The so-called Leastern Conference has become the crazy conference this season. We’re two months into the season and there’s still just 3.5 games separating the first place team (Cleveland) and the ninth seed (Charlotte), which, by the way, was in second place just a week or so ago.
The Pacers have largely managed to stay afloat in the middle pack, climbing to third place tonight after snapping Atlanta’s 6-game winning streak with a hard fought and sometimes ugly 93-87 victory.
Paul George’s struggles continued, going just 3-14 en route to 9 points, and needed a season-high 26 from Monta Ellis (the Hawks just didn’t have anyone who could keep up with him), a game-saving tip-in from Ian Mahinmi (who had 13 and 9 and has been hitting his free throws) and even an appearance from Solomon Hill (10 points in 26 minutes) to earn the win.
After winning Player of the Month for October/November, PG13 has been horrific, shooting just 36% from the field, 34.5% from three-point range and 80.7% from the foul line for averages of 20.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.9 turnovers in December. It’s been particularly ghastly in the last four games, where he has averaged 11.5 points (including his first two single-digit outings of the season) on 23.5% shooting.
Compare that to November’s 29.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 47.7% shooting, 49.5% from three and 84.7% from the line.
I knew PG was going to slow down, and predicted as much last month. He went through a similar phase a couple of years back when he started the season absolutely on fire and then struggled for a couple of months before finding an equilibrium in the middle. That is what I suspect will happen to PG as this season progresses.
His shooting (as well as that of CJ Miles) was an anomaly at the start of the season. It was just too good, and sooner or later he was going to come back down to earth a little. But his struggles recently have been epic, and whether that is fatigue, hitting a wall after coming back from his broken leg, or opposing scouts exploiting his weaknesses — he simply has to find a way out of the funk.
PG has said as much. “I’m just going through that moment of the season,” George said after a loss to the Kings last week. “It happens. I’ll definitely get out of this.”
Fortunately for him, the rest of the team has stepped up during this time so that the Pacers don’t fall out of the playoff race. Ellis has been finding his groove, scoring more than 20 points for three consecutive games; Jordan Hill has upped his production to the point where he is now averaging double-digit points a game; Ian Mahinmi has been a bit of a beast as of late, going so well from the line (72.2% over the last 5 games) that hack-a-Ian has become obsolete; and even Chase Budinger has scored in double-digits for the last two games.
The stellar play of his teammates have made PG and CJ Miles’s recent drop-offs less noticeable, though having said that, the Pacers are clearly (just from the eye test) so much better when these two guys are playing well. Less grind, more flow, more confidence.
PG has been talking about snapping out of his slump for a week now, so it’s time to put his money where his mouth is for the interesting stretch coming up, starting with a pivotal game against the Bulls in Chicago. The Bulls have had some struggles themselves recently and will be looking to avenge a loss in Indy a few weeks back. With the teams going neck-and-neck in the standings and at one game apiece in the season series, a win on Wednesday could end up being huge if it comes down to a tiebreaker at the conclusion of the season.
Looking ahead after that, it’s a home game against Milwaukee, followed by Detroit, Miami and Orlando, all teams roughly in the same congested bunch as the Pacers in the East standings. As well as the rest of the team has played in the last few games, they’ll still need Paul George at his best if the Pacers want to separate themselves from this pack.
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