimed if the Pacers can win around 60 percent of their games then that would put them at a 50-win record. Prior to the Detroit game, the Pacers were on pace for a 51-win season with a 62 percent win rate. There is no need to be concerned with the team’s long term success, but they need to get back to playing more solid defense.

The Week Ahead

The Pacers have four games in six days as they have games at home against the Toronto Raptors on December 14th, the Dallas Mavericks on December 16th and the Brooklyn Nets on December 18th, before hitting the road to face the Memphis Grizzlies on December 19th.​ 

Prediction

The simple answer for this week is if the Pacers can play improved defense and hold opponents under 100 points per game and 45 percent shooting in each of the games, then they will win. The first two games will be the most important as the Raptors and Mavericks both pose bigger lineups with firepower that can be difficult to defend. The Pacers bigs need to play well in the paint and rebound at a high rate. If the Pacers can win the rebounding battle, they will be able to use their speed and run the Raptors and Mavericks out of the building.

The Nets are a team that is struggling to find their identity with a mixture of traditional and new school players. The Pacers should be able to take advantage of Brooklyn's slow-footed big men and score early in transition to pull away at home. The most difficult matchup of the week will be against the Memphis Grizzlies on the second night of a back-to-back. The Pacers are 2-3 on the second night of a back-to-back with a point differential of -5.2 per contest and have lost their last two by an average of 17 points. The Pacers will need to bring their energy and aggressiveness against the most physical team in the NBA. They will need to limit the duo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol in the paint and capitalize from the perimeter to win.

The Pacers will take advantage of some home cooking and go 3-0 at home, but will have a physically demanding loss on the road against the Grizzlies as they will continue to own the Pacers.

Final prediction: 3-1

Monta Ellis will average 20 points per game this week.