Not necessarily by design, and for better or worse, the Pacers are defying offensive analytics. While most NBA teams want to feast on as many 3-pointers and layups as they can manage, the Pacers don't hide from a steady and dependable diet of two-pointers from the mid-range game.
They have T.J. Warren to thank for that mostly. The forward gift-wrapped and sent to them from Phoenix over the summer has helped make them one of the more surprising teams in the NBA with an out-of-fashion but effective arsenal of scoring weapons that are learned but not taught.
"He can score any way possible," Jeremy Lamb said after Warren scored 28 points to lead the Pacers to a 116-114 victory over Minnesota on Friday.