NBA Notes: Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton, Celtics, Kings, Doug Christie

Pacers

The Pacers entered this week’s Paris Games vs. the Spurs on a high note, showing that last year’s run to the East finals was no fluke, as relayed by ESPN’s Kevin Pelton.Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers, NBA

“After dropping five games below .500 at 9-14, the Pacers have righted the ship and are in the East’s top five,” Pelton wrote. “They’re still shy of last season’s 47-win pace but have to be encouraged that star guard Tyrese Haliburton has improved his shooting percentages each month so far.”

Now all Indiana needs to do is return to playing with some serious … well, pace. They lost the first game in Paris, falling to San Antonio by a 140-110 count. Yikes.

“Last season’s Indiana team outran its opponents, but the Pacers have dropped from the fastest time to shoot, per Inpredictable.com, to 16th this season,” Pelton noted. “A quicker pace should help boost an offense that has declined from second to ninth in per-possession scoring.”

Celtics

It’s been a bit of an uneven stretch for the reigning champion Celtics, but honestly, this can happen during the middle part of the season — to anyone.

“It’s only by last season’s 64-win standards that a team winning 70% of its games could be even a mild disappointment,” Pelton wrote. “Boston has gone 9-7 since Dec. 23, but it’s hard to worry too much when the Celtics’ plus-9.5 point differential in that span still ranks third in the NBA.”

So, yeah. No reason to fret in Beantown. The Celtics just could use a little more consistency, that’s all.

“Boston leads the league with 12 wins by 20-plus points, but only the Clippers and Warriors have seen their results vary more from game to game after accounting for opponent and location,” Pelton wrote.

Kings

The Kings have again looked like a threat after a coaching change. Now all they need to do is sustain it.

“Here’s one way we can grade a first half that saw the Kings become the first team to make a coaching change, replacing Mike Brown with Doug Christie in the midst of a six-game losing streak,” Pelton wrote. “Sacramento has surged under Christie, with Keon Ellis being elevated in the rotation and All-Star Domantas Sabonis picking up his play.”

So the Kings are on the rise in the West standings.

“They’re also sixth in the conference in point differential (plus-2.8 points per game) and have seen their record in close games even out since the coaching change,” Pelton noted.


Looking for the latest NBA Insider News & Rumors?

Be sure to follow Hoops Wire on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NBA News and Rumors for all 30 teams!

Leave a Reply