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1 hour ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

So Myles Turner is very important to the Pacers, especially on the defensive end.  His presence is surely missed.  Sabonis fills in quite well, however Myles is on another level on the defensive side of the ball compared to Sabonis.  Don't get me wrong, I love Sabonis but that just isn't his game.  I would love if Sabonis improved defensively during this upcoming offseason. 

Pacers are looking pretty bad the last few games and are playing horrible defense,  Gave up 122 to Toronto with 70 in the first half. Gave up 115 to Cleveland with 72 in the second half. Gave up 133 to Boston.

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Just now, IU Scott said:

Pacers are looking pretty bad the last few games and are playing horrible defense,  Gave up 122 to Toronto with 70 in the first half. Gave up 115 to Cleveland with 72 in the second half. Gave up 133 to Boston.

Agree 100%.  When a shot blocker is in the lane/paint, its always on the opposing teams mind when they are near the rim

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1 hour ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

So Myles Turner is very important to the Pacers, especially on the defensive end.  His presence is surely missed.  Sabonis fills in quite well, however Myles is on another level on the defensive side of the ball compared to Sabonis.  Don't get me wrong, I love Sabonis but that just isn't his game.  I would love if Sabonis improved defensively during this upcoming offseason. 

They are playing worse without Myles than they did without Vic.

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6 minutes ago, CauseThatsMyDJ said:

They are playing worse without Myles than they did without Vic.

Vic is a good defender, however having at 7 foot shoot blocker presence in the lane is very key since lots of guys can get into the lane in the NBA.  Ball movement was awesome when Vic was out, ball movement was still good until Myles went out with his injury.    

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26 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Pacers are looking pretty bad the last few games and are playing horrible defense,  Gave up 122 to Toronto with 70 in the first half. Gave up 115 to Cleveland with 72 in the second half. Gave up 133 to Boston.

I saw a stat the other day that I don't remember exactly but it reflected the P's have a lot to prove against team above .500. Their record against sub-.500 teams was something like 17-3 and their record against teams over .500 was almost a flip. P's have taken care of business against sub .500 teams, but have been at best mediocre against teams over .500. Now that we're moving into mid-January, time for the P's to step it up against the better teams.

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Celtics seemed to be getting things figured out. After a slow start, and the league's toughest schedule the first 15-20 games, the Celtics are 15-5 over their last 20. Much of the streak coincided with the schedule easing up a bit and moving Hayward and Brown to the bench and Morris and Smart to the starting lineup to balance things out a bit. Hayward is also beginning to get his legs under him;

Hayward's last 4:

19.3 PTS 58 FG% (12.5 FGA) 50 3P% (5 3PA) 81.8 FT% (2.8 FTA) 5.3 REB 4.8 AST 27.4 MIN

Going to be a fun race for the top 5 seeds in the East!

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C’s are dealing with some chemistry issues. The way Irving has been calling guys out and questioning Stevens’ end of game play calling is a bit eye opening. Keep it in the locker room Irving. Still a long way to go to the end of the season, but starting to wonder, a little, about the fit in Boston. They’ll probably get it together but stil.

need to see better play by the P’s agsinst the better teams, but think this team could end up like those Pistons teams that got past the Pacers and won a couple titles - solid all the way down the bench, no superstars but some very good players like Billups. If Vic stays healthy and Turner gets back well they will challenge — Toronto

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2 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

C’s are dealing with some chemistry issues. The way Irving has been calling guys out and questioning Stevens’ end of game play calling is a bit eye opening. Keep it in the locker room Irving. Still a long way to go to the end of the season, but starting to wonder, a little, about the fit in Boston. They’ll probably get it together but stil.

need to see better play by the P’s agsinst the better teams, but think this team could end up like those Pistons teams that got past the Pacers and won a couple titles - solid all the way down the bench, no superstars but some very good players like Billups. If Vic stays healthy and Turner gets back well they will challenge — Toronto

Luke-warm take: Kyrie Irving is uber talented and doesn't actually help teams win basketball games. 

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13 hours ago, KoB2011 said:

Luke-warm take: Kyrie Irving is uber talented and doesn't actually help teams win basketball games. 

Maybe it's not Kyrie? Among regular rotation players his ranks are below...

PER: 15th

WS: 14th

VORP: 11th

Box +/-: 7th

Off Box +/-: 3rd

The Celtics definitely have some chemistry issues, something isn't right, and Kyrie has probably contributed to some of that, but at the same time some guys just haven't shown up this season. I'm a fan of his, but Jaylen Brown has been bad this season, Rozier has had a difficult time going back to the bench and isn't embracing his role, and reintegrating Hayward has been more challenging than probably most thought. 

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8 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Maybe it's not Kyrie? Among regular rotation players his ranks are below...

PER: 15th

WS: 14th

VORP: 11th

Box +/-: 7th

Off Box +/-: 3rd

The Celtics definitely have some chemistry issues, something isn't right, and Kyrie has probably contributed to some of that, but at the same time some guys just haven't shown up this season. I'm a fan of his, but Jaylen Brown has been bad this season, Rozier has had a difficult time going back to the bench and isn't embracing his role, and reintegrating Hayward has been more challenging than probably most thought. 

Celtics need a new coach.  :coffee:

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With the way things are looking mid way into the season, as long as the Pacers can maintain no big health concerns moving forward, I think they end up as the 3rd or 4th seed in the playoffs.  The Celtics I think are candidate to finish in the fourth or fifth spot, especially the fifth spot if they continue to have the issues that they are having currently.  The 76ers are still a toss up for me and they could flip with Boston for the 5th seed.  I think the Raptors and Bucks still finish as the #1 and #2 seed and the end of the regular season.  I think we have a strong blueprint to beat the Bucks, however the Raptors I am not sure as we have yet to see them fully healthy this season when we have faced them.  I think if we finish in the top 3, we will win our first round series for sure regardless who we play, if we finish 4th and have to play Philly or Boston in the first series then I think it'll take all 7 games.     

 

I think the Pacers need to go 4-1 during this upcoming 5 game home stretch. 

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12 minutes ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

With the way things are looking mid way into the season, as long as the Pacers can maintain no big health concerns moving forward, I think they end up as the 3rd or 4th seed in the playoffs.  The Celtics I think are candidate to finish in the fourth or fifth spot, especially the fifth spot if they continue to have the issues that they are having currently.  The 76ers are still a toss up for me and they could flip with Boston for the 5th seed.  I think the Raptors and Bucks still finish as the #1 and #2 seed and the end of the regular season.  I think we have a strong blueprint to beat the Bucks, however the Raptors I am not sure as we have yet to see them fully healthy this season when we have faced them.  I think if we finish in the top 3, we will win our first round series for sure regardless who we play, if we finish 4th and have to play Philly or Boston in the first series then I think it'll take all 7 games.     

 

I think the Pacers need to go 4-1 during this upcoming 5 game home stretch. 

I'll actually be disappointed if the Pacers finish behind the Bucks.  

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12 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

I'll actually be disappointed if the Pacers finish behind the Bucks.  

I will be too.  I just think Giannis will carry them until his wheels fall off.  Maybe we get lucky and that happens towards the end of the season.  However the end of March worries me for the Pacers.  Beginning March 7th and ending March 29th.  We play the following 8 games(easily the toughest stretch of the Pacers season):

Bucks(A)

76ers(A)

Knicks(H)

Thunder(H)

Nuggets(A)

Trailblazers(A)

Clippers(A)

Warriors(A)

Nuggets(H)

Thunder(A)

Celtics(H)

 

This will be a tough 11 game stretch.  This stretch could define if we get the #2, #3 or #4 seed with the playoffs shortly after this tough stretch.  Only non playoff team here is the Knicks. 

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3 minutes ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

I will be too.  I just think Giannis will carry them until his wheels fall off.  Maybe we get lucky and that happens towards the end of the season.  However the end of March worries me for the Pacers.  Beginning March 7th and ending March 29th.  We play the following 8 games(easily the toughest stretch of the Pacers season):

Bucks(A)

76ers(A)

Knicks(H)

Thunder(H)

Nuggets(A)

Trailblazers(A)

Clippers(A)

Warriors(A)

Nuggets(H)

Thunder(A)

Celtics(H)

 

This will be a tough 11 game stretch.  This stretch could define if we get the #2, #3 or #4 seed with the playoffs shortly after this tough stretch.  Only non playoff team here is the Knicks. 

Yikes.  that is brutal  4-7 would be an accomplishment.  All the more important that they take care of business now.  Can't be losing any more to teams like the Cavs (I still can't comprehend that home loss).

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1 minute ago, 5fouls said:

Yikes.  that is brutal  4-7 would be an accomplishment.  All the more important that they take care of business now.  Can't be losing any more to teams like the Cavs (I still can't comprehend that home loss).

completely agree, they need to take care of every game now, especially winning 90% of the games against non playoff teams and AT LEAST splitting 50/50 with current playoff teams. 

 

I am predicting during that brutal 11 game stretch, the Cers go 5-6 with wins at Bucks, at 76ers, home against Knicks, at Clippers,  and home against Celtics. 

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5 hours ago, BGleas said:

Maybe it's not Kyrie? Among regular rotation players his ranks are below...

PER: 15th

WS: 14th

VORP: 11th

Box +/-: 7th

Off Box +/-: 3rd

The Celtics definitely have some chemistry issues, something isn't right, and Kyrie has probably contributed to some of that, but at the same time some guys just haven't shown up this season. I'm a fan of his, but Jaylen Brown has been bad this season, Rozier has had a difficult time going back to the bench and isn't embracing his role, and reintegrating Hayward has been more challenging than probably most thought. 

I have always said Kyrie is really talented and puts up great numbers. It's also pretty obvious a lot of guys have regressed with him back in the lineup. 

We are approaching close to a decade of Kyrie and in all those years we have a single series to point to him elevating his team to new heights (I think we are over crediting him with that but will let it go for sake of discussion). We saw Duke not miss a beat without him, we saw him lead Cleveland to two number one overall picks in a really bad East, we saw Boston not miss a beat last year without him, and now we see Boston regressing with him this year as his presence has stunted the growth of some promising young players. At what point is it fair to question if a guy who doesn't play defense and doesn't do a good job as a facilitator doesn't actually impact winning?

 

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21 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

C’s are dealing with some chemistry issues. The way Irving has been calling guys out and questioning Stevens’ end of game play calling is a bit eye opening. Keep it in the locker room Irving. Still a long way to go to the end of the season, but starting to wonder, a little, about the fit in Boston. They’ll probably get it together but stil.

need to see better play by the P’s agsinst the better teams, but think this team could end up like those Pistons teams that got past the Pacers and won a couple titles - solid all the way down the bench, no superstars but some very good players like Billups. If Vic stays healthy and Turner gets back well they will challenge — Toronto

To me, there are more questions about the 76ers and Celtics when it comes to who they are beating. Both teams, along with the Pacers, are below .500 against teams above .500 (the Celtics struggling more so than the other two). But the Pacers are doing a much better job against teams they should beat. It's not a negative for the Pacers that they are crushing teams they should and the 76ers and Celtics aren't.

The Pacers have also split with all of their East competition with the exception of Toronto, so not really worried about how they matchup with anyone but Toronto.

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