Being bullish on the Indiana Pacers didn't seem so preposterous before their smallish backcourt looked so ill-fitting side-by-side, the team Larry Bird aggressively built to run ignored how fast breaks begin with rebounds, and Paul George began to blame conspiracy theories for a perceived lack of respect from referees. More than a third into the season, the Pacers (16-18) have been a disappointing blend of inconsistency and indifference. “You can't be relaxed, thinking it's going to be like this all season,” George recently told The Vertical about the East.