The Indiana Pacers Are At Their Best When They Get Into The Paint

The Indiana Pacers were preparing to play against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 15 when Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle took the stand for his pregame media availability. He was answering questions about how his team could beat the Western Conference giants that night — Memphis has rapidly ascended to the top of the standings this year.

“They are relentless paint attackers,” Carlisle said of Memphis. “They have a lot of different ways that they get in [the paint]. As much as the three is advertised as the real compelling weapon in the NBA, nothing is ever going to beat rim attacks and paint touches. Because off of rim attacks, you get the most layups and you get the best threes.”

Just down the hallway, Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins was sharing similar thoughts.

“If we stick with our guns and keep playing, that’s going to be a big key for us tonight so that we can get those looks in the paint,” he said. Both coaches detailed that attacking the basket and getting into the paint are key elements of winning games.

Roughly four hours later, the game between the two ended. Memphis beat Indiana by 33 points in a blowout, and the Grizzlies lead reached 43 at one point. They dominated, and it was largely thanks to the strategies that the two coaches discussed before the game even started.

Shots around the basket dictated the game. The Grizzlies scored 72 points in the paint, 18 more than the Pacers, and lived near the iron. Memphis took 50 shots from inside 10 feet and made 66% of them. When they couldn’t score after attacking, the Grizzlies passed — they had seven assits off of drives. The stats tell the story, even without superstar guard Ja Morant, Memphis carved up the Pacers inside out.

The Pacers were missing some frontcourt depth that made things easy for the Western Conference darlings. But this game provided the Pacers an up-close look at a basketball strategy that they need emphasize going forward: scoring when ball handlers reach the paint.

Carlisle knows the value of attacking. He mentioned it before the Memphis game and has often even before that. Indiana is top-five in the league in drives per game this season and deploys a pick-and-roll heavy attack.

“The best shot in basketball is a layup, or an and-one at the rim. The second best shot in basketball is a catch-and-shoot three,” Carlisle said in January before adding that the best way to create a catch-and-shoot three is by driving to the rim and passing it out to a shooter.

The philosiphy is there. The Pacers know what they have to do, and in general they do it. On a typical night, they attack the basket at a high frequency.

The trouble is that the attacking numbers are inconsistent, and the results of those drives aren’t always productive paint touches. Those areas are where the Pacers fall short, and they are things the team should focus on if they want to improve.

The blue and gold currently average 51.4 drives per game, a healthy figure. But the team has 10 games this season in which they drove to the cup 40 or fewer times, and in those games Carlisle’s team went 2-8. In 27 instances, the Pacers put pressure on the rim less than 50 times in a game. They are 6-21 overall on those nights. When the team deemphasizes paint attacks, things go south offensively.

Matchups can force the Pacers to change their approach to their scoring attack on a given night. But even in the instances where Indiana can get an advantage in the mid range, it’s imparative that the team constanly puts pressure on the net. They’re a better team when they do so.

The stats say the same thing. Indiana drives more per game in wins than losses, multiple times more, and they score more points per game off of drives in wins than losses. There has been a correlation between paint attacks and victories for the blue and gold this season.

“We play with pace but we’re all under control… Drive, kick, pump fake. Use your weapons as a threat,” Buddy Hield said of dirves and how much they are encouraged in Carlisle’s offense.

Some of the Pacers struggles in executing the perfect drive volume this season has been a result of varying available personnel. Almost every player on the roster has missed time this season due to injury, and some of the team’s best off-the-dribble threats (Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert, Chris Duarte, and Lance Stephenson) have missed multiple weeks. The group struggled mightly to drive consistently when numerous players entered health and safety protocols, too. Better health going forward will naturally imrove the team’s ability to get into the lane. But even when healthy, the team must make it a priority.

Another focus for the Pacers needs to be finishing off rim pressure situations with the successful outcomes. That sounds vague, but the blue and gold end many paint attacks with undesirable decisions.

For example, after dribbling towards the basket, the Pacers actually shoot the ball on 42.4% of their drives, a percentage good for 21st in the league. Meanwhile, Indiana passes the ball 42.1% percent of the time when a ball handler gets going toward the circle, the sixth highest rate in the league. Passing, on its own, isn’t good or bad, but it does create more opportunities for an error.

Only three of the top-10 teams in terms of passes per game off of drives project to be playoff teams as of now. Context is important, some teams have better finishers while others have better distributors. But the Pacers veer out of drives often, and on occassion the ball handler will simply reset the play without a pass or shot attempt. The volume of those possessions needs to decrease, and Indiana needs to get more shots up when they get near the rim.

“When we got [layups] a little bit under control and had them shooting outside shots, it turned into a better situation for us,” Carlisle said of defending the Orlando Magic earlier this season. The same thought process applies to his own team. When the Pacers shoot more outside shots and gloss over easier shots on drives, they become simple to defend.

The Pacers finish looks well around the basket and shoot an above-average percentage from inside five-feet this season. But many of the team’s shots that come as a result of a paint touch are longer floaters or pull-up jumpers in the mid range, and many of those possessions would have a higher chance at success if the attacking player simply drove all the way to the rim. Former Pacers guard Caris LeVert worked on this exact skill often this season, and his offensive effectiveness improved as he grew in his ability to get closer to the cup when dribbling toward the paint.

Most stats say that the Pacers are a strong team inside the arc. They rank fourth in the league in points per game in the paint (some of that is thanks to solid post play from Domantas Sabonis, who was traded away last month) and make defenses pay for lazy ballscreen coverage. But the Pacers, and their guards specifically, must focus on getting near the basket on drives if the team wants to maximize its offense. It’s an easy route toward improvement for a struggling team.

In the ten games in which the Pacers drove to the basket most often this season, they won four of them — an improvement over the team’s 34.2 win percentage. The Pacers are at their best when they get into the paint and execute plays inside out. It’s imperative that they continues to grow that skill accross their final nine games and build it as a habit entering next season. It is one way that the Pacers can do something that will help themsleves long-term down the stretch of this lost season.