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Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

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  • Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

    I won’t be a wet blanket and complain about how it took us overtime & two record breaking performances to beat a team minus it’s two best players who were on the back end of a back to back.

    I’ll just take the win and be happy with it. As it stands right now we have clawed our way up to 9th in the East, sadly we face the Spurs on Friday and then embark on a west coast trip that usually, even in the good years, is troubling. Last season we did very well out west but that was last season.

    Chicago has been faltering lately & I’m sorry but I’m not sold on the Bucks for the long term. I believe in Scott Skiles but I just don’t believe in their roster. So what I’m trying to say is that if we can get things turned around we still can probably get a playoff spot & there is an outside chance, very outside, that we might be able to keep the Central race interesting for the year.

    I’ll just get this out of the way up front. Congratulations to Paul George, he had a record breaking game and he deserves to have the accolades being thrown his way. Obviously I believe tonight’s game was pyrite but at the very least it did save the game for us. If nothing else let us hope and pray that he now can come out of his funk and become the scorer we so desperately need. Obviously I don’t like the three point shot all that well so while I appreciate his affinity towards it I hope he starts to mix it up more and drive, drive, drive to the basket.

    Roy Hibbert definitely controlled the defensive paint tonight, not only did he block 11 shots but he scared poor old Roberts out of what should have been a pretty easy layup just by rotating over.

    This is now the second good game in a row from Roy (yes I know he was abysmal from the field but baby steps people baby steps) and right now he needs to know we need him to lock down the defensive end and rebound & he did both tonight very well. Robin Lopez & Jason Smith both tried to be very physical with Roy & it never really worked on him.

    Tonight we will just do some bulletpoints to get us through the night.

    • The most impressive thing about George’s game was that he scored 33 of his 37 points after the half. What people may not have noticed was the Paul got benched for fouls & frankly poor play in the first quarter & Lance not Paul was the first wing brought back in. Not sure if this lit a fire or not, if so then by all means let’s do this again.
    • Lance Stephenson to me is the most fun player to watch on the floor. This guy can do anything with panache & flair including making mistakes. He had a move he put on tonight where he dribbled away from the basket drawing the defender out then slicing & cutting quickly to the rack for two. 12/5/5 is a solid if not spectacular game. I’m confident he should be the 5th starter till Danny returns.
    • I hate Ryan Anderson with the passion of a white hot sun. Maybe it’s still just the lingering affects of so many years of the stretch 4 but he & Novak make me vomit in my mouth every time I see them.
    • How did Lance Stephenson’s head foul Jason Smiths forearm? I actually thought that they were going to blow a flagrant one on Smith when I nearly seized when they blew the foul on Lance. I haven’t seen it again but watching it live it looked like a pretty cheap shot by Smith.
    • Speaking of Smith, cheap shots aside, I don’t know what he contract is but I bet the Hornets are getting better value out of him than we are out of Mahinmi.
    • We are not going to be able to continue to play West & Hibbert this many minutes a game for the long haul. This sadly is all on Mahinmi & not Tyler because West has to come in & play alongside of Tyler when Ian does his disappearing act. He didn’t have a hideous game but you just can not leave him out there for any length of time right now. So far I’m still missing Lou.
    • What is wrong with me that makes me not be able to appreciate Gerald Green’s game? I mean he plays fairly solid & once again tonight he didn’t have a bad game but whenever he is in I find myself counting down the time till either Lance or Paul comes back.
    • Sam was atrocious from the field. Good hustle & defense as always but man was he ice cold from the field.
    • I really, really, really wanted Roy’s put back dunk to be the game winner but alas overtime was in the mix.
    • Tyler is just ridicules about drawing fouls. Thank God tonight he decided to hit them. Solid energy & general mayhem which is his job so pretty decent night from him.
    • Augustin looked a little more alive tonight than normal, makes me wonder if running with Hill isn’t what he wants. Had a good steal and had a nice pass (although it looked like it was going to go to the moon when he threw it) for a Green dunk.
    • I credit a lot of tonight’s win from a surprise visit pre-game from the Captain Danny Granger.

