If you’re the sort of person who believes in karma … good for you. I mean, if someone says anything mean about you believing in it, you assume something bad’s going to happen to them, so I’ve got to stay positive here.
You also probably think the Indiana Pacers had this coming this year. After dispensing of the Lebron James-Free Cleveland Cavs at home Wednesday night 123-109, the Pacers look all but locked into a playoff slot and look increasingly like the potential foil for the Toronto Raptors. The Cavs dropped to 1-4 sans Lebron this season.
First, the good:
1. Making the playoffs is significantly better than not;
2. The offense looked decidedly better, but that’s a given when you’re drilling contested shots (16-30 from 3-point range Wednesday).
Then, the bad:
1. There are better potential match ups than the Raptors, who are 5-1 against the Blue and Gold this year;
2. Hitting long jumpers with consistency has been an issue all season long, and the Pacers are often too willing to keep trying to drive that car into those woods even when they should just turn around and find a paved road.
Not making the playoffs would have been a non sequitur for a team that has been a playoff mainstay yet who decided to shake up the roster makeup to reflect addressing a need to be capable of playing quicker paced ball.
And having guys on the roster that don’t seem to openly hate one another and running up and down the floor with consistency.
It’s hard to tell if this is just water mostly finding its level because it has to, or if something really has changed recently. The Pacers looked like they could blow this thing after losing at home to Chicago, then getting dismantled by Orlando, after blowing a fourth quarter lead against the hapless Nets.
Then came basketball elixir in the Sixers, which, when you’re in a playoff hunt, is like finding a cold pool in the middle of the Gobi. The Knicks fought them hard, but were without Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony. Then the Cavs went with Lebron in street clothes.
Karma guy figures that since last year was a wash with Paul George (29 points against the Cavs on 10-17 shooting) being out, all’s fair.
The Pacers still make far too many elementary mistakes of a team less fit for a playoff run and more fit for a dispatching, things like too often relying on deep jumpers as a main source of offense, and an obtuse aversion to taking the ball hard to the hoop. George Hill and Monta Ellis still look like square pegs being jammed into a light socket with this new offense.
But a week ago, they looked dead to rights after Orlando paddled them in their gym. They said all the right things, but you nary believed a whole lot of it. I don’t know what beating Philly (after blowing an 18-point lead to them), the resting Knicks and Cavs really means in the grand scheme of things, but that’s the thing about opportunity:
It’s not necessarily how much you get, but what you do with whatever comes your way.
Wins are wins, and playoffs are likely on the horizon again in Indy.
