The fact Indiana ranks fifth in the NBA with 47.0 rebounds per game isn’t a fluke.

The reality of the situation is the Indiana Pacers are built to rebound the ball due to the height in their starting line-up. They have a seven-footer at center, two all-star forwards and a 6’10″ shooting guard. Throw into the mix they have Tyler Hansbrough coming off the bench and their bigs are some of the best rebounders in the entire NBA.

West, Hibbert and Hansbrough all had at least 12 rebounds in their game against Detroit and the trio combined to haul in 37 rebounds. The trio followed this up with a combined 26 rebounds in their game against Toronto.

The Pacers have muscled their way to a 94-79 rebounding advantage over their first two games of a young NBA season.

“I was excited about that, but I think that had more to do with how many shots we missed around the basket,” Frank Vogul joked HOOPSADDICT.com while laughing.

All kidding aside, a big reason for Indiana’s ability to own the glass is due to the fact they tweaked their offensive sets to maximize their chances of getting offensive rebounds.

“We completely reshaped our spacing so that on 99 percent of sets two bigs are at the basket,” head coach Frank Vogel told the media earlier this week. “One will be on the post or baseline with the other rolling to the basket. We are designed to be a strong offensive rebounding team.”

Vogul expanded upon this philosophy last night before his team’s game against Toronto.

“Part of our smashmouth attack involves playing with size and strength,” Vogul told HOOPSADDICT.com. “We want out guards attacking the basket. We want our bigs playing through the post. This summer we shaped all of our spacing so that we don’t have very many lifts sets where we have a big out near the three-point line. We try to have one of our bigs along the baseline or in front of the basket at all times and the other one is rolling”.

Indiana may not be the sexy pick to come out of the Eastern Conference, but with a well-balanced roster, depth at every position and some star players sprinkled into the mix, they are easily one of the stronger teams in their conference.

Not many teams around the NBA are going to want to go into battle against a team that crashes the glass and wants to play smashmouth basketball likes Indiana intends to do.