Prior to the season, there was a tidal wave of buzz concerning the rebirth of the Eastern Conference. While at least some of that positivity centered on the potential for improved depth (whoops), most of the attention was paid to three teams at the top in the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers. Since then, the Milwaukee Bucks have emerged as a team with the apparent bonafides to make a legitimate run and, as such, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Mike Budenholzer and company have grabbed plenty of headlines in their own right. However, there is a fifth team in the mix and it is beyond time to discuss the Indiana Pacers.
Indiana was one of the better stories a season ago, winning 48 games in surprising fashion. While everyone projected the Pacers to make a return trip to the playoffs, most of that seemingly stemmed from a lack of options in the conference and, in general, very few pointed to Indiana when it came to posing a real threat to the playoff party. Then, Nate McMillan’s team got off to a semi-shaky start, posting a 13-10 record and generally appearing to replicate the mild success from the previous campaign.
Since then, though, the Pacers have been absolutely lights-out and proving a point on the way. With a win over the suddenly improved Atlanta Hawks on New Year’s Eve, Indiana has won 12 of 14 games and, in the team’s two losses over that span, controversial officiating played a significant part in the final result. As such, there is a realistic world in which the Pacers could be riding a 14-game winning streak and, even with those two losses on the ledger, Indiana sports a league-best +10.8 net rating over that time frame.
In fact, the Pacers will enter 2019 with one of the best net ratings (+6.4) in the NBA over the full season and nothing appears fluky about the performance. Big man Myles Turner did suffer a broken nose in the team’s most recent contest but, with that aside, Indiana’s roster has been largely in tact and an elite defense sets the table for a high baseline of success. Throw in the individual brilliance of Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and others and you have quite a force in the East.
The Pacers don’t have the talent of teams like Boston and even Philadelphia in some respects but, provided their defense remains at this big-time level, Indiana isn’t going anywhere and they are a force to be reckon with as the calendar flips.
Where does Indiana stack up in our DIME power rankings this week? Well, you won’t have to wait long to find out.
1. Indiana Pacers (25-12, Last week — 2nd)
If we’re being honest, the Pacers probably aren’t the best team in the NBA. They are playing like it right now, though, and Indiana takes the top spot as a result.
2. Milwaukee Bucks (25-10, Last week — 1st)
Milwaukee (still) owns the best record in the NBA and they’ve built on their quality early-season work with seven wins in the last eight games. For good measure, the Bucks also boast the league’s bet net rating (+8.6) and their offense is legitimately elite. That’s not a bad place to start.
3. Golden State Warriors (25-13, Last week — 3rd)
After their Christmas disaster against the Lakers, Golden State lost to Portland. Since then, the Warriors avenged that loss by toppling the Blazers on the road and the reigning champs made easy work of Phoenix on New Year’s Eve. The sky isn’t falling.
4. Toronto Raptors (27-11, Last week — 4th)
It hasn’t been a great 10-day stretch for Toronto. The Raptors have a respectable 2-2 mark over that timeframe but the two losses came in bizarre and lopsided fashion. There’s nothing to worry about in a big-picture sense but Toronto hasn’t been flawless lately.
5. Denver Nuggets (23-11, Last week — 6th)
The Nuggets wrapped their post-Christmas slate with a split against San Antonio and an easy win in Phoenix. That won’t light the world on fire but Denver is in “taking care of business” mode and that means compiling wins as pieces come back from injury.
6. Houston Rockets (21-15, Last week — 7th)
James Harden has been absolutely out of his mind in recent days and he’s carrying the Rockets as a result. Houston is playing (much) improved basketball to the tune of 10 wins in 11 games and, even if it doesn’t feel fully sustainable as a one-man operation, the results are what they are.
7. San Antonio Spurs (21-17, Last week — 12th)
Remember when it was popular to bury the Spurs? Well, San Antonio is back. After opening 11-14 and playing frustrating basketball, the immortal franchise reeled off 11 wins in the final 14 games of the year. Over that stretch, San Antonio had the best offense (!) in the NBA, to go along with the best net rating, and they deserve a ton of love for the turnaround.
8. Oklahoma City Thunder (23-13, Last week — 9th)
The Christmas Day loss to Houston probably still stings but the Thunder bounced back in reasonable fashion. Losing on the road in Dallas isn’t a crime and, sandwiched around that close-fought defeat, OKC rattled off wins over both Phoenix and those same Mavericks.
9. Boston Celtics (21-15, Last week — 5th)
The bad? Boston lost two of the last three before the door slammed on 2018 and Kyrie Irving suffered an eye injury along the way. The not-so-bad? The team’s last two losses came on the road to the scorching-hot Rockets and Spurs. There’s nothing to worry about, provided Irving is okay.
10. Philadelphia 76ers (23-14, Last week — 10th)
Losing by 34 points in Portland isn’t great but it has to be noted that Joel Embiid wasn’t available for Philly’s last data point. They’ll have a chance to redeem themselves on the road against the Clippers on Tuesday but, until then, status quo feels appropriate.
11. Los Angeles Lakers (21-16, Last week — 8th)
Unsurprisingly, the Lakers dropped their first two games without LeBron James, as he is the sun, moon and stars for the organization. Still, it was impressive to see Los Angeles pick up a win, even at home, over Sacramento without him. Simply holding serve while the best player in the world recovers has to be the goal.12. Portland Trail Blazers (21-16, Last week — 14th)
Portland is Portland. They’ve won six of nine as of the time of this post and the three losses came against the Warriors and the Jazz (twice). There is nothing to be upset about with that stretch and the Blazers remain on-brand in every sense.
13. Utah Jazz (18-18, Last week — 11th)
As you can see with this ranking, I continue to buy the Jazz more than others. A 4-2 stretch to end 2018 provides some cover but it goes without saying that Utah has to be an elite defensive team to accomplish their goals. They haven’t quite arrived at that baseline just yet.
14. Los Angeles Clippers (21-15, Last week — 15th)
The Clippers haven’t lost to a bad team in a (very) long time. The problem is that there are a lot of good teams in the West and the losses can pile up, even if you take care of business against squads that you “should” beat on a nightly basis. Still, the 2018 portion of the schedule was very kind to the Clips and it was an impressive run for Doc Rivers and his team.
15. Sacramento Kings (19-17, Last week — 13th)
The upstart Kings faced a real gauntlet to end 2018, squaring off against six straight playoff-caliber teams from the West. In the end, Sacramento went 3-3 over the stretch and, even with four of the six games coming at home, that signifies an overall victory in the team’s path to playoff relevance.
16. Miami Heat (17-18, Last week — 17th)
Despite a bit of a hiccup (losing two of three at home) at the end of December, Miami still won six of the last eight games in 2018. It’s a weird team to figure out in an overall sense but the fact that the Heat are already sitting in the No. 7 spot in the East despite all of their early struggles says quite a bit — about them and the bottom of the East.
17. New Orleans Pelicans (17-21, Last week — 22nd)
After an ill-timed losing streak of five games, the Pelicans awakened at the end of the year by winning two of three. The last of the wins came without Anthony Davis (due to illness) and, frankly, that was probably even more impressive.
18. Memphis Grizzlies (18-18, Last week — 16th)
The struggle continues for Memphis after their hot start. Marc Gasol and company have lost seven of nine and, while a .500 mark for this squad isn’t exactly underachieving, it isn’t going to be good enough to accomplish the goals that were seemingly in view a few weeks ago.
19. Charlotte Hornets (18-18, Last week — 18th)
It’s too perfect that the Hornets are sitting at .500 as the calendar flips to 2019. That is their destiny and a 25-point blowout win over Orlando made it so. Oh and, by the way, a .500 mark in the East is essentially gold when it comes to playoff positioning.
20. Dallas Mavericks (17-19, Last week — 21st)
Things are pretty weird in Dallas. The Mavericks are spectacular at home. The Mavericks are spectacularly bad on the road. The end result is a middling squad in the grand scheme and, even with Luka Doncic playing incredibly well, that’s the reality.
21. Minnesota Timberwolves (17-20, Last week — 19th)
Technically, the Wolves have won three of five. With that said, the two losses came at home to the Hawks and on the road to the Anthony Davis-less Pelicans. Minnesota isn’t as bad as those losses are but it’s bizarre to try to handicap this bunch at the moment.
22. Brooklyn Nets (17-21, Last week — 20th)
Kenny Atkinson’s group finally cooled off. The Nets won 9 of 10 before this week but back-to-back losses to the Hornets and Bucks have to be noted. Brooklyn is still (a lot of) fun.
23. Orlando Magic (16-20, Last week — 25th)
Orlando was primed for a big jump after wins over Toronto and Detroit. Then, the Magic turned back into a pumpkin in a 25-point loss to the Hornets. Two steps forward, one step back.
24. Atlanta Hawks (11-25, Last week — 26th)
The Hawks ran into a New Year’s Eve buzzsaw in the form of the Pacers but, prior to that, Atlanta won five of six games. Trae Young is making progress, Kevin Huerter looks the part and John Collins is a double-double machine. The Hawks aren’t actually good but they’re quietly entertaining and competitive.
25. Detroit Pistons (16-18, Last week — 23rd)
Since early December, the Pistons have been ghastly. Detroit’s 3-11 record speaks for itself but they’ve operated as a bottom-five team in the league over a full calendar month. That’s not a coincidence.
26. Washington Wizards (14-23, Last week — 24th)
John Wall is gone for the year and the Wizards are already in a deep hole. Washington has played better without him than you might think but, in the same breath, it is reasonably difficult to see a path that includes a full-blown turnaround.
27. Phoenix Suns (9-28, Last week — 28th)
It feels like Phoenix’s semi-recent four-game winning streak happened a long, long time ago. Since then, the Suns have dropped five of six and that was punctuated by a blowout loss to Golden State on Monday. The schedule hasn’t done Phoenix any favors but they aren’t playing at quite the same level right now.
28. Chicago Bulls (10-27, Last week — 27th)
If you want to spin it positively, the Bulls have won three of five games. Those wins came against Orlando, Cleveland and Washington but, hey, they count the same. A 25-point home loss to Minnesota prevents upward movement.
29. Cleveland Cavaliers (8-29, Last week — 29th)
Cleveland was within a stone’s throw of a road win in Atlanta but the Cavs came up short on Saturday evening. That served as the final result of 2018 and, in short, an active six-game losing streak isn’t ideal for anyone.
30. New York Knicks (9-28, Last week — 30th)
The Knicks ended 2018 on a seven-game losing streak and that is a good way to “secure” the No. 30 spot in this space. To be fair, New York’s final trio of losses came against the Bucks (twice) and Jazz but, for clarity’s sake, home losses to the Hawks and Suns (prior to that) can’t be ignored.
