2017-2018 Indiana Pacers and Everything NBA Thread

[akcolt]

31 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

   

We don't have a 3-shooter on the bench......like most teams do.

Buit we weren't going to beat much of anybody tonight with the shooting from the starters either..

Its okay...one game....Thank God for Atlanta

That's why I was hoping to get In on LA's salary dump. Clarkson would've be a scorer who could hit the long ball. Nance Jr wouldn't have helped the 3 pointing shooting he'd just helped winning. Did you see his first start for Cleveland? He went for 22 & 15. It's not often a team dumps young guys like that to free up cap space. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

This loss doesn't really surprise me. I didn't think we would lose by 20 but I had a feeling this would be a tough game. I think a huge reason why Dipo has been struggling a bit is because he's tired, getting Collison back will really help. We are a team that really cant afford any injuries. Our room for error is really almost 0 when we play other Good teams and Utah is Good, they are now 35-30 and have the 3rd best Defense in the league. So it's not like we lost to a bunch of chumps. I wouldn't be surprised if they get in as an 8th Seed in the West. The are only .5 games out of the 8th. We just beat the Bucks twice and Wizards so I am not too upset with the loss. Still 37-28 on the season and in no danger of missing the Playoffs.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I think the East is so wide open I honestly just care about getting in. It would be gravy if we could end up as a 4 Seed and have HCA in Round 1, I get all of that but any team is beatable in the East. It's not like if we get a 7 or an 8 we have to play the Warriors or Rockets. Pistons lost tonight again so we still maintain an 8 game lead on them and they are in 9th. We are 37-28, Pistons are 29-36. I think even if we finished 8th we could give a Toronto a scare. They normally play shaky in the Playoffs.

[oldunclemark]

9 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

This loss doesn't really surprise me. I didn't think we would lose by 20 but I had a feeling this would be a tough game. I think a huge reason why Dipo has been struggling a bit is because he's tired, getting Collison back will really help. We are a team that really cant afford any injuries. Our room for error is really almost 0 when we play other Good teams and Utah is Good, they are now 35-30 and have the 3rd best Defense in the league. So it's not like we lost to a bunch of chumps. I wouldn't be surprised if they get in as an 8th Seed in the West. The are only .5 games out of the 8th. We just beat the Bucks twice and Wizards so I am not too upset with the loss. Still 37-28 on the season and in no danger of missing the Playoffs.

This loss surprised me a lot, CBE.   Washington is better than Utah

Utah isn't as good as Toronto or Golden State or Boron, and that's who we have ahead of us. Utah isnt that good.  You're overstating that.WE lost to a team that still may not make the post-season.....One game is one game...but we cant lose like this at home.  My goal is to make the playoffs  and we're in good shape even though we've lost to Atlanta and Dallas in the last week.    I'd just like to see us play well consistently ..and we haven't in the last 2 weeks..........

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

This loss surprised me a lot, CBE.   Washington is better than Utah

Utah isn't as good as Toronto or Golden State or Boron, and that's who we have ahead of us. Utah isnt that good.  You're overstating that.WE lost to a team that still may not make the post-season.....One game is one game...but we cant lose like this at home.  My goal is to make the playoffs  and we're in good shape even though we've lost to Atlanta and Dallas in the last week.    I'd just like to see us play well consistently ..and we haven't in the last 2 weeks..........

We just won 3 big games in a row so a let down didn't shock me. Had we lost 2 or 3 in a row, we would've won more than likely last night. That is how the NBA is. We are a Good team but not Great where we are going to win almost every single night like the Rockets and Warriors. Who knows had we had Collison this whole time we may have never lost to the Mavs or Hawks. I don't think we would've. The Jazz are better than you think, Mitchell is a Beast and Gobert is a monster too. They play Great Defense as well.

[oldunclemark]

We've lost 3 big games the last week, too...Maybe you can excuse the road losses to the sub. 500 boys but you cant lose by 20 at home to a non playoff team. That's the real NBA. 

'Let down' and 'tired' ..

Last night was another bad sign in a 10-day span when we lost to Atlanta and Dallas.

 

We're without Collison but Washington was without Wall and Milwaukee was down 3 or 4 guys.

Collison is out indefinelty.....His 3-week recovery is what now...6 weeks?

We've played very well when Victor has played much of the year. If we're being honest, losing by the margin we lost to a non elite team is a big concern.

What you're saying is that you are happy for us just to back into the post-season and, in some respects, I agree.

 

 

You see the last 6 games as a good stretch and I see it as storm clouds on the horizon..

After Friday. the schedule gets ugly. Toronto and Golden State have more 'beasts' and 'monsters'.... Sure, we can back into the post-season but Utah is the 9th seed in the West

Utah isn't that good.  If we're being totally unbiased, we don't look that good and I'm wondering if Victor is injured and simply keeping it quiet.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2018 by oldunclemark
spell

[oldunclemark]

Its okay to play well and lose......But we've had 3 bad losses in 10 days. We didnt have what I'd call 3 bad losses in a 2-week span all year.

 

I hope we beat Golden State and Philadelphia and Boston and Denver and Toronto in the next 4 weeks..  Maybe we will.

But its not something I can predict off a 20-point loss to Utah

Edited March 8, 2018 by oldunclemark

[jshipp23]

Donovan Mitchell is gonna be the NEXT great Superstar in this league...Teams that passed on him in the draft got to be sick right now...Imagine him on Philly or Boston..

[oldunclemark]

1 minute ago, jshipp23 said:

Donovan Mitchell is gonna be the NEXT great Superstar in this league...Teams that passed on him in the draft got to be sick right now...Imagine him on Philly or Boston..

He's the rookie of the year, Shipp.....

 

He may lose out because they don't have as good a team and the 76ers but he's better than Ben Simmons right now

[oldunclemark]

..and I'll ask again..Is everybody still sure Golden State can beat Houston....?

[jshipp23]

17 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

..and I'll ask again..Is everybody still sure Golden State can beat Houston....?

I hope not...Nobody will beat Golden State if they are dialed in though..They have been going through the motions all season..They will flip the switch in the playoffs...Houston is only team with a remote chance...

[2006Coltsbestever]

43 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

We've lost 3 big games the last week, too...Maybe you can excuse the road losses to the sub. 500 boys but you cant lose by 20 at home to a non playoff team. That's the real NBA. 

'Let down' and 'tired' ..

Last night was another bad sign in a 10-day span when we lost to Atlanta and Dallas.

 

We're without Collison but Washington was without Wall and Milwaukee was down 3 or 4 guys.

Collison is out indefinelty.....His 3-week recovery is what now...6 weeks?

We've played very well when Victor has played much of the year. If we're being honest, losing by the margin we lost to a non elite team is a big concern.

What you're saying is that you are happy for us just to back into the post-season and, in some respects, I agree.

 

 

You see the last 6 games as a good stretch and I see it as storm clouds on the horizon..

After Friday. the schedule gets ugly. Toronto and Golden State have more 'beasts' and 'monsters'.... Sure, we can back into the post-season but Utah is the 9th seed in the West

Utah isn't that good.  If we're being totally unbiased, we don't look that good and I'm wondering if Victor is injured and simply keeping it quiet.

 

 

If we even have a bad stretch, I wouldn't consider it backing into the Playoffs. Not our fault teams like the Pistons and Hornets have stunk for 3/4 of the season. We have had a Good season in reality. I could debate our record would be a lot better had Dipo not missed 6 games. We are 0-6 without him. The NBA has it's ups and downs. If anyone had told me we would be 37-28 through 65 games at the beginning of the year and a shoe in for the Playoffs I would've laughed at them. So I will take it. Our fans are just getting spoiled now because there is a chance we can get a 4 Seed and HCA in Round 1.

[akcolt]

4 hours ago, oldunclemark said:

We've lost 3 big games the last week, too...Maybe you can excuse the road losses to the sub. 500 boys but you cant lose by 20 at home to a non playoff team. That's the real NBA. 

'Let down' and 'tired' ..

Last night was another bad sign in a 10-day span when we lost to Atlanta and Dallas.

 

We're without Collison but Washington was without Wall and Milwaukee was down 3 or 4 guys.

Collison is out indefinelty.....His 3-week recovery is what now...6 weeks?

We've played very well when Victor has played much of the year. If we're being honest, losing by the margin we lost to a non elite team is a big concern.

What you're saying is that you are happy for us just to back into the post-season and, in some respects, I agree.

 

 

You see the last 6 games as a good stretch and I see it as storm clouds on the horizon..

After Friday. the schedule gets ugly. Toronto and Golden State have more 'beasts' and 'monsters'.... Sure, we can back into the post-season but Utah is the 9th seed in the West

Utah isn't that good.  If we're being totally unbiased, we don't look that good and I'm wondering if Victor is injured and simply keeping it quiet.

 

 

This is a little of an overreaction. Utah is a good team since we beat them in Utah by 15 points they are 18-4 I haven't checked but I'd bet there are few teams that are playing better than that. Among those wins you'll find a 30pt thrashing of GS a 24pt win over NO and a 19pt win over Portland.

 

We didn't play horribly last night We won on the glass 47-42 and 14-7 on the offensive boards. We only turned it over 12 times. Normally we are going to win with those numbers. The problem we missed shots. We shot terribly from deep going 3's 3-23. It wasn't much better inside the arc 38%. Meanwhile the Jazz have a guy like Crowder banking in 3 balls. We fought through the poor shooting for 3 quarters but that and poor bench play caught up to us the start of the 4th. 

 

Vic is 2 games removed from a 33pt effort. He played poorly last time out. He was obviously tired. We ask a lot of him. He started strong last night but he was never the same after he landed on the hand.  He looked at it after nearly every shot. That's something to monitor but I don't think we are hiding anything This isn't the Colts. 

 

We miss DC and that's apparent. He's our starting PG and  our top 3pt shooter. Let's not forget DC is 7th in the league in 3pt %. That's a big hit for a team that struggles from deep at times. The fact that we have continued winning at a high rate minus our starting PG and one of the best 3pt shooters in the league is impressive. 

 

When CoJo doesn't shoot it well or he's missed on the second unit things get tougher. Last night was a double whammy. CoJo didn't shoot it well and he was missed on the 2nd unit because Lance was bad. Let's not forget we are coming off the 3 biggest games of the season. We won all 3 and 2 of the wins were on the road. Games that many pointed to as big problems for us.

 

We get Atlanta at home before hitting the road for Boston Philly the Raptors at home then at Wiz. That's the toughest 4 game stretch we will see this year.  The best way to predict what will happen is look at what has happened. We should've beat Boston 2/3 we have split with Philly Washington and Toronto. We have proven we can play with and beat anyone in the East. 

 

There is reason for optimism despite our up and down play. Myles looks to have finally found his game. Bogy is playing his best ball. GR3 is back and we added help for Thad. DC will be back soon which should help it all come together.  This team hasn't backed into anything all year no reason to think that starts now. 

[akcolt]

And right on cue DC is expected to be back in the line up Friday vs Atlanta. The Pacers will at last be at full strength just in time for the stretch run. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

5 hours ago, akcolt said:

This is a little of an overreaction. Utah is a good team since we beat them in Utah by 15 points they are 18-4 I haven't checked but I'd bet there are few teams that are playing better than that. Among those wins you'll find a 30pt thrashing of GS a 24pt win over NO and a 19pt win over Portland.

 

We didn't play horribly last night We won on the glass 47-42 and 14-7 on the offensive boards. We only turned it over 12 times. Normally we are going to win with those numbers. The problem we missed shots. We shot terribly from deep going 3's 3-23. It wasn't much better inside the arc 38%. Meanwhile the Jazz have a guy like Crowder banking in 3 balls. We fought through the poor shooting for 3 quarters but that and poor bench play caught up to us the start of the 4th. 

 

Vic is 2 games removed from a 33pt effort. He played poorly last time out. He was obviously tired. We ask a lot of him. He started strong last night but he was never the same after he landed on the hand.  He looked at it after nearly every shot. That's something to monitor but I don't think we are hiding anything This isn't the Colts. 

 

We miss DC and that's apparent. He's our starting PG and  our top 3pt shooter. Let's not forget DC is 7th in the league in 3pt %. That's a big hit for a team that struggles from deep at times. The fact that we have continued winning at a high rate minus our starting PG and one of the best 3pt shooters in the league is impressive. 

 

When CoJo doesn't shoot it well or he's missed on the second unit things get tougher. Last night was a double whammy. CoJo didn't shoot it well and he was missed on the 2nd unit because Lance was bad. Let's not forget we are coming off the 3 biggest games of the season. We won all 3 and 2 of the wins were on the road. Games that many pointed to as big problems for us.

 

We get Atlanta at home before hitting the road for Boston Philly the Raptors at home then at Wiz. That's the toughest 4 game stretch we will see this year.  The best way to predict what will happen is look at what has happened. We should've beat Boston 2/3 we have split with Philly Washington and Toronto. We have proven we can play with and beat anyone in the East. 

 

There is reason for optimism despite our up and down play. Myles looks to have finally found his game. Bogy is playing his best ball. GR3 is back and we added help for Thad. DC will be back soon which should help it all come together.  This team hasn't backed into anything all year no reason to think that starts now. 

Utah has the 3rd best record in the league over the last month. Only the Rockets and Warriors have been better. Also when we beat them in Utah they didn't have Gobert and they weren't playing well. Like you said we lost because we couldn't make 3's and they made theirs. We didn't lose because of lack of effort, we won the Boards battle. Now that we are getting Collison back that will take some of the load off of Dipo.

[oldunclemark]

5 hours ago, akcolt said:

This is a little of an overreaction. Utah is a good team since we beat them in Utah by 15 points they are 18-4 I haven't checked but I'd bet there are few teams that are playing better than that. Among those wins you'll find a 30pt thrashing of GS a 24pt win over NO and a 19pt win over Portland.

 

We didn't play horribly last night We won on the glass 47-42 and 14-7 on the offensive boards. We only turned it over 12 times. Normally we are going to win with those numbers. The problem we missed shots. We shot terribly from deep going 3's 3-23. It wasn't much better inside the arc 38%. Meanwhile the Jazz have a guy like Crowder banking in 3 balls. We fought through the poor shooting for 3 quarters but that and poor bench play caught up to us the start of the 4th. 

 

Vic is 2 games removed from a 33pt effort. He played poorly last time out. He was obviously tired. We ask a lot of him. He started strong last night but he was never the same after he landed on the hand.  He looked at it after nearly every shot. That's something to monitor but I don't think we are hiding anything This isn't the Colts. 

 

We miss DC and that's apparent. He's our starting PG and  our top 3pt shooter. Let's not forget DC is 7th in the league in 3pt %. That's a big hit for a team that struggles from deep at times. The fact that we have continued winning at a high rate minus our starting PG and one of the best 3pt shooters in the league is impressive. 

 

When CoJo doesn't shoot it well or he's missed on the second unit things get tougher. Last night was a double whammy. CoJo didn't shoot it well and he was missed on the 2nd unit because Lance was bad. Let's not forget we are coming off the 3 biggest games of the season. We won all 3 and 2 of the wins were on the road. Games that many pointed to as big problems for us.

 

We get Atlanta at home before hitting the road for Boston Philly the Raptors at home then at Wiz. That's the toughest 4 game stretch we will see this year.  The best way to predict what will happen is look at what has happened. We should've beat Boston 2/3 we have split with Philly Washington and Toronto. We have proven we can play with and beat anyone in the East. 

 

There is reason for optimism despite our up and down play. Myles looks to have finally found his game. Bogy is playing his best ball. GR3 is back and we added help for Thad. DC will be back soon which should help it all come together.  This team hasn't backed into anything all year no reason to think that starts now. 

ak..weve lost 3 games to non playoff teams in the last 10 games...and we played badly.

We lost to 2 of the worst teams in the NBA......and it almost certainly cost us home court advantage in the first round d of the playoffs

We can talk about how good Utah is and how much we miss Darren Collison.

But that was out worst home loss of the season Wednesday.   Victor has carried us and these last 2 games have been 2 of his worst.of the season.......Maybe he's hurt. By 'hiding it' I mean he continues to play which is what he should do.

By 'hiding it'  I mean he wont come out of the lineup. He cant. 

I don't like to hear that we've overachieved and proven every body wrong.

The regular season isn't over yet

 

     Maybe we'll rise up and defeat Golden State and Toronto and the 76ers and Denver at Denver and Boston at Boston. Collson could be back Friday.  Maybe we'll end up as the No, 3 seed. Its still mathematically possible.

But if you don't think there's little reason for concern, we are simply watching 2 different teams.

Edited March 9, 2018 by oldunclemark

[2006Coltsbestever]

4 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

ak..weve lost 3 games to non playoff teams in the last 10 games...and we played badly.

We lost to 2 of the worst teams in the NBA......

We can talk about how good Utah is and how much we miss Darren Collison.

But that was out worst home loss of the season Wednesday.   Victor has carried us and these last 2 games have been 2 of his worst.of the season.......Maybe he's hurt. By 'hiding it' I mean he continues to play which is what he should do.

By 'hiding it'  I mean he wont come out of the lineup. He cant. 

I don't like to hear that we've overachieved and proven every body wrong.

The regular season isn't over yet

 

     Maybe we'll rise up and defeat Golden State and Toronto and the 76ers and Denver at Denver and Boston at Boston. Maybe we'll end up as the No, 3 seed. Its possible.

But if you don't think there's little reason for concern, we are simply watching 2 different teams.

Every team has its up and downs. Even the mighty Rockets once lost 5 in a row earlier this season after winning 15 in a row, the Celtics went into to funk in February, etc.. Not sure what else you could ask for out of us? We are 37-28 and yes we have way overachieved. I have been extremely pleased with our season no matter how it ends unless we miss the Playoffs and that wont happen.

[oldunclemark]

11 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Every team has its up and downs. Even the mighty Rockets once lost 5 in a row earlier this season after winning 15 in a row, the Celtics went into to funk in February, etc.. Not sure what else you could ask for out of us? We are 37-28 and yes we have way overachieved. I have been extremely pleased with our season no matter how it ends unless we miss the Playoffs and that wont happen.

Wow..we lose to Dallas and Atlanta and you say 'what do I expect"?

Our ups and downs were fine when Victor was out and we faced superior teams.

But that hasn't been the case recently

I have always ben accused here of watching thr Pacers with rose colored (and not Derrick Rose colored) glasses but we have not played well recently...

Our 'funk' is happening weeks before the playoffs. You hit the problem right there.

If we're tired..that's bad because the most difficult stretch of the season begins Sunday at Boston as I've said here many times.

 

I cant say that I will be extremely pleased with the Pacers no matter how many games we lose in the last month.

I want to see us play much better every night than we did Wednesday night.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by oldunclemark

[oldunclemark]

Coach McMillan says that Darren Collison is a 'game-time decision' Friday night against Atlanta.

 

Very good news

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

Wow..we lose to Dallas and Atlanta and you say 'what do I expect"?

Our ups and downs were fine when Victor was out and we faced superior teams.

But that hasn't been the case recently

I have always ben accused here of watching thr Pacers with rose colored (and not Derrick Rose colored) glasses but we have not played well recently...

Our 'funk' is happening weeks before the playoffs. You hit the problem right there.

 

I cant say that I will be extremely pleased with the Pacers no matter how many games we lose in the last month.

I want to see us play better

 

 

You keep focusing on our losses/the losses to the Mavs and Hawks but fail to mention we won at Washington and at Milwaukee who are Good teams + we beat Milwaukee again here. It's hard to beat a Good team 2 times in a row. Yes losing to Bad teams is bad but we have beat a lot of Good teams as well. Looking at the season as a whole we have actually beaten the Bad teams around 80% of the time. Ups and Downs my friend.

 

-Also I am not content by no means and also what us to play better but I also know we have overachieved and have had an exciting Good season. I am sure you didn't think we would be 37-28 at the beginning of the season through 65 games, nobody in here did if you go back and look at all of our Posts.

[oldunclemark]

24 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

You keep focusing on our losses/the losses to the Mavs and Hawks but fail to mention we won at Washington and at Milwaukee who are Good teams + we beat Milwaukee again here. It's hard to beat a Good team 2 times in a row. Yes losing to Bad teams is bad but we have beat a lot of Good teams as well. Looking at the season as a whole we have actually beaten the Bad teams around 80% of the time. Ups and Downs my friend.

 

-Also I am not content by no means and also what us to play better but I also know we have overachieved and have had an exciting Good season. I am sure you didn't think we would be 37-28 at the beginning of the season through 65 games, nobody in here did if you go back and look at all of our Posts.

We're 37-28 but CBE, ..we're not going to finish 9 game s over .500\ Not now.

You can look at the season as a whole ad wrap it up but its not over. I want us to finish strong against the good teams.

 

We really haven't beaten a lot of good teams, CBE...   OKC, Houston...Portland, Boston...we're 1-8. 

I have absolutely no interest in the Pacers proving anybody wrong or doing better than we were predicted to do by me or anybody else.  I don't care about us being the 'surprise team of the east'     I just want us to play well. Excuses bother me.

.   Wednesday night was embarrassing as were the games at Dallas and Atlanta.

When we lose to teams we should beat.,..I have tough time saying..'yeah, but we've overachieved'...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by oldunclemark

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 minute ago, oldunclemark said:

We're 37-28 but CBE, ..we're not going to finish 9 game s over .500\ Not now.

You can look at the season as a whole ad wrap it up but its not over. I want us to finish strong against the good teams.

