Something crazy happened New Years Day: the Pacers defense went from being in the league’s bottom third to becoming its seventh best.
On December 31 Indiana’s defensive rating (measuring points per 100 possessions) was 107.1. But in the 33 games since that their rating has fallen to 103.9, bringing their overall defensive rating to down 105.6 - or 13th best.
Over that same stretch opponent shots taken has decreased from 88 per game to just 83. The drop can be attributed to Indiana’s success in the turnover department, particularly with deflections leading to steals.
The Pacers are the second best team in NBA in deflections with 16.