Charles Barkley believes that the Indiana Pacers are actually better than the Miami Heat. He said last night on the NBA on TNT:
“I think Indiana has a better team [than Miami] but there are two things I worry about. They turn the ball over and that won’t show until they’re under the gun [in the playoffs]. Also, Lance Stephenson is so talented but he does some crazy stuff sometimes. He’s got superior talent…but he has to keep maturing.”
I said in the offseason that the Indiana Pacers are the secondary obstacle for the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference this season. Obviously the primary roadblock is the Miami Heat. Then you have to factor in the Brooklyn Nets, and the Bulls look like the fourth best team in their own conference, let alone the league. I bring this up because you’ve had local media here really over-slurping the Bulls heading into the season. You even had a couple dumb television talking heads saying the Chicago Bulls will win the championship, if everyone stays healthy.
Well, it’s very early, but the Bulls are 1-3. While the Pacers are off to their best and only 5-0 start in their franchises history.
“We want to step away from that shadow as the ‘little brothers’ of this division,” Indiana Pacers go-to-guy Paul George told NBA.com. “Their success is the Michael Jordan era. This is a new age, this is a new team. It’s ours till they take it.”
So the Indiana Pacers are getting cocky about their non-rival Chicago Bulls after destroying them 97-80 Wednesday night.
Paul George, who the Indiana Pacers made a very rich, very job secure man several weeks ago, is second in the NBA in scoring so far, and according to Indiana Pacers big man Roy Hibbert, has arrived as a superstar now in the NBA, The Pacers center took to Twitter to let all of us know, that “George will win MVP this season.”
I think everyone is getting way carried away with this fast start by the Indiana Pacers; including Chuckles. Yes, Indiana gave the Heat all they could handle in the playoffs last season; and in the year before that. But let’s remember it was the Heat who eliminated the Indiana Pacers both times, not the other way around.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the world; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS