At the moment, the Indiana Pacers look like the best of the rest.
That certainly is not bad, but it's not good enough for Coach Frank Vogel.
Though the Pacers exit the All-Star break with a solid 21-12 record and third place in the Eastern Conference, well behind runaway leaders Miami (27-7) and Chicago (27-8), Vogel wants his players to aim for the top.
"I don't think we're happy being one of the second-tier teams," Vogel said. "We can be one of the best teams in the league and I think our guys believe that and they're seeing the ways, the things they need to do to get there."
Until a five-game losing streak in mid-February, the Pacers looked much more like a contender than they do at the moment. Though they've won season-high four in a row, that streak has been built against opponents with a combined record of 26-111 (.190).
After two more sub-.500 opponents (Golden State Tuesday and New Orleans Saturday), the Pacers embark upon a stretch that could be revealing: nine consecutive games against teams currently in playoff position, including four sets of back-to-backs.
Team President Larry Bird liked the confident, aggressive attitude the team showed early in the season, when it handled an opening stretch of 15 of 22 on the road with relative ease, going 16-6. The Pacers have gone 5-6 since.
"We had a tough schedule with all the road games but I thought the way they handled it, they went out to win games, they didn't go out to play games, that they had a swagger that they thought they could beat anybody," Bird said. "Then they hit a rough spot and we struggled there. And really they're still struggling a little bit, some of the guys. But they keep practicing, they're going to have more practice time now than they've had and I expect them to continue to get better. …
"I want them to get their swagger back, get to where they feel they can beat anybody and continue to get better going into the playoffs."
The secret to the team's early success was a lock-down defense that ranked at or near the top of the NBA in points and field goal percentage allowed for the first month of the season. The defense edge hasn't been lost but it hasn't been as sharp in the past few weeks.
Offensively, they have much more work to do. Though first-time All-Star Roy Hibbert (13.8 points, .512 shooting) is having the best season of his career and second-year shooting guard Paul George (12.1 points, .401 from the 3-point line) has showed encouraging progress, the veteran scorers have been inconsistent.
Danny Granger is averaging a team-high 18.0 points but shooting just .382 overall. David West, who averaged 19 points per game the previous five seasons in New Orleans, is at 12.4 with the Pacers. George Hill, the other key offseason acquisition, is averaging 9.0 points on .448 shooting, well below his productivity of the previous two seasons in San Antonio. Tyler Hansbrough, who looked to be an emerging offensive force last season, has been in a prolonged slump and is averaging just 9.4 points on .390 shooting.
Granger has simply been erratic, unable to find a consistent rhythm. West, who needed time to rebuild conditioning as well as confidence in his surgically repaired knee, has been on the upswing of late. Hansbrough had a season-high 22 points against Charlotte in the last game before the break. Hill missed 12 straight games with a chip fracture in his ankle and has some catching up to do.
"We've been up and down lately but overall I see about what I expected," Bird said. "I knew we were going to be stronger with our starting lineup and I was trying to build the bench up. It's hurt us lately not having George (Hill) in there but it also gives time for some younger guys to get some playing time. We're about on schedule.
"I thought we handled the first 20 games the way we were hoping they would, to go on the road and win games. Now we're settling in at midseason and really trying to finish strong. Hopefully we can stay as healthy as we possibly can and make a good run at it."
Their present position is tenuous at best. Just 1½ games separate the third-place Pacers and sixth-place Hawks, so there will be little margin for error the rest of the way. Another five-game losing streak could drop the team into a position where it simply is fighting to get into the playoffs.
"We talk about it every session we meet, before every practice," Danny Granger said. "It's important you keep your goal in sight and we know that each one of these games is important because it could determine a playoff seed. It is different because in the past we were just trying to get into the playoffs. Now, we're trying to get a high seed.
"It is a motivating factor. There's four teams fighting for two spots in the top four and knowing any loss can put you down further, can put you down even in seventh if you lose a couple, that's a lot of motivation to keep winning games."
The wild card in the mix is the March 15 trade deadline. Bird has been aggressive in molding the roster, trading for Hill and signing West as a free agent. With plenty of cap room this season, he is in position to make another big move, should the opportunity arise.
"We've got $15 million under the cap and I'm not afraid to make another move now to strengthen our bench or maybe even (add) one or two guys," Bird said. "We're still out there looking and whatever we can do to make this team better, we're going to do.
"If I see a player out there I think can make us better, I'm going to go ahead and make the move. It could be a trade, but it's probably going to be picking up somebody off another team just so they can get some money off (the salary cap). We've got a lot of calls in, talked to a lot of people and we're going to try to continue to strengthen this team."
Like Vogel, Bird is pleased but not satisfied with the team's progress.
As far as the Pacers have come, they still have a ways to travel before reaching their ultimate goal.
