Indiana Pacers vs Washington Wizards: Who would do more damage as East's eighth seed?
There is one space remaining in the Eastern Conference playoffs and either the Indiana Pacers or the Washington Wizards will claim it. But which team could cause more of a stir heading into the post-season as a true underdog?
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers haven’t been the defensive juggernaut they were under Nate McMillan in previous seasons, but new head coach Nate Bjorkgren has turned up the pace, increased the scoring and unleashed the talents of Malcolm Brogdon’s offensive reading and the ball handling potential of Domantas Sabonis.
This year, the Pacers are scoring more points, and they are also allowing more – which is often the case when a team plays more possessions in a game. Their defensive rating – the number of points allowed per 100 possessions – is a better indication of how their defense performs in a half-court setting, and it’s pretty average. They sit 14th in the league, but their season has been split into two halves.
To begin the year, they started out well, going 6-2 in their first few games while holding all of their opponents – apart from one loss and one overtime win – to fewer than 107 points per game. It seemed as though the defensive principles of the previous season were still present while the team was flourishing under Bjorkgren’s offense.
A trade designed to bring in Caris LeVert revealed a renal cell carcinoma that had to be removed from his kidney, so the team would be without him and the player he was essentially traded for, Victor Oladipo. This is where the tailspin began.
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Before the All-Star break, the Pacers were allowing 112.5 points possessions, which is nothing to write home about, but since the All-Star game they have allowed 118. This hasn’t been helped by their best defensive big and league leader in blocks Myles Turner missing the last 20 games of the season. Sabonis and Brogdon have missed stretches as well.
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The latter two have returned for these play-in games and it showed when the Pacers demolished the fledgling Charlotte Hornets earlier this week.
The real benefit they have over last season is multiple ball handlers – Justin and Aaron Holiday, T.J. McConnell, Brogdon, LeVert – but when Sabonis brings the ball up, he can remain a threat on the floor during games when he might struggle against a good post defender.
He had issues on the block against the length of Tyler Zeller while playing the Hornets. This might not be as much of a concern against the Washington Wizards. It would, however, be a potential problem if the Pacers advance to play against one of the best defensive players in the league on the top-seed in the playoffs: Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The scoring of Indiana will probably be overpowered by the elite defense of Philadelphia, but with all the changes and lack of tape the Pacers have on their potential starting five in the playoffs – thanks to so many players being in and out of the line-up this year – there could be a surprise factor. This means the Pacers would need to play quickly and rack up wins early in the series to stand a chance.
Washington Wizards
Live NBA: Indiana @ Washington Play-In 5 20.05
The Washington Wizards thrive in chaos. This season has seen them go from having a 5-15 record to finishing the season 17-5. It’s not like much has dramatically changed but the familiarity between Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal in their first season together has developed throughout the year.
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They also faced a front-loaded schedule – they played the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers (some of them multiple times) during the first 20 games. They had an easier ride in the latter stages: including the Charlotte, Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors in their final 10 games.
The Wizards have fared well against their play-in opponents, the Pacers, and swept the three-game regular season series. Two of those wins came during the second half of the season when Indiana was without a few top players, but the Wizards even took care of business in March without Beal when they faced a solid 10-man rotation that included Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert, Myles Turner, Justin Holiday, TJ McConnell and Jeremy Lamb.
This game was marked one of Westbrook’s 38 triple-doubles this year, but even by his standards it wasn’t a typical performance: he dished out 21 assists to go with 35 points and 14 rebounds, shooting a great four out of six on three-point attempts.
In the final match-up of the season, Beal went for 50 points in a heroic effort while Westbrook managed another triple-double, notching 35 points, 19 rebounds and 15 assists.
In the latter stages of the season, the duo have been on fire but at no stage were the Wizards good enough to take down the leaders of the Eastern Conference.
The Philadelphia 76ers swept the season series, so if Washington advances, it will be tough for the All-Star guards to break loose from the second-best team by defensive rating in the league, especially in a seven-game series.
When it comes to an ability to put up big scoring numbers, the Wizards have the edge over the Pacers. But they allow the most points per game in the NBA, so if they secure the eighth seed, they might have a tougher time in the playoffs due to an inability to stop their opponents.
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