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.