    Ok, let’s regroup for Thanksgiving. We now are on a two game winning streak and certainly we have seen some improvement from the Bucks debacle of last week, even the N.Y. loss looked better than the Milwaukee loss (not that you should look good in a loss but you get my point). So maybe we can put this early season malaise behind us and keep us hovering around the .500%. It’s going to be very hard to do this because the December schedule looks pretty daunting. But for tonight we celebrate & party up.



    Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

  • #2
    Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

    If you didn't see Lance's fast-break move, it was really nifty. It was Lance vs two Hornets, so as he got near the FT line or so, he stopped and dribbled it back out. However, he quickly turned back towards the rim, went around the defender and hit a lay up. Really impressive, I thought.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

      Jason Smith is definitely great value. But they were able to resign him very cheaply before he started to perform well. He improved a lot last year, especially when it comes to defense, toughness and post play on both ends.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

        Completely agree about Lance being the most fun Pacer to watch. Now that i think about it, Lance appears to be the Pacer having the most fun playing.

        conclusion, lance is fun

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

          But I still think Lance somehow pi$$ed in Frank's Cheerios. He keeps Sam Young out there at the end of the game instead of Lance. Then he subs Young with . . . DJ!

          DJ got burned two times in a row, and so Frank finally had to yield to reality and everything obvious in the universe and reinsert Lance, where we then quickly shot from behind to back up front for the game.

          Not sure what's going on there, but Frank is messing with him. Lance may be having fun, but Frank apparently is not having fun with Lance's fun.
          "Look, it's up to me to put a team around ... Lance right now." —Kevin Pritchard press conference

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          • #6
            Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

            I don't see how you can take anything but a positive for this game. It was an uphill battle for the entire game, and aside from two stretches early in the first and fourth we played much better offensively than we have all season. I suppose you can complain that our performance isn't repeatable, but that's overlooking a few things. First of all, the Hornets played zone a LOT. They dared us to move the ball and shoot from outside and we rose to the challenge.

            Secondly, they were very physical. And not in the way that you normally attribute to basketball. Ryan Anderson fouled out, but Jason Smith and Robin Lopez did not even through an extra OT period. Lopez shot 3/17 from the field and finished with a career high 21 points. 15/17 (88%) from the FT line, outdoing his career average of 71%. You know that off-hand push-off sweep on hook shots that Hibbert gets a way with more often than not recently? Lopez was doing its equivalent on drives and actually being rewarded by going to the FT line. To not give up post position, they were literally assaulting checking West, Hansbrough, and Hibbert and being rewarded. They got called for a bunch of those early in the third quarter (timing?), but then the refs seemed to stop paying attention. Smith knocked people in the face on more than one occasion, including Lance's foul. They missed another flagrant when Ryan Anderson hockey checked David West instead of playing defense, and was only given a personal. I'm sorry, but you can't tell me crossing your arms in front of your chest and taking a 3 step launch into somebody's back is a valid basketball move.

            Our defense had MULTIPLE lapses, giving up lots of easy baskets. But when we weren't giving up wide open drives to the hoop they were just making really difficult shots. Ryan Anderson was 5/5 from 3 and I think 3 of those shots were of the contested step-back variety.

            So yes, while our play may not be completely repeatable in all facets, New Orleans played out of their mind. And I'm noticing a trend. Every time Haywoode Workman is one of our referees I have bad things to say about the officiating. And I don't say that lightly. I try to hold my mouth shut because I know I have bias in my view of the calls. But I've come to dread when he's on the crew.
            Time for a new sig.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

              Originally posted by McKeyFan View Post
              But I still think Lance somehow pi$$ed in Frank's Cheerios. He keeps Sam Young out there at the end of the game instead of Lance. Then he subs Young with . . . DJ!

              DJ got burned two times in a row, and so Frank finally had to yield to reality and everything obvious in the universe and reinsert Lance, where we then quickly shot from behind to back up front for the game.

