GREGG DOYEL

Doyel: Smiley faces for red-hot Pacers

Gregg Doyel
gregg.doyel@indystar.com
Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) and Indiana Pacers forward C.J. Miles (0) celebrate late in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, in Washington. The Pacers won 123-106. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
  • Bulls at Pacers, 8 p.m. Friday, FSI

It’s working. Faster than most of you thought. Better than any of you could have dreamed. This overnight Indiana Pacers overhaul, from the prehistoric plodding of Roy Hibbert and David West to the futuristic fury of Paul George and Monta Ellis and George Hill and C.J. Miles, is more than a work in progress.

It’s a work of art.

Now then, here I’ll try to do what the Pacers cannot. I will try to slow down. I will note that the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference, which isn’t as tough at the top as the West, and have feasted mostly on teams below them in the conference standings. And that the Pacers received once-in-a-lifetime shooting Tuesday night at Washington, with Miles and Paul George going an unthinkable, un-repeatable 15-of-17 on 3-pointers in a 123-106 rout.

There. Perspective provided.

Now then:

Wheeeeee!!!!

Oh, sorry. That’s not me cheering. That’s me gloating. Maybe you recall — of course you don’t recall — that in the preseason someone in the media, just one person, was saying this Pacers overhaul was going to work. While the national media, the experts, were confused by team president Larry Bird’s decision to dismantle a team that had reached the conference finals in 2013 and ‘14, the local media (OK, me) was riding with Bird. One, he knows more basketball than any of us. Two, he sure does seem to translate that knowledge into wins. Three, the NBA is obviously trending toward smaller, faster, more skill.

It’s not just Golden State. It’s the title-winning Miami Heat of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. It’s the title-winning Mavericks of sweet-shooting, floor-running Dirk Nowitzki at power forward. It’s most of the best teams in recent years, nearly everyone without a Tim Duncan, spacing the floor and filling it with perimeter shooters.

Bird didn’t invent this trend, but he was a half-step ahead of the curve — he was talking internally about rewiring the Pacers more than a year ago — and he didn’t tiptoe into this pool. He pinched his nose and did a cannonball into the deep end. Hibbert, traded. West left, and the Pacers didn’t look back.

Monta Ellis, signed. Sleek center Myles Turner, drafted.

Like that, the Pacers went from big and slow and hell-bent on protecting the rim to small and fast and hell-bent on scoring a whole lot of points and daring you to keep up.

Thing is, Frank Vogel remains the coach. And Frank Vogel remains focused on the defensive end. He’s been given more offensive skill to play with, and while it took some time to come together — the Pacers started the season 0-3, the losses by an average of 12.3 points — it has come together with a fury.

And the slow start makes sense. One, the best player on the team (George) was still working off the rust after missing 76 games last season with a broken leg. Two, the biggest acquisition in years (Ellis) joined the team as late as possible in the  preseason, after having offseason surgery on what was thought to be his good knee. Three, the system was brand new.

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Stuff like this, it takes longer to come together than three games.

It takes, um, four games.

Since that 0-3 start, the Pacers have won nine of 11 games. The losses came on the road, by a total of five points, to defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland and preseason darling Chicago.

The Pacers aren’t just beating teams. They’re running them off the floor. Their current three-game winning streak started with a 112-85 blowout of the 76ers, and while that was on the road, it was the 76ers. Doesn’t mean a whole lot. Next came a 123-86 rout of expected playoff team Milwaukee. Then the 123-106 road demolition Tuesday of the Wizards, another likely playoff team.

Look at those scores. For years the Pacers sat their opponent in the dentist’s chair and pulled teeth until the game was over and the Pacers had won and the score was 91-86 and it was one of those things you’d just rather not discuss. Now they’re inviting their opponent into a fun house, showing them all the bright colors and weird mirrors, then taking their money and sending them home on the short end of a 123-106 blowout.

The Pacers!

And one moment Tuesday night signified what I’m talking about. It was inside the final 2 minutes at Washington, and the Pacers led 117-104. This game was over, just a matter of running out the clock, and C.J. Miles instinctively pulled back on the dribble as he crossed half-court. No need to rush.

But then he remembered: We rush now. We hurry, we attack, we score. And so Miles hit another gear and drove into the lane, where he was fouled and hit two free throws after burning just 8 seconds off the 24-second shot clock.

Hours after the win at Washington, I sent the Pacers’ coach a text message: Tell me, Frank Vogel, what’s happening here.

And this is what Vogel sent back.

“We are playing team ball on both ends!” he wrote, and he used the exclamation mark, and you have to understand something: Frank Vogel isn’t an effusive texter. This I know, because I pester him from time to time, about nothing, and this what I get back when I text him something I just know is hilarious:

LOL.

That’s it. No exclamation mark. No smiley-face emoji. Just an LOL from a guy who doesn’t emote a whole lot. But he’s enjoying this team, and he’s sending an exclamation mark, and wait a minute. He’s sending me another text message. Probably trying to slow it down a bit. Let’s see what this one says.

“Our belief in our new identity (big and small flexibility) is growing each game,” Vogel wrote. “And we are riding a string of incredible performances by the best two-way player in the game …”

He’s talking about Paul George, averaging 25.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, all career highs.

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Another text from Vogel. And here it comes. The caution, the calm. The straight-basketball version of LOL.

“It's still obviously very early in the year ... but these are good signs. Possibly noteworthy. Last three opponents rank 22nd, 24th, and 29th in defense. Chicago ranks fifth ...”

The Pacers play the Bulls on Friday (8 p.m., FSI), their last home game before a four-game road trip out West. Oh, wait. Another text from Vogel.

“… and we rank fourth,” he says, meaning in team defense. In all of the NBA. So this Pacers team that is averaging a lovely 101.3 ppg is doing it while still ranking fourth in the NBA in scoring defense. No wonder the final part of Vogel’s text message was an emoji.

A smiley face.

Smile away, Frank Vogel. This is happening. It’s really happening.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.