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WITNESS THIS!
-VS-
Game Time Start: 8:30 PM ET
Where: The Fieldhouse, IN
Officials: K. Mauer, M. Callahan, E. Malloy, S. Corbin
Television:
Radio: WFNI 1070 AM / WAXY 790 AM, WRTO 98.3 FM / ESPN Radio
Media Notes: Indiana Notes, Miami Notes
NBA Feeds: NBA Audio League Pass (available free to NBA All-Access members)
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 - left knee surgery (out) Sam Young - ankle (probable) HEAT Mario Chalmers - deep shoulder bruise (probable) |
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Jared Wade: To Hibbert or Not to Hibbert? A Question of Identity I’m not mad at Frank Vogel’s decision to take out Roy Hibbert for the final play of Indiana’s Game 1 loss to Miami. But in doing so, he was chasing a White Whale. By putting Tyler Hansbrough out on the floor in place of his 7’2″ rim protecter, Vogel chose a “switch-everything” lineup over one featuring an immobile anchor in the middle. This way, figured Vogel, there would be no way that even the deft mind of Erik Spoelstra could exploit Hibbert’s biggest shortcoming: slowfootedness. With Hansbrough in Hibbert’s place, every Miami player could be closely guarded. If they executed perfectly, there would be no way for a Heat player to get an uncontested shot. As long as every defender did his job. As we saw, however, Paul George did not. He blew his assignment and let LeBron James drive by him to the hoop for an easy layup in less than 2.2 seconds. It’s hard to blame Vogel for that. George’s error was glaring. Frank Vogel’s Overconfidence in His Defense Of all the potential defensive breakdowns that could happen in 2.2 seconds, this had to have been the least of Vogel’ worries. George, according to the media members who voted for the NBA All-Defensive Team (and me), is the Pacers’ best defensive player and one of the best four wing defenders in the NBA. Nobody can stop LeBron from scoring entirely, but if there is one player in the league who should be able to prevent him from walking by him to the hoop, it’s Paul George. Really, there is no way that Vogel could have anticipated this outcome. Though not this specific breakdown, he did know, however, that a breakdown was possible. I won’t go so far as to say “probable,” but even with 2.2 seconds left, if the Heat are running an Erik Spoelstra inbounds play 10 times, I would bet that even Indiana, the hardest team in the NBA to score against, has some level of breakdown three or four times. Defense is just that hard. Now, I’m sure Vogel knew this and expected that the most likely way that the Pacers’ defense would break down was while chasing a shooter through a screen. In the NBA, screens are very difficult to get through quickly. On television, these guys on the court may appear to be ordinary, digitized people running around in jerseys. But they are damn enormous. They are hardly recognizable as the same brand of human you see at the supermarket. If you were to meet an ordinary-on -TV-looking chap like Tyler Hansbrough, for example, he would probably be the largest human being you’ve ever met in your life. To get around men of such size quickly takes remarkable timing, precision, skill and effort. Thus, switch everything. That way, Miami’s screens — by far the best weapon an offense can use to get an open shot in 2.2 seconds — become irrelevant. If you get screened, you just switch to start guarding the guy who screened you and your teammates picks up your guy. Every player remains covered at all times. I haven’t talked to Vogel since Game 1, but I’m confident that this was his main rationale. He simply didn’t expect the type of breakdown that occurred. He didn’t believe his team would allow someone to get close enough to the rim for it to really need protection. In essence, he thought his guys could play perfect defense. He did not want to give up anything, and he saw Hibbert as a liability that could be the cause of a breakdown, not the last line of defense in case one did occur. If that was his thought process, he was wrong. But to me it was strategic decision-making flaw that was less about “over- coaching,” as many have claimed, and more about over-confidence. He didn’t believe the play would ever reach the point where Roy Hibbert’s perhaps-best-on-planet talent of protecting the rim would be even useful, let alone necessary. Kevin Arnovitz — who wrote a nice piece for TrueHoop discussing some other coaching options that Vogel had in addition to the binary Hibbert/no-Hibbert decision — summed it up as well as anyone has: “On Wednesday night, perfect defense was the enemy of the good defense.” Vogel thought his team could play perfect defense, conceding nothing. He was wrong. And it may end up costing his team the series. Again, I’m not mad at the decision. I understand what he was going for, I think. And I actually respect the confidence. It’s not so unlike Roy McAvoy in Tin Cup thinking that he can win a golf tournament by rocketing his ball over a water hazard instead of taking the safer route and hitting two shorter shots. I can almost picture Cheech Marin next to Vogel on the bench, handing him a 7-iron (aka, Roy Hibbert) and saying, “Coach, let’s just make sure Miami doesn’t get a layup.” And then Vogel pulls out his 3-wood (aka, Tyler Hansbrough) knowing that he can prevent Miami from not only getting a layup but any sort of open shot anywhere on the court. It’s pretty ballsy really. Then Again … In another, more insidious way, Vogel made a horrible decision. Arnovitz also called the decision to take out Hibbert, thus going small, “a crisis of faith.” As outlined here, I don’t think that is what he was thinking. I think Vogel believed that Paul George is a defensive messiah