If you’re an NBA fan and you’re not aware of the Pacers’ perfect start to the season, you’ve either got very bad wifi connection, or you’re not really a fan. It would be hard to focus on anything else other than Indiana’s perfect start to the season, but does this streak really mean anything?
A seven-game winning streak at any point of the season is good enough, but it’s fair to say its brilliant right at the start, and you’ve faced Brooklyn, Chicago and Cleveland. It may not be as great as Miami’s streak last year, but then again it could be; especially when you see Paul George’s stats: 25.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4 assists. But it isn’t only one player, it never is: Roy Hibbert has 4.3 blocks per game, and Lance Stephenson has 14.1 points.
As a team they have a rather low free throw percentage (75%), but that probably wouldn’t be the case if Lance Stephenson spent a bit more time at the line in training; He is 6-14 from there. My 9-year-old nephew could probably achieve that…
But just giving the stats doesn’t tell it all: Indiana seem to have a certain confidence and motivation, led by MVP contender George, everything they do seems to have a purpose and a meaning. Even when they are down, they keep playing their huge range of basketball. They can shoot threes, they can move the ball around to get wide open jump shots, but they also have the height and power to put the ball inside the paint, and force free throws.
This may be a great start, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Though they already have a nice cushion on second place (Sixers and Heat on 4-3), let me remind you this is an 82-game season, and the winner of that still has to win 16 more games to win it all. So calling the Pacers serious contenders is accurate, but to put them as favourites is probably jumping the gun a little. A 7-0 record is great, but if they were to lose their next game they would have as many losses as the Spurs and the Thunder, and suddenly they would lose the best record in the NBA.
Although it’s far too early for predictions, I like predictions, in fact I like them a lot. So here it is:
Pacers will win the Eastern conference, beating Miami in game 7 at home, and then would beat any team from the West apart from Thunder. If the Spurs reach the Finals again, then they will win.
Indiana’s next three games are at home to Memphis and Bucks and then away to Chicago. How long will they hold on? Just wait and see.
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