Column: Pacers will challenge the Heat for Eastern Conference Title

The Indiana Pacers are off to a remarkable start. It’s shocking how well they’ve played so far this NBA season.

Before Monday night’s game, the Pacers were 16-1, the best record in the NBA.
That’s impressive.

This has been great for the NBA, as a team is far outperforming and doing better than anyone ever expected.

The Pacers are set to win 77 games and finish with a better record than the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, a team led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.
The Pacers certainly aren’t the ‘96 Bulls, but those are the facts.

Their only loss this season is to the Bulls, a team they had defeated earlier in the season.

It would be nice to see the Miami Heat not have the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, unlike what most basketball fans expect.

The Heat’s record is 14-3. They are two games behind the Pacers for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers and Heat play for the first time this season Dec. 10 and will play again Dec. 18. They will play four times during this season.

Just like the Heat, the Pacers seem to have all the pieces needed to win the NBA
championship.

They have their go-to scorer in Paul George, who is fourth in the NBA in scoring, averaging 23.8 points per game.

He’s right up there with all the other marquee players, as he only trails Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James for the lead in points per game.

The team is constructed very well. They have four complimentary players that fill out the rest of their starting line-up. Those players are power forward David West, center Roy Hibbert, shooting guard Lance Stephenson and point guard George Hill.

All four of those players are averaging between 12.2 and 12.7 points per game, as each of them have stepped up in different games to help the Pacers win games.

The bench is also productive as it has a capable backup point guard in C.J. Watson, two three-point threats in Orlando Johnson and Chris Copeland, and two solid back up big players in Luis Scola and Ian Mahinmi.

This team seems to be set. 

In the Eastern Conference, only three teams have records above 0.500.

The Western Conference is the exact opposite. If the playoffs started today, all eight of the teams to make it have a record above 0.500.

The Pacers have manhandled most of their competition, as they’ve been winning most of their games rather easily.

Expect the Pacers to run the Eastern Conference and finish with the No. 1 seed — above the Miami Heat. Hopefully, the Western Conference won’t be too big of a challenge for the Pacers, as they will be stepping up the competition.

The Pacers seem to be the team that will stop the Heat from winning three NBA championships in a row.

­— jayljohn@indiana.edu