The cliché goes ‘numbers never lie’, but in the case of the Indiana Pacers defense, they deserve extra scrutiny.
The Pacers were near the bottom of the barrel defensively to start this season, with the 3rd worst defensive rating in the NBA as of November 7th. In the first seven games, the Pacers were allowing 109.3 points per 100 possessions.
In the six games since Indiana turned into a top five defense, somehow. Of course, it is a small sample size, but the Pacers are sporting a 99.8 defensive rating in that stretch.