who could single-handedly force even LeBron James into nothing better than a contested jumper while also believing that he had a club in his bag (switch everything) that would help him ensure nobody else got anything better either. But I do believe that Arnovitz’s “crisis of faith” phrase is exactly how this decision is being seen. By Pacers fans, by the basketball cognescenti, and — here’s the insidious part — Vogel’s players. So in making his overconfidence-based decision, Vogel may have put a crack in the foundation of this team’s identity. And that sucks. Because that is, ultimately, all this team has. (Note: It’s going to be awhile before I get back to this point. Humor the indulgence for a bit.) Stats Showing Why Switch Everything Makes Sense Brett Koremenos did an superb job breaking down why, in a tactical basketball sense, using the switch everything strategy made sense. (Mike Prada did something similar.) They are both smarter than I about Xs and Os, so I won’t rehash their points. Read the pieces. Become better informed. I will, however, show a more-stat-based reason why “switch everything” makes sense. With 2.2 seconds left, LeBron wasn’t the biggest threat to the Pacers. Trust me, I know how dumb that sounds...CONTINUE READING AT 8p9s |
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| Michael Wallace: Turnovers doom LeBron, Heat down stretch As LeBron James walked onto the makeshift stage late Friday to take his seat at the postgame news conference, he plucked the edge of the stat sheet he held. In reality, the summary of numbers on the page was of little to no use for the Miami Heat star. The important figures were already downloaded and analyzed in his head. The 36 points James scored in Game 2 of the Heat's playoff series against the Indiana Pacers marked the eighth time in his past nine conference finals games he's scored at least 30. But they weren't enough. The efficient 14-of-20 shooting, team-high eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and block in 45 minutes of play really didn't matter at the end of the day, either. The only total James was fixated on after Friday's 97-93 loss to the Pacers was listed alongside his name in the third column from the right of the page, near where he plucked. Five turnovers. Two of them came in the final minute on passes intended for Ray Allen that were both deflected by David West. The pair of errors came as the Pacers' defense boxed in James, forced the four-time league MVP into uncharacteristic late-game miscues and completed a suffocating rally to even this series at 1-1 heading to Indiana for the next two games. In a span of 48 hours, James transitioned from the celebrated hero who scored the layup at the buzzer in a 103-102 victory in Game 1 to committing the key blunders that cost his team Game 2 and home-court advantage. “Very disappointing, of course, for me,” James said of a game that was on the verge of being one of the best of his postseason career but became one he hopes to soon forget. “The first thing I always look at on the stat sheet is my turnovers. I am very disappointed in my judgment and my plays down the stretch. But I'll make up for them.” James might have accepted the bulk of the blame for the Heat's loss. But he was hardly Miami's biggest burden on a night when multiple breakdowns conspired to leave the Heat in the same position they were in a year ago when the Pacers earned a split in Miami and eventually took a 2-1 series lead before losing 4-2 in the conference semifinals. LeBron James turned the ball over twice in the final minute of Miami's Game 2 loss. There are numerous reasons the outcome shouldn't launch a new and silly debate on James' clutch gene. Not when he didn't get enough help from Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who shot a combined 12-of-28 from the field. It's hard to put this all on James when Miami's defense allowed Indiana to shoot 50 percent from the field, including 41.7 percent from 3-point range. And especially when normally reliable sharpshooters Shane Battier and Allen sank so deep into their respective slumps Friday that coach Erik Spoelstra was forced to dust off seldom-used Mike Miller for a spell. And despite all those debilitating elements, Miami still led 88-84 with six minutes left after Bosh knocked down a 3-pointer to cap another one of those swift flurries that make the Heat so devastatingly dangerous on most nights. It was at that moment when you figured the Heat finally flipped the switch and landed the major blow that usually leaves an opponent stumbling. But Miami is finding out with each passing quarter in this series that there's something a bit different about this Indiana team. These Pacers have a solid chin. And they just keep coming. It's still early in this series...CONTINUE READING AT HEAT INDEX |
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Surya Fernandez: Pacers edge Heat this time, series at 1-1 The Miami Heat again lose home court advantage with a loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 and two tough road games are coming up next. The Miami Heat may have escaped Game 1 with an overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers by just one point but this time LeBron James could not make up the difference in the end. Two uncharacteristically sloppy plays from the MVP resulted in turnovers that sealed the Heat's fate and a 1-1 series tie in the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. The Pacers were the better team tonight, with Roy Hibbert leading the way with a playoff career- high 29 points and 10 rebounds, 6 of which were on the offensive glass, along with Paul George who had a superb all-around game with 22 points, 6 assists and solid play on both ends of the floor. The Pacers did most of their damage with their starters and only needed 5 points from their bench in their victory over the defending champs. LeBron poured in 36 points on an efficient 14-20 from the field but also had a game- high 5 turnovers and he had very little consistent support from his teammates. Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole continue to struggle mightily in this series, as well as Shane Battier and Ray Allen not being able to knock down the long range jumpers that they've been able to do so much during the Heat's historic second part of the season. Besides the Birdman's usual stellar contributions off the bench, the Heat really hasn't had much meaningful production from the reserves in either game so far. Yes, the Pacers didn't need their bench in this game to win but the Heat also suffered from a clearly struggling Dwyane Wade who practically lost the game in crunch time with an ill- advised play towards the rim. Both Wade and Chris Bosh finished with 6-14 shooting from the field each, and it just wasn't enough to overcome the taller and more physically imposing frontline of the Pacers. Bosh grabbing just 5 rebounds isn't going to be enough either but Wade in particular has looked shaky in his decision making and something is clearly affecting his game physically and mentally. Though he was able to knock down a few jumpers, he was not willing to attack the Pacers big men and was hesitant in the few fast break opportunities the Heat had. The three-point shooting that helps makes the Heat team so unbeatable has also been taken away, with the team hitting just 7-of-22 for 31.8% of their long range shots. Even more frustrating, the Heat missed 8 of their 26 free throws attempts for less than 70% shooting. With games as close as these, those points represent the difference between a win and a loss. Those isn't the first time the Heat have lost a playoff game with the Big 3 but there are plenty of signs of trouble if Wade continues to not be himself and the Heat's role players don't step up and give the Pacers defenders something to think about before packing the lane. Will coach Erik Spoelstra shake up his starting lineup or his rotation? The Heat wasn't expected to simply breeze through the Pacers like they ended up doing against the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls, but these first two games have not been pretty for the best team in the NBA. Make no mistake...CONTINUE READING AT HOT HOT HOOPS |
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| Noam Schiller: Opportunity Thy Name is Birdmand Chris Andersen got a shot. Despite the legal trouble that preceded this season, despite the lack of general interest, someone gave him a chance. He signed a minimum deal with a playoff team, working his way into a rotation, injecting athleticism, enthusiasm and flamboyance into a front line that needed him. His strong form carried into the playoffs, where he has made a ridiculous percentage of his carefully managed shots, blocked everything in sight, and made the Conference Finals behind a star small forward. This is the story of Birdman and the 2012-13 Heat, a contender made even more contendery off an opportunistic waiver wire pickup. But if the story sounds strikingly familiar, it may be because we have seen it before. Coming off a 2 year drug suspension and a poor, uneventful 5 game post-reinstatement stint with the Hornets, Andersen was something of scorched ground in the summer of 2008. He nonetheless returned to the team that kickstarted his NBA career as the Carmelo Anthony/Allen Iverson (soon-to-be-Chauncey-Billups) Nuggets signed him to a minimum deal, and excelled in his role off the bench for the best team the Nuggets have fielded in the George Karl era. The parallels to this year were striking – people couldn’t understand where this guy had come from, how the Nuggets are getting him for the minimum, how big his impact was on a huge run. He even knocked a Conference Finals game out of the park. Of course, said performance was parlayed into a 5 year deal that was either too long, too expensive, or just too optimistic. As the makeup of the Nuggets changed for completely different reasons, JaVale McGee took away his shot blocking, hyperathletic, questionable-sanity big man spot. That and an odd, charge-less investigation eventually led to him being amnestied. He was then given a 10 day contract from the Heat during their annual big man tryout tour; they have lost 4 times in the 52 games since. The natural reaction when a contender finds a cheap contributor lying around is one of inevitability, a feeble acknowledgement of the rich-getting-richer proposition that has no solution and fuels all aspects of life. The 2009 Lakers stumbling into Trevor Ariza in a Brian Cook salary dump, or the 2008 Celtics giving the P.J. Brown resuscitation project one last go, or whatever it was that came into Peja Stojakovic for the 2011 Mavs. Andersen’s situation was different...CONTINUE READING AT HARDWOOD PAROXYSM |
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Tom Ziller: The affordability of an elite NBA defense Smith is shooting as frequently as ever in the 2013 NBA Playoffs. He's also missing as frequently as ever. All final four NBA teams in the 2013 playoffs have elite defenses. What's most interesting about that is that three of the teams have manageable payrolls, too. J.R. Smith has had one helluva weird season. He won the Sixth Man of the Year award and now he's shooting the Knicks right out of the postseason. After Tuesday night's disaster in Indianapolis, Smith is 18-64 in the second round. 28 percent. There are a number of interesting notes about the NBA's four conference finals participants including...
