Indiana Pacers Starters Mid-Season Grades
By Evan Reller
Apr 21, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers starting five (L-R) forward David West (21), guard George Hill (3), forward Paul George (24), center Roy Hibbert (55), and guard Lance Stephenson (1) watch from the bench against the Atlanta Hawks during game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Atlanta 107-90. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Indiana Pacers sit at 40-12 as we hit the NBA All-Star Break. At this natural breaking point, we take a look at how they’ve performed thus far.
Indiana has spent most of the season with the best record in the NBA, but currently sit behind just the Oklahoma City Kevin Durant‘s Thunder. The Pacers own a 2.5 game lead over the Miami Heat, and won’t face them again until late March.
We expected the Pacers to be very good this season, but not nearly this good. The offseason work of Paul George and Lance Stephenson has been incredible.
The front office deserves a lot of credit as well. They realized that the bench was a mess (that’s being awfully nice) and worked to fix it. Trading for Luis Scola, signing CJ Watson, and placing Danny Granger in a hyperbaric chamber so he can finally heal were all crucial moves.
Adding Andrew Bynum has also been a low risk, high reward move that at the very least keeps a seven-footer away from the Heat. Bynum will likely end up replacing Ian Mahinmi and his clock hands, and then we’ll see the Pacers turnovers drop by four per game.
2014 hasn’t been as kind to the Pacers as they’ve post a 15-6 record in the new year. That stretch featured a number of back-to-back games and a rough road trip out west. The Pacers have recently looked like a team that was desperate for a break.