 

We really haven't beaten a lot of good teams, CBE...   OKC, Houston...Portland, Boston...we're 1-8

I want us to do that this month. 

I have absolutely no interest in proving anybody wrong or doing better than we were predicted to do.

I don't care about us being the 'surprise team of the east'     Excuses bother me

.   Wednesday night was embarrassing as were the games at Dallas and Atlanta.

When new lose to teams we should beat.,..I have tough time saying..'yeah, but we've overachieved'...

 

 

 

 

 

I get your point but I don't think we are a Title Contender yet. I look at teams like Houston and the Warriors and LeBron is LeBron so we have a ways to go. That is why I understand some these losses. This is the first season that our core group has played together, it will take another year or 2 before we are a major threat to win it all. Turner still needs to develop and so does Sabonis. Just making the Playoffs is huge IMO and will give our young core Playoff experience. Hey if we win a Playoff series or 2 than it's gravy and would make for a really Great season.

[IndyScribe]

2 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I get your point but I don't think we are a Title Contender yet. I look at teams like Houston and the Warriors and LeBron is LeBron so we have a ways to go. That is why I understand some these losses. This is the first season that our core group has played together, it will take another year or 2 before we are a major threat to win it all. Turner still needs to develop and so does Sabonis. Just making the Playoffs is huge IMO and will give our young core Playoff experience. Hey if we win a Playoff series or 2 than it's gravy and would make for a really Great season.

We're nowhere near a title contender. No way this team would win against the Warriors or Rockets. The Pacers have a really good core right now, that's young and will be together for a while. I think in a few years time, the Pacers can be contenders.

[2006Coltsbestever]

8 minutes ago, IndyScribe said:

We're nowhere near a title contender. No way this team would win against the Warriors or Rockets. The Pacers have a really good core right now, that's young and will be together for a while. I think in a few years time, the Pacers can be contenders.

Thanks, that is my main point, I agree. It will take us a couple of years before we get real consistent and become a threat to win it all. That is why I am not sure why some people aren't happy with the way the season is going so far. We will make the Playoffs and learn from there. We are actually right on pace with teams like the Sixers and Wolves and ahead of teams like the Bucks and Lakers regarding young teams. This in my eyes was to be a rebuild season for the Pacers and I had them winning around 35 games so I guess that is why I am pleased. We are ahead of schedule.

[oldunclemark]

23 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I get your point but I don't think we are a Title Contender yet. I look at teams like Houston and the Warriors and LeBron is LeBron so we have a ways to go. That is why I understand some these losses. This is the first season that our core group has played together, it will take another year or 2 before we are a major threat to win it all. Turner still needs to develop and so does Sabonis. Just making the Playoffs is huge IMO and will give our young core Playoff experience. Hey if we win a Playoff series or 2 than it's gravy and would make for a really Great season.

I know we're not a title contender....Other teams just have more fire power..

..and I know our future is bright. We've discussed that many times.

 

But put all that aside.  I'm talking here and now.  I don't want us to be embarrassed losing to Dallas (20-45) and Atlanta (20-45).  I don't want us to have our worst home loss of the season in game 65 against a non playoff team (I know they're pretty good).

For solely the sake of this season from this point forward......the last 2 weeks has been a little disturbing.  I can only say what I see

  

 

[oldunclemark]

Quote

Jaylen Brown took a terrible fall in Friday's game at Minnesota...

Fell on his head and neck after a dunk....Looks like he'll be OK..

But I've never seen a basketball fall quite like that

[akcolt]

The Hornets lost to the Nets tonight. It's looking more and more like the final 2 games of the season won't mean much to Charlotte.

 

The Heat won a big game vs Philly. The Sixers are right behind us and have a favorable schedule to close out the season. If any of the teams currently 4-8 go on a run that's who I'd keep an eye on. Although they really struggle on the road. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

6 minutes ago, akcolt said:

The Hornets lost to the Nets tonight. It's looking more and more like the final 2 games of the season won't mean much to Charlotte.

 

The Heat won a big game vs Philly. The Sixers are right behind us and have a favorable schedule to close out the season. If any of the teams currently 4-8 go on a run that's who I'd keep an eye on. Although they really struggle on the road. 

I have a bad feeling we are going to finish 6th behind Philly because of their schedule and Washington. Meaning we will play LeBron in Round 1. LeBron never loses in Round 1, I hate that matchup eventhough we have beat them 3-1 in the Regular Season. Just sick of seeing LeBron bulldog his way into the paint and get every call. I wont even be able to enjoy that series. I don't think they would sweep us like last year but still don't want to see it. I would rather finish 7th and play Boston to be honest  

[IndyScribe]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Thanks, that is my main point, I agree. It will take us a couple of years before we get real consistent and become a threat to win it all. That is why I am not sure why some people aren't happy with the way the season is going so far. We will make the Playoffs and learn from there. We are actually right on pace with teams like the Sixers and Wolves and ahead of teams like the Bucks and Lakers regarding young teams. This in my eyes was to be a rebuild season for the Pacers and I had them winning around 35 games so I guess that is why I am pleased. We are ahead of schedule.

Definitely ahead of schedule. Oladipo and Sabonis have turned out better than expected. I think some people just wanted to tank for talent. It'll also be interesting to see if the Pacers can finally get over the hump with this core or stay the same and make the playoffs but never the Finals.

[2006Coltsbestever]

12 minutes ago, IndyScribe said:

Definitely ahead of schedule. Oladipo and Sabonis have turned out better than expected. I think some people just wanted to tank for talent. It'll also be interesting to see if the Pacers can finally get over the hump with this core or stay the same and make the playoffs but never the Finals.

Yeah it will be interesting to see how this core pans out. The key is we have to keep our real young guys in Dipo, Turner, and Sabonis. I would also make sure we keep Bogdanovic who is still only 28 because he is one of the best floor spreaders/3 point shooters in the league. I would add to those 4 as much as possible over the next 3 years.

 

-Reggie Miller days we made 6 ECFinals and a Finals but just ran into Jordan and Shaq/Kobe.

 

-Paul George days we made 2 ECFinals but LeBron was the road block we couldn't knock down.

 

-The Dipo days are here now so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next 3 or 4 seasons.

[akcolt]

3 hours ago, oldunclemark said:

ak..weve lost 3 games to non playoff teams in the last 10 games...and we played badly.

We lost to 2 of the worst teams in the NBA......and it almost certainly cost us home court advantage in the first round d of the playoffs

We can talk about how good Utah is and how much we miss Darren Collison.

But that was out worst home loss of the season Wednesday.   Victor has carried us and these last 2 games have been 2 of his worst.of the season.......Maybe he's hurt. By 'hiding it' I mean he continues to play which is what he should do.

By 'hiding it'  I mean he wont come out of the lineup. He cant. 

I don't like to hear that we've overachieved and proven every body wrong.

The regular season isn't over yet

 

     Maybe we'll rise up and defeat Golden State and Toronto and the 76ers and Denver at Denver and Boston at Boston. Collson could be back Friday.  Maybe we'll end up as the No, 3 seed. Its still mathematically possible.

But if you don't think there's little reason for concern, we are simply watching 2 different teams.

We are a young team there are going to be ups and downs. The Utah game didn't bother me as much as the Atlanta and Dallas games. We did the things necessary to win vs Utah rebounding turnovers etc. We missed shots we usually make.  

 

I didn't think it was a lack of effort vs the Jazz. That's how I felt  vs Atlanta and Dallas. We expected to win and didn't do the things we needed to for the W. 

 

We miss DC I don't think that's making an excuse it's the truth. There is a significant drop off from DC to CoJo. DC creates for others and is our best 3pt shooter. Our lack of 3pt shooting really hurt vs Utah.  

 

Vic's play has been a little unsettling. I don't think he's hurt Although I do believe his fall effected his shooting vs the Jazz. Teams are coming at him trying to take him out of his game and make him uncomfortable. He needs to figure it out and I think he will.

 

When CoJo is forced into the starting line up the second unit is too dependent on Lance. He has been bad Lance the last few times out. The team has suffered because of it. 

 

DC coming back will take some pressure of Dipo and help the second unit. I think because we played so well initially maybe we lost sight of what DC brings. We are much better with him on the court. 

 

We have made things harder on ourselves but we are still very much alive for home court advantage in the first round. We need to learn from our mistakes and play better starting with Vic. I expect we will. 

