May 31, 2014
It seemed like we were forced to sit through the Indiana Pacers struggles forever. Ever since around the all star game these Pacers just weren’t the same team. They traded veteran Danny Granger away and also signed troubled big man Andrew Bynum so the team was definitely different after the break. The defensive tight knit juggernaut team turned into a team full of me first type players that lacked chemistry. After stumbling through the first round against the Atlanta Hawks and then finding their footing against the Washington Wizards, the Pacers met their match for the third year in a row against the Miami Heat.
The series against the Heat showed us that the Pacers are far away from a championship contending team. After taking game 1 in a contest that the Heat looked uninterested in, Miami won the next three games in a row. With their backs against the wall in game 5 it took LeBron James to be in heavy foul trouble for the entire game (he finished with 7 point as well) and Paul George dropping 37 points (dude was on fire in the 2nd half) for Indy to barely pull out the victory. Obviously having enough of Indiana, the Heat destroyed the Pacers in game 6 to win the series and make it to the NBA Finals.
To be honest the Pacers were lucky they even got as far as they did. With the way the team collapsed late in the season one would think they would of lost the number one seed in the East. Somehow they still held on to number one seed and held down home court advantage in the playoffs. If this team was in the Western Conference that collapse wouldn’t worked out that way at all.
Now the Pacers have some decisions to make. First they need to decide what to do with Lance Stephenson, because if the Pacers don’t want him somebody else will definitely take him. Then they need to figure out what their doing with Evan Turner as well. My guess would be that he’s good as gone but you never know. Also this team will probably will need to make a trade as well as this team right now just currently isn’t good enough to compete with the Heat or the Western Conference. If the Pacers do keep this core together then maybe this season can serve as a learning experience for them.