SLOW, STEADY MARCH
TOWARD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PLAYOFF EDITION
TOWARD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PLAYOFF EDITION
-VS-
Game Time Start: 7:30 PM ET
Where: The Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Officials: James Capers, Bennie Adams, Rodney Mott (Mark Lindsay)
Media Notes: Indiana Notes, Toronto Notes
Television: NBATV / SportsNet One
Radio: WFNI 1070 AM, 107.5 FM / CJCL 590, 1050 AM
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PACERS Ian Mahinmi - back (questionable) RAPTORS None reported |
How the Pacers may adjust to Jonas Valanciunas Blake Murphy The primary talking point coming out of Game 2 has been the dominance of Jonas Valanciunas. While he battled foul trouble in Game 1 and struggled to finish chip-ins around the rim, he was a force while on the floor, setting a Raptors franchise record for postseason rebounds in just 21 minutes of action. He avoided that foul trouble in Game 2 and spent 31 minutes wreaking havoc as a result. All told, through two games, Valanciunas has 35 points and 34 rebounds in just 52 minutes, shooting 14-of-32 and swatting away three shots, a number that doesn’t really do the job he’s done as a help defender justice. He’s been great, and the fact that the Raptors have been outscored by six points with him on the floor has little to do with his individual play. With Valanciunas on the floor, the Raptors are grabbing 52.6 percent of available rebounds, seeing a spike at both ends, and his finishing in Game 2 was paramount to the team’s strong early play. The Raptors are fully expecting the Pacers to adjust for Game 3, and Valanciunas and company are ready for the counters they may need to make as a result. How, specifically, the Pacers adjust could go a number of different ways. Here are a few options and what they would mean for the Raptors. Send weakside help on the dive This one’s pretty straightforward, and it’s something a few teams do to muck up the Raptors pick-and-roll actions when Valanciunas shares the floor with Luis Scola. Basically, instead of guarding a Kyle Lowry-Valanciunas pick-and-roll with just their two primary checks or sending strongside help (something no team wants to do), the Pacers can continue to show pressure on the ball-handler (Lowry, or even DeMar DeRozan), then send a third body from the weak wing to bump Valanciunas on the dive. Despite shooting well from outside this year, opponents still treat Scola as a non-shooter, daring him to make them pay in order to snuff out higher-EV parts of the Toronto offense. In what’s been a funny twist to start games, Scola and Lavoy Allen have been taking turns completely abandoning each other to help in this way. As 8 Points, 9 Seconds points out, though, this isn’t a very Frank Vogel thing to do, and their bigs are inexperienced with it. (Ditto for dropping under screens on Lowry/Cory Joseph, which they cover in more detail.) Counter It’s a reasonable gamble for the defense, and it’s yet another reason to start Patrick Patterson at the power forward spot. It’s not a knock on Scola, who has been solid so far in the series and brings a ton to the team from a leadership perspective, but a Patterson-Valanciunas duo has long made more sense on paper, and the numbers have bore it out emphatically this season. Personally, I’d shift DeMarre Carroll back to the bench and deploy him as the backup at both forward spots until he looks up to the Paul George assignment, starting Patterson and Norman Powell in the process. (I realize that’s a detraction from my suggested Game 2 adjustment of starting Carroll, but I expected Carroll to look better than he did, and I also suggested it assuming Dwane Casey wouldn’t make the Scola-Patterson swap. One of Carroll or Patterson has to start, basically. Or both.) If changing the starting lineup after a win seems strange, this is the playoffs. Closing out a game with DeRozan was strange, too. You have to be proactive, and ensuring there’s nobody the Pacers can comfortably cheat off of on the weak side of the floor will prevent them from over-helping the Raptors’ initial actions involving Valanciunas. Patterson’s also just been one of the team’s most important players and should be playing 35 minutes in this series, something that’s tough to do if he comes off the bench. Go small Valanciunas got in foul trouble in Game 1 in part because of GAHHH CONSPIRACY SCOTT FOSTER RABBLE but also in part because of Myles Turner. Going smaller could make things tougher on Valanciunas defensively, requiring him to come out a little further from the rim and contest jumpers, then recover back in help. He’s gotten better at that this season, and the Pacers don’t have bigs who can extend beyond long twos, so it might be tenable. The Pacers might have to start Turner, anyway, if Ian Mahinmi (back) can’t go (more on this in a second). That might also let them...CONTINUE READING AT RAPTORS REPUBLIC |
The Pacers Big Problem: Jonas Valanciunas William Furr The Indiana Pacers are leaving Toronto tied at 1 game apiece — but they have a long, uphill road ahead. In a series many predicted to be a sweep, the Indiana Pacers have put the Raptors on their heels repeatedly. All-Star DeMar DeRozan looked absolutely broken while not playing a single minute in the 4th quarter, and will probably have nightmares about Paul George waiting around every corner in his house. Kyle Lowry looks like Solomon Hill shooting from deep, and DeMarre Carroll has done almost nothing useful through two games. The Pacers have many reasons to feel confident heading back to Indianapolis. They now have home-court advantage and only have to hold serve in the friendly confines of The Fieldhouse to take the series. However, the Pacers have a problem. A rather large problem. A 7-foot-tall, 255-pound problem to be exact. His name is Jonas Valanciunas. Through two games, Valanciunas is eviscerating the Pacers. He’s averaging 17.5 points and 17 rebounds in just 26 minutes per contest. Contrast that to Ian Mahinmi’s 3 points and 4 rebounds, and the magnitude of the problem becomes known. The only reprieve the Pacers have gotten from JV has been foul trouble. He fouled out of Game 1, and spent some quality time on the pine in Game 2 with fouls as well. The Pacers won’t win this series by giving up 17 and 17 to the Raptors third best player, and might not even win another game that way. They have to find a way to slow the big man’s roll in order to stay competitive moving forward. Stopping Jonas Valanciunas After the Pick and Roll The Raptors have run the same play, over and over and over again, to expose the Pacers defense. The play starts with a high screen and roll, sometimes set by Valanciunas, sometimes not, leading into a screen by Valanciunas while the paint is devoid of Pacers defenders. The Pacers big man in this situation — usually Ian Mahinmi or Myles Turner — is left on an island. As George Hill/Monta Ellis trail the play after going over the screen, the big man has a decision to make. They must either step up, stop the guard penetration, and rely on to slow down a rolling JV, or sag back and try to guard both the rolling big and the attacking guard. Frank Vogel’s team defense has been built on conservative play from his big men. Roy Hibbert and Ian Mahinmi traditionally drop back when defending the screener, giving up the midrange jumper and relying on their length (and backside help defense) to cover the rolling big man. But the Raptors have done a phenomenal job of pulling all the help defenders away from the basket, leaving Ian and Myles Turner exposed in space. Jonas Valanciunas has lived on a steady diet of lobs, alley oops, and easy rebounds. He has often found himself with only empty lane between himself and the basket, while Mahinmi/ Turner and helplessly sealed behind him and Monta Ellis crashing down too late to be useful. The Raptors have identified this and are running it over and over again, as long as they can keep JV on the floor. The Pacers have to adjust moving forward. There are a few ways they can do this. None are appealing, but they can’t continue to give Valanciunas whatever he wants at the rim. Option 1: Trap the Ball Handler and Rotate in Advance This option would be decidedly anti-Frank Vogel in process. It would involve Mahinmi and Turner hedging hard as Valanciunas sets the screen, and keeping their hands high to block the passing lanes. As the big man bodies up the attacking Raptor, the trailing Pacers guard traps from behind. The weak side defender drops to the basket, and Toronto is forced to kick the ball back out behind the arc. Pros: This would almost certainly...CONTINUE READING AT 8p9s |
Pacers Candace Buckner @CandaceDBuckner Jared Wade @8pts9secs Tim Donahue @TimDonahue8p9s Tom Lewis @indycornrows Ian Levy @HickoryHigh Whitney @its_whitney |
Raptors Doug Smith @SmithRaps Holly MacKenzie @stackmack Sam Holako @RapsFan Adam Francis @raptorshq Joseph Casciaro @JosephCasciaro Blake Murphy @BlakeMurphyODC |
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