Indiana Pacers missing a second offensive option as they move towards the Playoffs – NBA Feature
The Indiana Pacers have had a good NBA season and with the win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, they qualified for the playoffs.
They are currently placed 3rd in the Eastern Conference with only a few games left in the season. They are three wins clear of 4th placed Boston Celtics and are in a good position to hold on to the #3 spot
till the end of the season.
However, playoffs is a completely different ball game. It takes pressure, perseverance and composure to win in the playoffs. Indiana Pacers have a very good line-up but competing in the playoffs is all about perfectness and a sneak
peak at their roster reveals a very prominent hole - they do not have a reliable and consistent scoring option, other than Danny Granger.
All the big teams in the NBA have at least two big stars in their line-up, which helps them win matches consecutively. It gives a team two advantages. Firstly, it gives a side more options offensively as well as defensively, and
keeps on diverting the opponent team.
With one star, the team becomes very easy to manage and the focus of the opponent team is on only that one person, much like the situation of Dwight Howard at Orlando Magic.
A team like the Los Angeles Lakers has Kobe and Pau Gasol while Andrew Bynum has also been playing very well this season. The Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs have their Big Three. Oklahoma City Thunder has Kevin Durant and
Russell Westbrook and Miami Heat have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
A lone star can only take a team to a certain extent, even a player as complete as James never managed to win the championship at Cleveland and came to the South Beach in search of help.
With Indiana, their star player at the moment is Danny Granger. In his seventh year, he has led the Pacers from the front. He is averaging 18.6 points per game at 41.7% shooting from the field. He is also averaging 1.6 assists
per game, not bad for forward, and 4.8 rebounds per game.
However, Granger alone cannot do the job for Indiana come playoffs. If the playoffs started today, Indiana would face the 6th seeded Orlando Magic. They may be able to sneak past Magic especially now that Howard is probably
out for the season, but when up against the big boys of the East, they will fall, the reason – they just do not have the resources to break the defences of teams like Miami, Chicago Bulls and the C’s.
In the current Pacers roster the only other decent offensive option is Roy Hibbert. Hibbert plays center for Indiana and is averaging 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He has a field goal percentage of 49.5% this season, while
also managing 2 blocks per game.
This year, his statistics are up from last year and is doing a good job on the court. However, he is not quite there and when up against giants like Kevin Garnett, Chris Bosh and Joakim Noah, these numbers will suffer. Already
in his fourth season, Hibbert needs to bring his game to another level if wants to be counted among the top stars in the NBA. Otherwise Indiana’s post season journey might only feature a few games.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent Bettor.com’s editorial policy.
Tags: