While it's fair to say we took a swing and a miss on Indiana, there was one random comment Patrick made regarding the Pacers that's stuck with me. Namely, Patrick thought Frank Vogel was a prime candidate to get fired. Now, as the Pacers lead the NBA in wins, that seems unlikely. However, I stand by the statement. You see, the killer of coaches is unrealistic expectations. Let's put the Pacers current performance in perspective. 

Pacers' win percentage recorded on January 5th 2014

The Pacers winning percentage would currently place them sixth all-time in NBA history. Their spot is a bit ominous as Indiana's neighbors -- the 1973 Celtics and 2007 Mavericks -- failed to even make the finals. That said, the Pacers current performance is indeed historic. This actually bodes poorly for Vogel. If the belief is that the Pacers are indeed an all-time great team, then it's easy to "underperform". Even Phil Jackson was ousted from Los Angeles after his team "only" won 56 wins and "only" made it to the finals. If the Pacers playing at 11 isn't considered amazingly anomalous, then rest assured if they had "underperformed" as a 50 win team then Vogel would have been in trouble.

The worst place a coach can be is on a team playing above their level. Maybe this Pacers team is one of the greatest. At 6th place, they would currently rank in the top 0.5% ever! Maybe they're running hot. Either way, I'd be nervous about my job if I was Vogel.