Announcement

Collapse

The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
See more
See less

Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

    Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1
    Written by Peck

    Link

    I had to give myself some time away from the game today to write this. I think I actually went through all five stages of grief after the 4th quarter and there was just no way I could have looked back and given a fair assessment of the game then.

    First and foremost respect to the Bulls & to their coaching staff. Well played with great composure to not panic and be able to both shut us down and hit big shots to win the game.

    Derrick Rose is a force without a doubt and he got just enough help from his team mates at the end to be able to take the game. He is a great player, his ability to drive into the paint is only matched by a healthy Dwayne Wade & even then I think he is actually quicker than what Wade was. He only hit one outside shot that I remember but who needs to do that when you are able to get to the paint whenever you want.

    As to his free throw shooting? Obviously he is going to get to the line several times a game. I’ve read people say he didn’t deserve to go as much I’ve read people say he should have been to the line more often. I don’t know myself. There were calls he got that I’m wondering what they saw but then there were plenty of times I saw exactly what they saw. However all that I would ask and I think it’s only fair to expect is that they call he same exact fouls going the other way if they are committed. Without going back shot by shot I will just say that there were a couple of times our guys were just hammered in the lane with no call from anyone. But I’m not going to dwell on that because that would imply that I felt that this is what cost us the game, it didn’t. Sure it didn’t help but their composure and our lack there of in the final 3 min. is what cost us the game.

    Even now, all of these hours later I’m still sitting here trying to figure out what way to go with this post. As Mark Boyle asked Croshere at the end of the game is the glass half empty or half full and what do you take away from this.

    Obviously I go back and forth with this, as I’m sure most of you are as well.

    Let’s look at our team now.

    Danny Granger: Guilty your honor. Guilty of what you ask, guilty of not being a mega superstar like James, Rose, Bryant, Wade, etc. And for some reason that fact makes him the pariah of our team to many people on the internet & in particular on the Digest. Yes, he is not a superstar that you can throw the ball to and say “go win the game”. He can hit big game winning shots, he’s done it before. But no he is not an elite level ball handler who can throw himself into someone and draw a foul while getting the and 1. Yes he did start the game like he had never touched a basketball before today but he kept pushing and by the third quarter he was on fire. He ended the day as our leading scorer, shooting 50% from the field (including three point shots), our second leading rebounder & got the second most assist for our club. While stealing and blocking a shot. Yes we must trade him right away. Look I get that at the end of the game he was part of the reason our offense stagnated, but to say it was all his fault is just wrong pure and simple. The Bulls defense stepped up and cut off any passing lanes for us and trapped the dribbler more than once. Sure I would have liked Danny to have been able to hit three more shots as well, but I’m not going to be calling for his head because he didn’t. Now I did not like the fact that he did not get to the free throw line today so he is going to have to be more conscious about that next game.

    Darren Collison: For one half of basketball today our point guard played step by step with the MVP of the league. In fact because he was actually getting his team mates more involved I would say he actually out played him for a good portion of that time. That first half was the best basketball D.C. has played all season. I like the fact that he didn’t seem intimidated by the circumstance of playing in the playoffs & vs. Rose. In fact not only did it not bother him he seemed to thrive on it. For a half that is. Second half Darren sort of faded away but still was able to run the offense better than he has all season, that is until the final 3 min. of the game. Then the Bulls defense stepped up and made it all but impossible to move the ball around. Still though I was very pleased with his performance and if we can just get half of that the rest of the way we will be better than what I thought we would be coming into the series.

    Tyler Hansbrough: He was hitting his jumpers. When he hits his jumpers he is a different type of beast out there because if you try & close out on him he can drive around you if you are not careful. The Bulls for the most part never closed out on him and he made them pay time after time. Now while I was certainly pleased with his offensive production & his individual defense was not bad I will say that he is going to have to give us more than 4 rebounds if we have any hope of staying in this series. In fact our entire team has got to do better as they just killed us on the glass winning 49-34. Tyler is such a unique player because I would probably tell you that I didn’t expect him to have that kind of game again this series because I don’t think he can hit that many jumpers in a row again, however he is not a player to bet against. Sometimes a player is just a winner and you can’t figure out why exactly and in his case he has always been part of winning. We didn’t win today but he played like a winner.

    Roy Hibbert: We have got to work on getting Roy more shots. 7 is not enough, he hit 4 of them and grabbed 8 boards. He had 5 fouls but I think for the most part he did an excellent job of keeping control of himself today. I know everybody was hitting from the field today but we can NOT forget to get the ball to Roy in the post a few more times just to see if he can get something going and maybe get a couple of more fouls on Noah. Overall pleased with the big fella, he didn’t come out shell shocked by being in the playoffs either.

    Paul George: At first it wasn’t pretty. I was afraid he was going to foul out in the first half but he finally settled down and provided a couple of decent blocked shots (one vs. Noah in particular was great) and some rebounds. However Paul we need some offense from you. I don’t want you forcing anything but getting up only 2 shots all day, one of which was an alley oop off of a break is not going to cut it. I love the defense he played vs. Rose & in fact actually I think he did probably the best one on one job vs. him of the night. But we can’t afford to have anyone on the floor that is not a threat to score vs. the Bulls. I understand though it’s hard to get the ball to everyone & again I don’t want him forcing shots (in particular rushed three’s).

    Brandon Rush: Well I’ll be, we actually saw an offensively aggressive Rush today, and this is as rare as spotting an Albino Elephant so we should all be grateful to have witnessed this miracle. Not only did he hit the three point shots that he gets by loitering on the corner but we actually saw him drive the baseline today. He missed of course but he did get fouled and shot probably the only 2 free throws for the entire series for him. His defense was also very good as expected however he did not grab his usual number of rebounds. No big deal per say just kind of odd for him. He was the reason I was probably more depressed after the game than anything because I figure we have blown our one chance of utilizing Rush’s one good offensive game.

    Mike Dunleavy: Today is just another reason why I never look or care about the individual +/- for a game. In case you didn’t know Mike was the only Pacer with a positive in that category with a +4. Now mind you Mike didn’t score a point in his time on the floor and didn’t exactly set the world on fire with his 1 assist & 1 rebound either. So how he ended up with a positive I’ll never know, and frankly will never care. Today was Mike’s first playoff game and you could tell it. Not that he played a bad game it’s just that he took on the persona of Brandon Rush today in the fact that you kind of forgot he was playing when he was on the floor. He was however a victim of one of those questionable calls that Rose got. I haven’t gone back and looked again but man it sure seemed like Mike was planted when he was called for that blocking foul. I’m hoping for more from Mike in game 2.

    Josh McRoberts: to steal a phrase Josh is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. Sometimes you get the jelly filled or even a caramel & peanut filled candy and you are very happy. Other times you get the candy that has the hard teeth shattering former gel stuff that no one knows what it is. Today with Josh we got the latter. Certainly his 1-6 with three of them being rejected did not go into the Josh McRoberts top 10 plays of the year material. While he did grab 5 boards he certainly could have and should have done better. We really REALLY need Josh to step up in game 2.

    Jeff Foster: He gave Derrick Rose the first decent foul of the day and the fact that people were calling that a hard foul made me smile. Yes, by today’s standards I’m surprised he was not called for a flagrant foul. But I can remember a time when Anthony Mason clothes lined Haywood Workman and all but made him do a 360 in the air and wasn’t even called for a foul. Jeff hit his free throws, hit one shot that I have no idea how he even got it up and played decent defense. He didn’t hit the boards like usual but then again nobody on our team did. There is really nothing to say here about him, he gave you what he could and he set a good example for the other front court players.

    A.J. Price: He hit his shots and did a decent job of staying in front of Rose when he was on him. I would like a little more offensive direction from him when he is in there but again today he was in with Foster & McRoberts for several min. at a time so it’s hard to get assists when no one is hitting.

    Coaching: Other than somehow not getting the team to collapse in the final minutes I don’t know what else Frank could have done today. He had a young team that had never played in the playoffs before believing that they could not only compete with the Bulls but that they could win. His demeanor in the timeouts seems to be exactly what these players at this time needed and he had them prepared to defend the low post game of the Bulls. In fact defensively they pretty much shut everyone down but Rose & Deng. Maybe take a time out a little earlier in the run, maybe run a different set. But even then I’m not sure it would have made a difference. Obviously we are not in the post game or with them at practice tomorrow but I have to believe that he is building this team up, not tearing them down. He is telling them that they had this game and that they can play and they can beat the Bulls. Yea, I’ll admit it. After talking to this guy in person he sold me, after hearing some of the things that I was told about him from people who work with the club he sold me even more. What you see on the TV is what you get from him. This isn’t fake B.S. that he is putting out there, he actually believes this stuff and he really believes in our club.

    Again as I end this I still don’t know how I feel. I am proud, don’t get me wrong. I am very very very very proud of our team. I fully expected them to blow us out of the water in game 1. I never thought we would lead for 3 and ¾ of the game. I never thought we’d have a 10 point lead. But in a way losing a game like this hurts maybe even more because I now honestly believe we let this one slip away & I’m just afraid that we will never put together as good a game as we did today.

    But then I keep thinking with our team, you never know. There is nothing to say that we can’t go right back at it in game 2 and if we could execute down the stretch we couldn’t pull one out.

    Before I go I want to say one thing about the national media coverage that I watched today. I watched the pre-game show on both ESPN & NBAtv and to say that I was disgusted would be an understatement.

    Look I get it, we are a losing team. The worst record in the playoffs, they have the best record in the playoffs. They have the leading MVP candidate. I fully expected them to talk them up and to give us no chance, which is the way it should be. But for the love of God they didn’t talk about us at all. I mean nothing about our team other than to use Danny Granger’s statement about the Bulls to segway into being able to talk more about the Bulls. Again I get it, I didn’t expect equal time. But to get not time at all?

    I have a feeling that today’s game changed that for the next time.

    Time to regroup grab the flag and charge the hill.


    *beeps*

  • #2
    Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

    Thanks Peck

    This loss is a very tough pill to swallow, but tonight I am very much a glass half full type of fan. I'm also very proud of this team.

    It's a process, & this is just the next step to us getting to where we need to be. Finding out just what playoff basketball is like.

    I fear we have given the Bulls a wake up call & that their team D will step up big time in game 2. I would expect nothing less. Chicago is just a better team than us right now & they have the best player.

    I hate losing as much as the next guy but I don't feel we lost this game as much as Chicago won it. It's just gonna be that way for awhile, but we're getting there.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

      Originally posted by RoboHicks View Post
      What you see on the TV is what you get from him. This isn’t fake B.S. that he is putting out there, he actually believes this stuff and he really believes in our club.
      This. My opinion of Vogel jumped by about 44% based on how well he got the guys ready to play, how he continues to believe in his guys, and how well he managed the game. Thibodeau made some nice adjustments but I think Vogel may have outcoached him, especially on the preparation side.
      You Got The Tony!!!!!!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

        Originally posted by RoboHicks View Post

        Before I go I want to say one thing about the national media coverage that I watched today. I watched the pre-game show on both ESPN & NBAtv and to say that I was disgusted would be an understatement.

        Look I get it, we are a losing team. The worst record in the playoffs, they have the best record in the playoffs. They have the leading MVP candidate. I fully expected them to talk them up and to give us no chance, which is the way it should be. But for the love of God they didn’t talk about us at all. I mean nothing about our team other than to use Danny Granger’s statement about the Bulls to segway into being able to talk more about the Bulls. Again I get it, I didn’t expect equal time. But to get not time at all?

        I have a feeling that today’s game changed that for the next time.
        I think we all knew that the Pacers weren't going to get the recognition they deserve, but the media's coverage was embarrassing as a fan.

        In the pregame, the "experts" weren't even talking about the series, but rather the Bulls making it to the finals. The only topic they mentioned about the Pacers was the Danny Granger "trash talking".

        Then the game started. I almost had to put my TV on mute because the ESPN commentators were that bad. It seemed like they had never watched a Pacers game until today, and the only player they could talk about was Danny Granger.

        We were completely dominating this game, but all they could talk about was the Bulls "comeback". If Derrick Rose had a great play, the announcers went crazy. If the Pacers had a nice play (Hansbrough steal to dunk, Paul George alley-oop,etc.) , they almost seemed shocked and said very little.

        The sportscenter recap is a Derrick Rose clip that has the Bulls winning, and doesn't justify in anyway the performance we showed today.

        If you go to the NBA recap and look at the videos, there are 13 videos on the Bulls, while the Pacers only have 5.

        Maybe I am taking this out of proportion, but it was something that continued to bother me as the day continued. I usually don't care what the media has to say, but I know our guys deserve better than this.
        Last edited by KingGeorge; 04-17-2011, 05:01 AM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

          My thoughts on the Pacers victory:

          First I'm extremely proud of how the Pacers played, and I actually think they played better than when they beat the Bulls earlier in the season. I don't think they underplayed in the last 3 minutes- I think Rose played the best game of his entire career, and I don't its even close. That was incredible.

          Several things I think we should recognize and appreciate..

          I'd like to mention the officiating first. See, I know the Bulls got the calls for the most part to go their way as is expected. But I don't think that is why the won. We all are tired of seeing blown calls go the stars way when it matters, but as most of us are aware, most of the time it doesn't change the outcome.

          What I'd like to emphasize is actually in Rose's defense. What we saw is Rose get to the line all game. But Rose got to the line because he attacked the basket without restraint. It doesn't matter what level of basketball it is, if you attack the basket you're getting to the line, and it has nothing to do with some supposed "bias." This is how the game is played. Its 100% legit. I never had a problem with any of the fouls on Rose... the dude flat out forced one foul after another. That's how you win. Same thing Wade did against the Mavs in 06.

          I want to distinguish attacking the basket and getting to the line, and simply getting bull**** calls as to who you are.

          A good example of "star calls" or not even star calls but certain people getting calls according to who they are is Paul George's first foul in the game. The dude drove to the basket, and I don't remember who was guarding him.. Korver i think it was dove right in front of him. It was a blatant blocking foul... George got the "you're just a rookie" call and it was foul on him. That is what hurts this game from being a solid product competing with the NFL. That bull****. That is the type of **** that makes you wonder why Stern is still around. We see that daily.. why? It hurts the game.

          On the announcing: this really plays into how the NBA market's it's product. We wonder why the NBA can't come close to competing against the NFL. To me it's not even remotely surprising. Jon Barry and the crew completely ignored the Pacers as a team and announced the game as if it was team USA vs the enemy. Absolutely ridiculous. And the natural idea is to think, well only Pacers fans will be upset. No. This is not true... The resto f the viewing public is done no favors if we treat this as, "Go Bulls, let's enjoy the best team beating the bad guys!!!"

          The NBA missed a prime example to demonstrate parity when they could have talked about the talent that this below .500 team brought to the table. Even if the Bulls sweep the series, we're watching two teams with similar talent. The Pacers have a lot of talent, they just don't have anyone on Rose's level- Even then, DC flat out played Rose in the 1st half. Did the announcers recognize this??? No! What a great story! But no, they continued with the false narrative about Rose's greatness. We didn't see anything close to greatness from Rose until the second half. Just terrible marketing from the NBA.

          My thoughts on Tyler: I'm not surprised by Tyler's performance. He actually has a decent matchup. The nice thing about playing Boozer all day is Boozer is shorter than normal and doesn't rely on athleticism or length. This plays into Tyler's game. Great matchup for Tyler and I hope he continues to take advantage of it all week.

          The main problem is I believe the offensive rebounds we gave up all game were still a direct result of McBob and Tyler's lack of rebounding ability. That will always be a problem until we bring in a legit PF that defends, block shots and rebounds.

          On Paul George: At this point, I was real disappointed in PG not getting an opportunity to play big minutes against Orlando and maybe get in a rhythm for the coming playoffs. That didn't happen. So as a result, I'm not so confident in him getting big minutes in this series. As he's not comfortable on the offensive side of the court, he's not that big of an asset right now. We have to take him as he is now- Now he is worth nothing offensively.

          However, I will say I'm completely convinced his minutes can be justified if he's defending Rose all game. The dude knows defense and he's our best defender against Rose. Put him on Rose the entire game. He did very well. Go re-watch the times Paul defended Rose. Don't take my word, he played exceptional against rose. With that said, if he's not defending Rose? Why play him... he's not there yet.

          Roy played a great game. Excellent game by Roy, but we need to make sure we're getting him the ball. When we do, he gets to the line, and forces the other team into foul trouble. Get him the ball please!

          Danny played just an absolute fabulous game.. Several things to remember- First, Danny did miss a few shots coming out, but I've seen Reggie, the legend, come out and miss 8 straight shots before. Don't be upset when the shot doesn't drop starting out.. .it happens. What made me so excited and proud of D Danny starting out, is he wasn't bothered by any of his missed shots. He continued to play within the offense. He didn't start forcing anything, but just played within the offense. The shots didn't drop, be he just kept playing. I thought Danny played great in the first half. I think his leadership, his completely calm demeanor influenced the Pacer's confident play. Just a great all around game from Danny.

          Danny got into rhythm and started killing it... great game. Now we cannot get upset at players for overcoming a lack of talent with greatness. If you remember, Reggie was no stud talent wise. Reggie was great because he overcame all to become a playoff "God." The dude defied logic. That was why Reggie was great...So lets not expect Danny to do this. The guy has made big shots, he scores at will... and we're still waiting for that big time player to take us to the next level. Don't judge Danny, you win with people like Danny. The dude played absolutely KILLER defense, scored despite being the number 1 focus on D for the Bulls, and he rebounded on top of that. I love Danny, I hope we can keep him in the long run so long as we get our big time number 1 guy.

          My one problem with Danny this game, is he didn't get to the line.. He does it as well as the best in the league. He knows how to get to the line... He needs to make sure he does it next game.

          I'm proud of our Pacers and their excellent play. Don't forget a number 8 seed just took the 1 to the wire in game 1. That's a good team! Go Pacers!
          Last edited by mattie; 04-17-2011, 06:24 AM.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

            I think this game will effect our players one of two ways. We'll either go in with the same mindset that we had in game one and really take it to the Bulls and hopefully the outcome is different. Or we'll think about how we led through 3 3/4 of the game and it didn't matter at the end and cause us to lose some of our focus for the next game.

            The Pacers gave up I think it was 20 or 21 offensive rebounds, one guy on their team had more foul shots than our entire team had and yet we still only lost by 5. I don't think we can control the foul situation and should keep the same mindset up of playing a very physical game. I do however think if we can cut down the number of offensive rebound by 2 or 3 we win this game, the ability to box out and limit them to one shot I think is something we indeed can control and should be something that should be highlighted between now and the next game.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

              Just for reference, Paul George was born in the 1990s. He'll be fine but let's not expect too much from the youngster this year.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                Like i said in another thread .......... now they know what the playoffs are like. They've experienced the level of play that wins these games. Now, they have to learn how to play at that level themselves. Whether they're capable of that or not -I just don't know. This is a great example of how a team has to lose before they can win. The Bulls have been thru it and now the Pacers are going thru it.

                Flashback to the 90's (painful as it is). Think of the first round exits. Think of how that team got better and better and better with each playoff series. This is a learning experience for these kids. Hopefully (and I AM assuming they lose this series - sorry - reality) it will help them prepare in the off-season, take the regular season games a little more seriously and be in a better frame of mind come next season and the playoffs.

                And in closing - if they don't give Vogel this job - it's a damn shame. He gets it and he's just going to get better with time. Just like the rest of the team.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                  Did you guys really expect anything else from ESPN ?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                    Bulls have to be scared if Boozer is going to continue to disappear for the next 4 years.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                      Wonderful, exciting, yet depressing game by the Pacers.

                      Hansbrough and Collison shot the ball better than they had any right to expect given the defense that the Bulls played. There were several well contested shots hit by both, without which the game is very much like we would have expected it to be, namely a blowout.

                      That said, the Pacers were in the best of positions they could ever have expected to be in with the 10 point lead late. At that point, the philosophy of the team somehow reverted to O'B ball, with bad shots, stagnation, and little to no ball movement and the Bulls fully capitalized on it.

                      Why Vogel didn't call timeout to stop the degradation as the team unravelled before our eyes was really surprising because he tends to understand momentum shifts pretty well. He, I hope, learned the hard lesson that the strategy of "playing through it" at the end of a game is not sound strategy, especially against a superior team. Yes, it showed his trust in his guys, but if he had called a TO or two, he could have expressed his calm demeanor in the huddle along with his confidence in the guys and possibly stemmed just enough of the tide to have preserved the win for the Pacers. I am stopping short, but just short, of placing responsibility for the loss on Vogel at this point. He has never been in this position before, though, so he deserves a pass just as much as all of our young players do for never having been in this position, either.

