Before the season most of the focus of the Indiana Pacers' small-ball transformation fell on Paul George. How would he adjust to a new position? If he faltered as the nominal power forward, the belief was the team would as well.
C.J. Miles is the glue holding the Pacers’ small-ball attack together
The veteran swingman’s selfless play is a big reason why Indiana is climbing up the Eastern Conference standings.
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
That’s why alarm bells went off when George made it clear that the thought of spending every night duking it out with bigger and stronger players on the block didn’t appeal to him.
As it turns out, George never had to switch positions. Instead, C.J. Miles, an 11-year veteran wing in his second season in Indiana, volunteered to take the assignments George didn't want and in doing so paved the way for the Pacers to play the new style head coach Frank Vogel and team president Larry Bird wanted.
The results speak for themselves. The Pacers, playing at a faster pace than they have in years, are now 11-5 and have won their last five games. They’re No. 10 in points scored per 100 possessions at 102 after finishing No. 24 in that department last season. George, playing the best basketball of his career (27 points, eight rebounds, 4.4 assists, 46 percent shooting from the field and behind the three-point line, all career highs), maybe the engine, but it was Miles’ unselfishness that opened up all the lanes.
“He really was the lifesaver of this,” George told NBA.com’s David Aldridge earlier this week. “He took it upon himself to be like, ‘you know, P, you’re special at the three. Just go back to playing your position, (and) if need be, the 3-4. If anything, we can always switch. So you’re not really going to guard the four all game.’ He was like, man, I’ll take it.”
Miles has flourished offensively matching up against slower players, specifically from long range. He’s averaging more than 15 points per night and shooting 43 percent from deep despite entering the season as a career 35 percent three-point shooter.
The team numbers are there, too. The Pacers are outscoring opponents by 9.3 points per 100 possessions when Miles plays, per NBA.com. That number drops to less than four when he sits. The spacing he provides is a major reason why.
The Pacers did not decide to go small without developing a comprehensive plan. Some teams say they want to play small, but fail to fail to realize that successful small ball doesn’t just mean trotting out smaller players. It’s a strategy designed to introduce combinations that highlight stars’ strengths and allow a team’s best players to share the floor.
George is clearly the Pacers’ best player. He’s the primary creator and ball-handler -- he ends 31.4 percent of Indiana’s possessions when on the floor, nearly 10 percentage points higher than Miles’, who is second. Going small and sacrificing size is only worthwhile if it opens the floor for George.
That's where Miles comes in. If defenders stick to Miles, George (along with Monta Ellis) is able to pick that spread unit apart. If defenders sag off Miles to help on George and Ellis, they get burned.
That’s especially the case when Miles is able to shoot from that left wing, the spot on the floor that stretch fours tend to stand. 19 of the 39 three-pointers he’s hit this season have come from that area.
Sometimes Miles just spots up there, other times he cuts. Miles is also adept at putting the ball on the floor and attacking off-balanced defenders swarming to a closeout, a skill that separates him from other shooting specialists.
“We’re dependent on the fact that you can’t leave a regular four man out there,” Miles added to Aldridge. “I played my (former) position at the 2-3 (for) 10 years now. I know how to move, I know how to find gaps. I’m not just a standstill guy. You can’t just run at me and hope I don’t shoot it. I can go by the guy. I can do a lot of different things. And that’s another thing I worked on, to be sharper with that, be sharper downhill, not to dance with the ball, but just be one dribble, two dribbles to get to where I need to go.”
The offensive advantage of putting Miles next to George is obvious, but the Pacers surprisingly have defended well all year as well. The typical worry with small lineups is they sacrifice defense for scoring. Less size equals less deterrence, or so the thinking goes. A team like the Pacers that traditionally packed the paint to keep opponents away from the rim seems like a poor defensive fit for an undersized power forward.
Yet Indiana is holding opponents to 95.5 points per 100 possessions, the second-best number in the league. The Pacers are in the top 10 in opponents field goal and three-point percentage.
The difference between this unit and Indiana's elite defensive units of the past is that most of the work is being done on the perimeter. By going small with George, Miles and the long-armed George Hill, one of the NBA's best perimeter defenders, Vogel has unleashed a defense that is second in the league in forced turnovers and third in steals.
Indiana knows few teams now have two big men that can bruise smaller clubs in the paint. Miles is usually capable of holding his own, allowing the Pacers to focus on pressuring ball-handlers and forcing mistakes.
Miles' sacrifice also means Pacers guards can defend their men straight up and funnel them to shot-blocker Ian Mahinmi...
... while his speed and quickness allow the Pacers to switch assignments to stop dribble penetration, like the Golden State Warriors famously do. "We feel like we can do the same thing," Miles said to Aldridge.
There are some concerns, most notably that the Pacers are allowing more three-point attempts than in years past. That usually means teams are getting open looks and missing.
Still, the Pacers have figured out how how to enhance their best player and make their offense more efficient without sacrificing points on the other end. The Pacers’ hierarchy deserves credit for making these lineups tweaks, but without Miles’ sacrifice, it all would have been for naught.
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