This is all interrelated, and not as any sort of dictate about the lockout and its revival of the small market. It tells a story about how you can build an affordable champion. And by affordable I mean "above the league's $49 million payroll floor." Defense is cheaper than offense in the NBA. (The exception is at center, where even defense-skewed players are pricey.) Scoring is the top determinant for individual salary; if you have a couple of 22-point scorers, you're going to be outlaying a lot of money for offense. Some of the top defenders, though, make a pittance. Consider Tony Allen, the Grizzlies' ace perimeter defender. He's made All-Defense three straight years, including the first team in the past two seasons. He's wrapping up a three-year, $9.5 million contract. The Grizzlies' old top scorer, Rudy Gay, who was traded in January, made $16.4 million just this season to score 20 points a game. A quick look at NBA numbers bears this out. The correlation between a team's 2012- 2013 payroll rank and its 2012-13 offensive rank is 0.2. The correlation between payroll rank and defensive rank is -0.06. Here's a chart showing payroll and defensive ranks.  Not exactly tightly organized around a strong positive correlation. Two notes: notice...CONTINUE READING AT SB NATION |
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| Beckley Mason: Is defense really half the game? Paul George and Kyrie Irving are two of the most promising young talents in the NBA. George is widely considered the most elite young wing defender, Irving the most elite young scorer. I asked Twitter: who will be better in three years? The paraphrased answer from those who chose George: he’s the far superior defender (undoubtedly true) and a solid offensive player. Add it up, he’s the better, more complete player than Irving, who plays defense like a bewildered deer who accidentally wandered into a busy intersection. Defense is half the game, the saying goes, and because we don’t have metrics to measure defensive impact as precisely as we can offensive effectiveness, we rely on offense as the overall measure. On a macro scale, this is true. A team’s defense is as important as its offense. But on an individual level, we intuitively know that defense and offense are not of equal importance. For some, like, say, Omer Asik, defense is the paramount responsibility. He uses 11.6% of possessions on offense, but is the last line of resistance in almost every defensive possession. His defensive usage percentage, were there such a thing, would be many times higher. Now take Russell Westbrook, who was second in the NBA with a usage % of 32.8. When he’s on the court, a whole third of his team’s offensive possessions run through him. It’s overly simplistic to look at it this way, but if he is, say, 20 percent of the Thunder’s defense, then we would say that more than half of his impact on the game will come on offense. The comparison above typifies what might be a general rule: big defenders are more important than little ones, and those who create with the ball are more important than those who only finish. It’s not that cut and dry, of course, but what’s evident with a little bit of thought is that a player’s individual role and his team’s matchup dictate how important each side of the ball is. Against Chicago, where he might guard Luol Deng and David West and Hibbert might be neutralized by Chicago’s interior defenders, Paul George’s offense would be just as, if not more important, than his defense. But in these playoffs, he’s checked Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, and thus his individual defense has never been more important (or easy to appreciate). In these specific matchups...CONTINUE READING AT HOOPSPEAK |
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PACERS Mike Wells @MikeWellsNBA Jared Wade @8pts9secs Tim Donahue @TimDonahue8p9s Tom Lewis @indycornrows Ian Levy @HickoryHigh Miss Bumptious @missbumptious |
HEAT Brian Windhorst @windhorstESPN Tom Haberstroh @tomhaberstroh Ira Winderman @iraheatbeat Ethan J. Skolnick @EthanJSkolnick Surya Fernandez @SuryaHeatNBA Joseph Goodman @JoeGoodmanJr |
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