With less than two weeks left in the regular season the Indiana Pacers are a game out of the 8th spot in the East. Struggling with a 30-34 record after giving up a gazillion points to Young Russ and the Washington Wizards on Monday night in a 154-141 loss.
Russ went nuts finishing with 14 points, 24 assists and 21 rebounds!!! That’s insane!!!
Indiana decided that it was a great idea to fire Nate McMillan after the Pacers got swept in the bubble last summer even though everybody and Uncle Bam-Bam were injured and banged up. It happens. So they made the move and it’s worked like a set of square tires.
On the other hand, Nate goes to Atlanta as an assistant and soon becomes the interim head coach after the Hawks fired Lloyd Pierce after a dismal 14-20 start to the season. Since taking over he’s gone 22-10 and has them sitting squarely in the fifth spot in the East playoff bound.
He’s got them in the same position the Pacers have usually been. How ironic is that?
Yep, firing McMillan made all of the since in the world. They got rid of a guy for getting swept in the playoffs with a banged up team and hired a cat that probably won’t even make the playoffs. If they happen to make it they’ll get swept because they’ll be playing the No.1 seed.
So would you rather be a fourth seed and win most of regular season games you play keeping the fans engaged and get swept or would you rather lose most games you play losing fan interest, barely making the playoffs and get swept? The end result is the same but at least the fans are engaged during the regular season because you’ve got a 50/50 shot at winning every night. Blows my mind. Stop me when I start lyin’!
