We can all look at the stats and see the Pacer’s Defensive Rating is about 117 which is 25th in the league. And maybe it’s silly to throw out a game when only 8 has been played, but if you remove the Celtics game the def rating becomes about 113. Which would be the 15th ranked def rating.
They haven’t played any top 10 offenses outside of Boston
Wizards-14 Cavs - 23 x2 Bulls - 20 Hornets - 13 Spurs - 22 Jazz - 16
But more encouraging to me is that they have held 5 opponents to under 113 off rating out of their 8 games.
I’m not ready to say that they are an average defense, but I think they are better on that side of the ball than people are thinking or the stats are showing.
Got #11 Bucks, #3 ranked 76ers and #2 Hawks coming up in 4 of their next 5 games.
Using defensive rating as a metric doesn’t do the best to decide how good of a defensive team we are. The reasoning is because we are such a fast paced team that teams are going to shoot more shots and make more shots against us.
Instead I would look at the net differential and look at past years to see how we are doing as well as how we are doing in comparison to other teams.
When you are shooting it within the first 10 seconds of a possession you are also giving the opponent more possessions as well which is going to translate into more points regardless of how good your defense is.
I’m still extremely concerned about this team’s interior defense. Teams are getting to the rim almost at will.