                      Overall, though, a great game to watch, fun to see shots go down, and really inspiring to see the Pacers give the Bulls nearly all they could handle. In my mind, the Bulls played full out the whole way, and were fortunate that the Pacers were so inexperienced at the end.

                      Goooooooo Pacers!!!!!!!!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                        I look at it this way.

                        The playoffs are a bonus. We shouldn't be here and we are. On top of that we drew blood on the best team in the leAgue and their mvp. We may not of won but on their home court we came in and.did what ever we wanted for 47 minutes.

                        The east needs to be very scared. We are doing this with a roster that can afford whoever we want. With experience and a few players the bulls do not win thea game. I can take 4 losses if the pacers can give everything they have and show the bulls that next season we are coming for.them.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                          I almost texted some folks when we were up double digits in the second half that for RIGHT NOW I was as happy with the team as I'd been all season, though I knew in my heart I was going to be really pissed off at least once before the game was over.

                          Where I got unhappy was the bench stretch. We SHOULD HAVE been able to stretch our lead if our bench plays anywhere near as well defensively as they have done in the past. We SHOULD HAVE had enough better scoring to have more than a 7 point advantage when Rose comes back in for the final stretch - even if Rose comes in earlier then we are making them use him more than they wanted.

                          And, of course, we should have found another way to score in the last 2 minutes. I'm not sure if it is Vogel or if it is how the team chooses to execute, but we seem to go away from what brung us and get caught in ways that we don't get caught the rest of the game. I don't know why that is, but it has to be a focus of the coaching and of the execution.

                          Other than that, though, I am really, really proud of the effort those guys had. If we play this hard for the rest of the series, then INDIANA will have a whole new level of respect (and, dare I say it, love) for this team than they have had, frankly, since the 2000 Finals team.

                          And the announcers - it's like they didn't even bother to do any research on the Pacers at all, expecting us to be down 50 or 60 by the end of the first quarter - meaning they'd have to get all their DRose fawning in before ESPN decided to cut away and show highlights of some rained-out golf tournament instead. When the Pacers gave the fight they did in the first half and actually went into the interval with a lead, there was a whole lot of frantic half-time research going on - made obvious by the "sudden" insertion of Pacers information into the announcing in the third quarter. They then of course fell back into their heathen ways, but backsliding is a part of the cycle...
                          BillS

                          A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                          Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                            Originally posted by dohman View Post
                            I look at it this way.

                            The playoffs are a bonus. We shouldn't be here and we are. On top of that we drew blood on the best team in the leAgue and their mvp. We may not of won but on their home court we came in and.did what ever we wanted for 47 minutes.

                            The east needs to be very scared. We are doing this with a roster that can afford whoever we want. With experience and a few players the bulls do not win thea game. I can take 4 losses if the pacers can give everything they have and show the bulls that next season we are coming for.them.
                            Thank you! This is what I've been thinking the whole time. Even if we go 0-4 this is huge experience and almost winning is just icing on the cake.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Odd Thoughts: Bulls Vs. Pacers Game 1

                              Originally posted by dohman View Post
                              I look at it this way.

                              The playoffs are a bonus. We shouldn't be here and we are. On top of that we drew blood on the best team in the leAgue and their mvp. We may not of won but on their home court we came in and.did what ever we wanted for 47 minutes.
                              I never understand why people say that. Look, we did what we needed to do in the East to be better than the other teams that didn't make the playoffs. So what if we had a losing record? It doesn't matter. Nobody is going to look at this record we had three years down the road. They'll just see that we made the postseason. We came in there with a Hell of a fighting swagger, and basically told the Bulls to not take us lightly. I'm pretty sure when they were down 10 the fans were telling themselves, "WTF? Who are these guys."

                              From strictly a developmental standpoint I want the Pacers to learn about this loss and to see what they could've had. Learn why and how they let it go, so it could be worked on. If we can play like or around the level we played for 45 minutes on Saturday for the rest of the series, well heck, I have no complaints.

                              Baby steps. We made it here record or not, let's go.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X