Nate McMillan has two primary pet peeves, which he shares with the team at the start of each training camp: "be on time and don't "F" with the game."
One way to do that, in his mind, is to be careful about pulling starters too early. McMillan didn't begin clearing his bench in Friday's 35-point victory over Detroit until 4:24 remained, when he put Kyle O'Quinn into the game. The Pacers led by 31 points at the time. He put TJ Leaf and Aaron Holiday in at 3:52 and completed the process by subbing Davon Reed at 3:02.
The Pacers had begun the quarter with a 22-point lead and had improved that to 30 with just over seven minutes remaining. Many fans on social media, and no doubt those at the Fieldhouse as well, were wondering what took McMillan so long. Is a 30-point lead with seven minutes left not enough to feel confident of a victory?
"What's the right time?" McMillan responded following Sunday's practice at St. Vincent Center. "Four or five minutes on the clock? Four or five minutes in an NBA game is a lot of time. Make sure that game is in control, and we'll get our guys out when I feel I have control of it.
"It's a feel thing. I've seen some coaches go early and I've seen some coaches not do it at all."
McMillan said he hasn't had any nightmarish experiences as a head coach when he pulled starters with a comfortable lead and wound up losing. But he's come close, including a game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last season.
"To me, that's more embarrassing than anything," McMillan said. "And for players, too. "You feel you've got a game (under control) and sub out and then have to bring them back. The big risk in that situation is when to get those guys out so you don't get some stupid injury. But what's the right time? There's not a right time except when you feel a game's secure."
Know When to Stop
Another thing that falls into the category of "messing" with the game, according to McMillan, is scoring a meaningless basket in the final seconds. O'Quinn did it against Detroit, which drew immediate words from at least a couple of the Pistons players.
O'Quinn didn't respond, and was coy about it in the locker room afterward. He pretended not to have heard anything say something to him, and said he was simply "playing to the end."
McMillan doesn't like it, believing in the unwritten rule of letting the clock run out rather than trying to score. He spoke up against it when Lance Stephenson scored an unnecessary layup against Toronto in Stephenson's first home game in his return to the Pacers two seasons ago, and didn't like O'Quinn doing it, either.
"It wasn't necessary," McMillan said. "You don't have to do that.
"It's in all sports. Football, too. If you're killing a team and you're on the five-yard line, do you throw a pass? We didn't need those points. Let the clock run down. As a player, as a coach, that gets under your skin."
Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images
Closing time
The Pacers can close out a successful month with a victory over Atlanta on Monday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. They have won 11 of their 14 games so far in December, with all three defeats – at Sacramento on Dec. 1 and later at home to Cleveland and at Toronto - falling into the category of "should have won" games.
Monday's meeting has the makings of a classic trap game. It has an odd starting time, 3 p.m., it falls on New Year's Eve and it precedes a rare three-day break before they play again. It also comes against a Hawks team with a poor record (11-24) whom the Pacers beat in Atlanta last Wednesday.
It would be easy for the Pacers to be looking ahead or taking the game for granted, but they claim to know better. They're aware they are the only team to defeat Atlanta in its previous six games, and they believe they are far from reaching their potential.
"In every aspect of the game, we have to get better," Thad Young said. "We're still a hungry team. We still feel we can get better in every facet of the game."
The Pacers have the NBA's best defense when measured by points allowed per 100 possessions, but Young says one of their primary needs for improvement comes there. Continued improvement, actually. They ranked at or near the bottom in the league in defensive 3-point percentage through October and November, but are now up to 12th. Opponents are hitting 35 percent of their 3-pointers, while the Pacers are hitting 37 percent.
"The biggest thing now is to continue to run guys off the 3-point line, continue to impose our will on the game and impact the game on the defensive end," Young said.
The Pacers have allowed the fewest points of any NBA team per 100 possessions. Although they rank 19th in offense, they average the second-high margin of victory, 6.42 points.
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