LOOKING LIKE A GAME
THREAD. HOW U...
THREAD. HOW U...
-VS-
Game Time Start: 7:00 PM EST
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
Officials: B. Spooner, D. Guthrie, M. Lindsay
Media Notes: Indiana Notes, Toronto Notes
Television: FSIN, TSN
Local Radio: WIBC 93.1 FM
NBA Feeds:
NBA Audio League Pass (available free to NBA All-Access members)
NBA League Pass Broadband (subscription req'd)
NBA League Pass Broadband (subscription req'd)
REMINDER: Per PD policy, please do not share a link to, describe how to search for, request a link to, or request a PM about streaming video of a NBA game that is not coming directly through the NBA. Not even in a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge, know-what-I-mean" round-about sort of way. Thank you
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PACERS Danny Granger - sore left knee (out indefinitely) George Hill - hip pointer (day-to-day) RAPTORS Andrea Bargnani - flu (probable) |
Tim Donahue: Pacer Hot and Cold Spots... Last year, we took a look at where the Pacers took their shots as a way to prep for the season This year, we’re going to leverage stats provided by the NBA to do the same exercise. First, let’s take a look at the team’s overall shooting in 2012: Indiana Pacers – 2012 Regular Season At 43.8%, the Pacers ranked towards the bottom of the league in shooting – 24th, to be exact. As you can see, Indiana was either below or well below average from all shooting zones but one. Their struggles inside 8 feet were especially damaging to the overall percentage. Only six teams took more shots in this area, but only one team (Cleveland – 51%) shot worse than the Pacers’ 52%. Had Indiana been able to convert at the league average of 55.2% in this range, it would have moved their overall shooting percentage over 45%, raising them to 12th in the league overall. Another interesting find can be made by looking at the shot distribution: Indiana Pacers – 2012 Regular Season Shot Distribution The floor balance here is impressive. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of the Pacers’ attempts came up the middle, while 21% came from the right side, and 21% from the left. Over the 66 regular season games last season, Indiana only took 11 more attempts from the right side than the left. The Pacers hit almost 49% of their shots up the middle – .500 eFG% – but that was buoyed by the shots inside 8 feet. Removing that gives the Pacers an eFG% of .433 up the middle. They were slightly stronger from the right (.443), and much weaker from the left (.390). This kind of balance carried on into the playoffs: Indiana Pacers – 2012 Playoff Shot Distribution Once again, the Pacers lived on the centerline – 53% of their shots coming up the middle – while their use of each side was virtually identical with the other. Of the 409 “side” shots attempted, 205 came from the right and 204 from the right. Indiana Pacers – 2012 Playoffs While the 42.4% shooting is worse than the regular season, it’s actually good for middle of the pack (8th of 16) in the playoffs. This time, they were below or well below average in every shooting zone. They still weren’t great inside 8 feet, but their 53.5% was just a tick below the 53.8% average in the playoffs. What killed the Pacers was dropping from over 37% three-point shooting in the regular season – 5th in the NBA – to 32% in the playoffs. There’s not a lot of reason to believe there will be significant changes in the Pacer offense this season, so it will be interesting to see if they can improve their accuracy inside, and stabilize their shooting touch from beyond the arc. Both will be crucial to Indy’s success in 2013. Now, let’s take a look at the individual players. Danny Granger Danny Granger – 2012 Regular Season The 2012 regular season was Granger’s worst shooting performance of his career, posting lows in both FG% (.416) and eFG% (.481). However, it truly was a tale of two seasons...CONTINUE READING AT 8p9s |
Gameday: Pacers @ Raptors Oct. 31 The Raps will host the Pacers, a strong team that finished third in the East last year at 42-24. Let’s break down the… Tale of the Tape, 2011-12 Positional Breakdown Point Guard – Advantage: Toronto The Raptors solidified this position early in the offseason and are ready to reap the rewards after a summer of anticipation. Lowry isn’t in the elite class, but he’s safely in the second tier, while Hill and Augustin are both in the Calderon mold of being strong backups but sub-optimal starting options. Neither Pacer guard should be able to contain Lowry, while this is a point guard duo that lacks in size, negating one advantage opposing point guards can usually hold over Lowry. Wings – Advantage: Draw Normally this would be a huge advantage for the Pacers, but Danny Granger is out indefinitely with a left knee problem. His absence makes the Pacers relatively thin on the wing, and while George is the best of any of the wing players in this game, Green is their only other option. If DeRozan can get to the line at the rate he was in the preseason (yes, save for that last game), he should be able to improve his scoring efficiency enough to have legitimate value, although this says nothing of his defense and rebounding. Fields is the anti-DeRozan, doing just about everything other than scoring at a high level. Fields will likely draw the George match-up defensively, and DeRozan may have trouble with George’s size on the offensive end. Bigs – Advantage: Pacers The advantage here is only slight, as while Hibbert is one of the best centers in the game now, West looked a bit past his prime last season. If West can bounce back, this is a dangerous front-court duo with complementary offensive talents. West will be a tough guard for Bargnani, and Hibbert may be able to get Valanciunas to foul, but if this goes to the benches the Raptors have an advantage. Gray can body up on Hibbert, but Amir and Davis will essentially be useless on him, surrendering far too much size, and as such will be used on West (Bargnani would have to body up Hibbert) or when Mahinmi and Psycho T check in. Overall Analysis The Pacers are a very strong team, but without Granger their offensive creation can suffer a fair amount...CONTINUE READING AT RAPTORS REPUBLIC |
Ball Don’t Lie’s 2012-13 NBA Season Previews: The Indiana Pacers We continue with the suddenly-relevant Indiana Pacers. Kelly Dwyer's Kilt-Straightener The up and coming Indiana Pacers have taken in a real pat-on-the-head treatment of late, and this is something that the team is just going to have to endure. The idea of the Pacers as a second round staple was jarring enough to NBA fans last season, even after the team's strong showing in a first round loss the year before, and within days that same slack-jawed fandom we associate with suddenly had to get used to the idea of the Pacers possibly knocking off a Miami Heat team that eventually turned into a champion. The Heat put a dampened comforter on that brush fire, but not before Indiana got pretty rowdy for a while. The noise was deserved, and the offseason was pretty damn goofy for a team that seemingly just needed to keep it together from May until November. Casting out Larry Bird and David Morway can't accurately be described as a regime change, not when the replacements in Donnie Walsh and Kevin Pritchard worked with both and appear to think along the same lines as Bird and Morway, but it is a change above all caveats. Pritchard seems a passionate personnel man, but questionable practices and decisions in Portland plague him; and his salary cap work during the 2012 offseason was strange...CONTINUE READING AT BALL DON'T LIE |
Pacers Mike Wells @MikeWellsNBA Jared Wade @8pts9secs Tim Donahue @TimDonahue8p9s Tom Lewis @indycornrows |
Raptors Doug Smith @SmithRaps Holly MacKenzie @stackmack J.E. Skeets @jeskeets Adam Francis @raptorshq |
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