Pacers Improve to 14-1 with Win Over Bobcats

Already off to their best start in franchise history this season, the Indiana Pacers showed no signs of slowing down on Wednesday night, as they crushed the Charlotte Bobcats 99-74 to improve to an NBA-best 14-1 record.

Charlotte kept the score relatively close until the fourth quarter, when Indiana netted 39 points and pulled away for its fifth straight victory. For three quarters, the Pacers’ offense sputtered – shooting just 28 percent from the field – but as usual, the league’s best defense did its job and held the Cats at bay until shots started to fall late.

“Good Indiana Pacers-style win with offensive balance and different guys stepping up each night and dominating with defense and rebounding,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said, according to ESPN.com.

The win was certainly an all-around team effort, but offensively, one player seemed to take over down the stretch – C.J. Watson. Watson hit five three-pointers in the fourth quarter and six in all, tallying 18 points, which not only led the team, but marked a season high for Watson as well.

“C.J. Watson obviously was the star of the game tonight,” said Vogel. “It seems like it’s a different guy every night for us.”

Watson came into the game shooting just over 20 percent from three-point range, but vastly improved his season average after nailing 6 of 8 triples against the Bobcats.

“I have been struggling and I knew I’d been struggling,” Watson said. “But I just stayed in the gym, stayed focused and just kept working and stayed confident. I tried to go out there, be aggressive and take what the game gave me.”

Besides Watson, three other Indiana scorers hit double digits, including Lance Stephenson (15 points) and Roy Hibbert (14 points), both of whom also finished the night with 10 rebounds a piece.

What’s best most impressive about the Pacers’ hot start is that they’ve maintained a true team dynamic, with a different playing stepping up each night. So far, they haven’t had to rely on a single star and that fact alone should make them a real NBA title contender this season.

We’ll see if the Pacers can keep this dream season rolling when they take on the Washington Wizards on Friday.