Friday, October 31, 2014

Pacers can't be picky about how they win

The Pacers started the season with a 103-91 win over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday and for the fourth straight year they are 1-0 to begin the season. The Pacers play host to the 1-0 Memphis Grizzlies tonight.
Forethoughts
And, while just one win is surely not a big deal, the way the offseason transpired with the losses of Lance Stephenson to free agency and Paul George to the horrfic looking injury while playing for Team USA, and with the way the preseason transpired with George Hill out for three weeks and David West likely missing the first three games, any win can't be taken for granted. It's been a bit of a luxury in the past couple of seasons, and especially last season, to be concerned with only a 10- or 12-point victory over a lesser opponent. When looking through the schedule before the season started, and trying to pick just how many wins the Pacers could get this season, the best number I could come up with was 38. That means they would be 38-44. And I consider myself an optimistic realist (or should it be realistic optimist?). There are the chances the Wizards and Nets will have their usual injuries and won't be as good as projected. Or maybe the Hornets chemistry won't come together for a while with Stephenson in the mix now. Or maybe some of the Pacers will perform better than they have in recent years, mainly George Hill and Roy Hibbert. So, I'm not going to be doomsdayer here and say more than 38 wins is not possible. Even though, you have to realize that if the Pacers are not a playoff team, then the worse record the better when it comes draft time. But for now, it will be interesting just to see what this team can do with new faces such as C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey, and especially when both West and Hill are in the lineup together.
The Big Plays
Pacers 103, 76ers 91
Rodney Stuckey made a good first impression
in his Pacers debut with 16 points and five assists
in just 16 minutes of action Wednesday night.
There were a few in this game, but the one stretch that gave the Pacers some breathing room came late in the third quarter when C.J. Miles and Donald Sloan combined to score eight points, including a 3-pointer each, in a 31-second stretch to turn a two-point lead into a 10-point advantage.
The Ups
1) We didn't see a lot of Stuckey in the preseason due to injury, but he showed he can be more than a helpful player in his limited time in Wednesday's win, scoring 16 points in 16 minutes. Stuckey had been kind of well, stuck, in a losing situation in Detroit the past few years. Maybe he wants to prove he is a winner. He certainly made a good first impression in that area Wednesday. One of the primary concerns for this team not only early here without Hill and West, but in the long haul, will be finding ways to score. But if Stuckey can be a reliable option in the offense, that will be a nice step in the right direction.
2) It's probably true what team President Larry Bird said earlier this week that Roy Hibbert is not the kind of player where you can just continually throw the ball down to him and expect him to score a lot, like 20 something points a night. But when the Pacers have a clear advantage on the offensive end with Hibbert, like they did against the Sixers they need to be able to take advantage of it. That wasn't always the case late in the season last year, so that was good to see Wednesday night. If Hibbert's season averages end up around 16 points, nine rebounds, three blocks while shooting 46 or 47 percent. it would be hard not to take that. But it's clear that if the Pacers are going to have any success this year Hibbert has to be at least a solid player.
The Downs
Yes, while the win was nice, the fact that the Sixers scored 91 points and found their share of open shots wasn't good from a defensive standpoint. Tony Wroten is their best offensive player right now, and well, that's the point. A team with Tony Wroten as its top scorer shouldn't be scoring a whole lot.
Next Up
The Pacers will be facing what looks to be a good Memphis team tonight. The Pacers won't have a significant, if any, advantage in the middle this time with as the Grizzlies have Marc Gasol at center, who scored 32 points in their opening win Wednesday. The Grizzlies also have Hoosier natives Zach Randolph at power forwared (it seems he scores at least 20 and grabs at least 15 rebounds every time he comes to Indiana) and point guard Mike Conley, who has gone on to become a very solid player and have infinitely better NBA career than former high school and college teammate Greg Oden, a former No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.