I think it's both.

Giannis is Giannis, never missed a beat, but Dame finally playing better, and the supporting casts finally chipping in. Both Trent Jr. and Portis Jr. had a great game scoring in the high teens. Hopefully this trend holds. I love seeing the east be more competitive.

In terms of Pacers being bad, I think Siakam is playing at expected levels, and Mathurin is probably performing above expectations. But for the Pacers to be competitive, Haliburton needs to be better. He needs to get back to last season's numbers or better, but it seems he's currently in a slump. Hopefully it's temporary.