For the second season in a row, the Pacers have the potential to enter the “playoffs” looking for a win against an opponent which they have yet to beat at full strength. In contrast to last year, however, when Indiana managed to eke out a bench victory over Miami in the final seeding game before getting swept out of the first round, the Pacers, as the current ninth-seed, only get one shot at knocking off this season’s unsolvable foe, the Washington Wizards (No. 10), in the play-in tournament. And yet, in the likely absence of Myles Turner, what is a team like the Pacers, who spent the entire season whirling through defensive coverages and funneling the highest percentage of shots to the rim, supposed to do in a win-or-go-home format against a squad that swept the regular-season series, scoring a mammoth 117.
How the Pacers can supplement for rim protection with rim deterrence