              Not sure what's going on there, but Frank is messing with him. Lance may be having fun, but Frank apparently is not having fun with Lance's fun.
              I think that was more for trying to get Augustin into the swing of things than in Lance. Augustin was having a pretty good game, and he was trying to give him a few more minutes to give him more exposure while at the same time giving us that 2nd ballhandler. It didn't work out defensively after a while so he pulled him.

              But Lance actually played more minutes than everybody but West and Hill, so I don't think there was anything wrong there. I actually was thinking it's becoming pretty obvious Lance should be our fifth starter and that I was happy Vogel was giving him more room for mistakes last night haha
              Time for a new sig.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                Originally posted by aamcguy View Post
                I think that was more for trying to get Augustin into the swing of things than in Lance. Augustin was having a pretty good game, and he was trying to give him a few more minutes to give him more exposure while at the same time giving us that 2nd ballhandler. It didn't work out defensively after a while so he pulled him.

                But Lance actually played more minutes than everybody but West and Hill, so I don't think there was anything wrong there. I actually was thinking it's becoming pretty obvious Lance should be our fifth starter and that I was happy Vogel was giving him more room for mistakes last night haha
                Aside from the flagrant on Lance, Smith is the guy who hurt George Hill's arm shortly thereafter... Hill just kind of stopped, stunned and gave up on the play for a second. He then tried to start something with BAMF, and at the time out, you could see West looking back at him mouthing something all the way to, and on the bench. All this in front of Woody and not one call. I'm really surprised a fight didn't break out in that 2 minutes, because it looked like Smith was really trying to instigate one.
                "I mean, you'd walk into our dressing room and run into Mel Daniels holding a .45 -- it makes you wonder."

                Bob Netolicky

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                  Jason Smith and Ryan Anderson are two guys I just wanna hit in the face when I see them. I was kinda hoping one of them tried to pick a fight with D-West cause that would have been something to see.

                  This was probably the most fun game to watch for me this season. Paul and Roy are finally starting to do some things that we hoped they would be doing all season. I hope they can keep it up. I don't wanna get my hopes too high for the Spurs game, but at least we are playing at home this time.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                    Originally posted by Peck View Post
                    • I credit a lot of tonight’s win from a surprise visit pre-game from the Captain Danny Granger.
                    Wait a minute. Has Granger not been attending the games? Or do you mean he was visiting with fans at the game?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                      Originally Posted by Peck
                      • I credit a lot of tonight’s win from a surprise visit pre-game from the Captain Danny Granger.
                      Do you know if he was already riding the white horse?
                      @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                        I know a win is a win, but I don't like having a win created by shooting "27" 3 pt shots. As the ole saying goes, you win by the and die by the 3. In this case the Pacers were fortunate enough to win, but it took 27 3's to beat the Hornets!

                        This team needs to score more in the paint and develop a better mid-range game instead of relying so much on 3's. Otherwise, making the playoffs isn't even close to being achieveable. Reality is that relying on constantly shooting 3's isn't going to win many games.

                        Last year and this past off season I expressed numerous times I'd like the Pacers to acquire Robin Lopez as Hibbert's b/u. I can only say I still feel he'd have been good center for the Pacers. He would have been so much better than Walsh's brainstorm b/u center! Surely, there has to be more to Mahinmi than he's shown so far. Seriously, what was it that Walsh saw in Mahinmi that he just had to have him??

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                          Yeah I also wanted Robin Lopez for a while, he is really underrated, he was always under use in Phoenix because he is not a good shooter.
                          @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                            Originally posted by Peck View Post
                            I won’t be a wet blanket and complain about how it took us overtime & two record breaking performances to beat a team minus it’s two best players who were on the back end of a back to back.
                            Even without their two best players, New Orleans is a team that ALWAYS plays us hard. They are a victim of being in a tough Western Conference. I think they'd be a decent playoff team in the East.
                            "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                            "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

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                            • #15
                              Re: Odd Thoughts: Swatting the buzzing pests...

                              Robin Lopez has the ugliest hook shot I've ever seen.

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