[akcolt]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I have a bad feeling we are going to finish 6th behind Philly because of their schedule and Washington. Meaning we will play LeBron in Round 1. LeBron never loses in Round 1, I hate that matchup eventhough we have beat them 3-1 in the Regular Season. Just sick of seeing LeBron bulldog his way into the paint and get every call. I wont even be able to enjoy that series. I don't think they would sweep us like last year but still don't want to see it. I would rather finish 7th and play Boston to be honest  

Have you looked at Washington's schedule? They have as tough a road as we do. Philly has a very favorable schedule. We have to get the W Tuesday that's for the tiebreaker and would put another game between us. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 minute ago, akcolt said:

Have you looked at Washington's schedule? They have as tough a road as we do. Philly has a very favorable schedule. We have to get the W Tuesday that's for the tiebreaker and would put another game between us. 

I just assumed our schedule was tougher than Washington's and Philly's is favorable.

[IndyScribe]

49 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Yeah it will be interesting to see how this core pans out. The key is we have to keep our real young guys in Dipo, Turner, and Sabonis. I would also make sure we keep Bogdanovic who is still only 28 because he is one of the best floor spreaders/3 point shooters in the league. I would add to those 4 as much as possible over the next 3 years.

 

-Reggie Miller days we made 6 ECFinals and a Finals but just ran into Jordan and Shaq/Kobe.

 

-Paul George days we made 2 ECFinals but LeBron was the road block we couldn't knock down.

 

-The Dipo days are here now so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next 3 or 4 seasons.

I think Dipo/Sabonis/Turner are definitely our future core and starters. We just need a star PG and a solid SF to be contenders. I'd keep Bogdanovic, but I wouldn't be opposed to cutting him if we find a must better option.

[2006Coltsbestever]

5 minutes ago, IndyScribe said:

I think Dipo/Sabonis/Turner are definitely our future core and starters. We just need a star PG and a solid SF to be contenders. I'd keep Bogdanovic, but I wouldn't be opposed to cutting him if we find a must better option.

I would actually keep Bogs around - his Vet leadership and 3 point shooting is very crucial to the Pacers success. The other 3 are definitely no brainers.

[IndyScribe]

47 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I would actually keep Bogs around - his Vet leadership and 3 point shooting is very crucial to the Pacers success. The other 3 are definitely no brainers.

He could probably come off the bench eventually. For now, he's fine. Pacers definitely need another superstar, either at PG or SF.

[2006Coltsbestever]

6 minutes ago, IndyScribe said:

He could probably come off the bench eventually. For now, he's fine. Pacers definitely need another superstar, either at PG or SF.

I agree with that. Although JJ Redick isn't a SuperStar, I would love to sign him to a 2 year reasonable deal. He is a better 3 point shooter than Bogs actually. Imagine having he and Bogs + Dipo, Turner, Sabonis, and Lance for at least the next 2 seasons. Plus Philly would lose him, that is a win/win.

[akcolt]

2 hours ago, IndyScribe said:

He could probably come off the bench eventually. For now, he's fine. Pacers definitely need another superstar, either at PG or SF.

Bogy is really underrated. We have played him for stretches at the 4 too. I think we are just beginning to see what he can do but you are right he lacks the off the chart athleticism to be a superstar at the 3. If GR3 can dial in the long ball he can be a good 3-D guy off the bench. 

 

We could get younger at PG and PF. CoJo isn't the future at the 1. TJ looks like he will be able to score the ball but he has to add a lot of strength to hold his own at the 4. I think the hope is Myles and Domas can coexist with one playing the 4.

 

We should be looking for a young PG. I've been eyeing a couple we could get in the draft. Shamet from Wichita St is the guy I really like He has a NBA body at 6'4 with a great stroke. He's deadly from dtown shooting 45% from deep. Then Sexton from Bama if he comes out. He doesn't quit have the same size or the same jump shot but he's only a freshman. 

 

Did anyone watch GS v Spurs tonight? Curry left with a sprained right ankle That's could have a huge impact on the playoffs if serious. GS isn't the same without Curry. 

[akcolt]

We are off to good start. It's encouraging to see Myles play strong especially on the glass. 

[oldunclemark]

19 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I just assumed our schedule was tougher than Washington's and Philly's is favorable.

Our schedule is tougher than Washington's

We have the most difficult remaining schedule in the NBA beginning Sunday at Boston....

 

Now what could mediate that is: If Golden State (nobody but us has 2 games left with GSW) is locked into the '1' or '2' position in the West when we play them the second time...or if Steph Curry is out...

2.) If Charlotte is eliminated by the time we play the final 2 games against them.

 

Both could happen.

 

 

Tonight is the first night that we have had our entire roster available (its the first time Glenn Robinson and Daren Collison have played in the same game this season) for play.

 

Edited March 10, 2018 by oldunclemark