Indiana Pacers Breakdown: Hopeless and Decrepit

Of all the games played so far this season, Wednesday’s Pacers-Knicks tilt may have been the most depressing—no defense, no passing, no physicality. The game was a devolvement of basketball’s higher principals with the participants instead engaging in contests of who could make the least amount of passes before they shot.

The Pacers won 103-100. Hooray! They beat the most lifeless team in the NBA. The Pacers committed far too many egregious errors to be happy with their performance.

To note:

—The Pacers rarely employed any kind of offensive structure besides a handful of side screen/roll clearouts with Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Foster. The Pacers were content to freelance, catch the ball, and fire away with no rhyme or reason.

—The Pacers lived entirely on the perimeter hoisting an unsightly 31 threes! They only made nine of their attempts from the netherland.

—As a team, the Pacers were soft in every aspect, especially in their front court defense where Eddy Curry (8-10 FG, 20 PTS) and Zach Randolph (11-20 FG, 26 PTS) had their way with every Pacer defender.

—The Pacers were pathetic defensive boarders, corralling 14 defensive rebounds for themselves against 15 offensive rebounds for the Knicks. They actually gathered up less Knick misses than the Knicks did!

—Troy Murphy may be the softest and slowest center in the game today. Of all the Pacers who had the most problems with the Knick front line, it was Murphy. Any time the Knicks went into the low post with either Curry or Randolph, Murphy was forced to foul or give up a dunk. And while Murphy gathered seven rebounds, only four came on the defensive glass where David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, and even Eddy Curry had no problems muscling Murphy out of the way for loose balls.

—Mike Dunleavy’s jumper was off, resulting in an ugly 5-19 FG, 1-8 3FG shooting night.

—Travis Diener (1-7 FG, 4 AST, 2 PTS) has no talent whatsoever, yet on this sorry outfit he’s the starting point guard.

—The Pacers total of 25 assists is skewed. Besides Dunleavy’s tally, most of the Pacers assists came from simple passes along the perimeter leading to pull up threes.

—The Pacers help defense was horrendous, as any crisp Knick pass generally found an open player.

—The Pacers are completely devoid of play-makers with Dunleavy (9 AST) passing as the only imitation of one.

With so many egregious flaws it’s a wonder the Pacers won the game, but there were a handful of bright spots.

—Mike Dunleavy’s passing and Jeff Foster’s ability to roll off screens resulted in four layups critical to the Pacer victory.

—If his shot was struggling from the perimeter, Dunleavy did show a willingness to try and get to the stripe, going to the line eight times and hitting six of his freebies.

—The Pacers were active on the offensive boards, tallying 10 offensive rebounds.

—Because of minimal defensive pressure (and so many quick shots), the Pacers only committed five turnovers the entire game.

—The Knicks were lulled into playing the same kind of individualistic ball game the Pacers were playing.

The reason above all why the Pacers won was Kareem Rush (10-13 FG, 3-5 3FG, 1-3 FT, 7 REB, 1 AST, 0 TO, 1 BLO, 24 PTS). Like his teammates, Rush played not even a hint of defense, never looked to pass, and took the first look he saw. However, his accurate stroke, speedy drives, and explosive point-making abilities were too much for the Knicks to handle.

The youngster was forced to play in the Baltic last season as NBA teams soured on his immaturity and selfishness. While he certainly worked on his scoring overseas, his score first, score last, pass-and-defend never attitude still remains.

Sadly the Pacers should have blown up their roster last offseason and started from scratch. Not even selfish ball hog Jamaal Tinsley or tissue-paper soft Jermaine O’ Neal would help the Pacers achieve anything more than being a sacrificial lamb of an No. 8 seed.

Instead, the long, slow road of rebuilding is being detoured by the painful, meandering road of ineptness.

The Pacers are abysmal. And there is nobody on their roster who can save them.