Tonight is about celebration. Tonight is a night to rejoice and look forward.
No the team can’t afford to do this and I think everybody would be upset if they were too happy with themselves but as fans, we don’t have to be like that.
37-22 fifteen games above .500% as the season is drawing to a close. I never dreamed it. Sure we’ve had some points in the season where we all questioned if they had lost their way or maybe they really just weren’t that good. But management looked at the club, saw the weaknesses that all of us saw and went out and got the best answer they could at the time and there is just no way to deny the results.
The Barbosa trade was huge. Did it save the season? I would not say that because that would imply that we were on the verge of pulling what will now be known forevermore as the Philly nosedive. We weren’t that bad but certainly our team struggled.
But since the trade we are 11-4 and are sitting in the 3rd seed in the East with at least a 2 game lead over our next closest team.
So while it is always important to look to see where you can improve as a team and find flaws that need fixing I think tonight we will try and focus primarily on the positive side of the game.
I have to start off with Danny Granger because even though I have admitted being a fan of his I have to say this, and feel free to disregard it because of my bias, but I think he is just playing at a different level right now. Our team is totally different when he is not on the floor and that is not a slam at Dahntay Jones, it’s just that Danny is actually clicking on all cylinders at the moment and on offense can pretty much get about any shot he wants. Defensively he has notched it up a level or two as well (having a point guard who doesn’t cause the entire team to rotate on pick and rolls will help with that). There is no question at all right now who is the best player on our team and again that is not because other players aren’t playing very well, it’s just he is playing out of his mind good at times.
Look we will all admit right up front that George Hill is not a natural play maker and yes the offense can get stalled when he is playing point, but my God what a world of difference he makes on the defensive end. Have you noticed over the past three games that Roy Hibbert has not had to be 20 feet away from the basket trying to defend a guard on a switch from a pick & roll play? Have you noticed how the opponents point guards have not been able to just get right to the rim? Now granted we have not played any marquee point guards either but still just the entire team defense is so much better and less helter skelter when he is on the floor.
Kyrylo Fesenko actually played tonight. This is surprising for a couple of reasons. First I was under the impression that he was having some form of visa issue. Second I’m kind of surprised that he got in above Pendegraph.
We might as well talk about him. Good Lord is he big. I don’t just mean tall I mean he is just a big man out there and the single biggest thing I think he did all night long was eat up space. He is also so big that Samuels who was banging and moving some of our big men all night (including Lou) could not move him. In fact he fouled out trying to play against him. I have no idea what his ultimate skill level is, I have no idea how much value he will have long term, but I do know that having a skilled big man who is that strong going against some of the other big men in the East during the playoffs will just once again make us deeper than most.
I mean I don’t want him to take any of Lou’s min. away from him but man there is some real value in having a big player available for a deep playoff run.
Speaking of Lou, can anybody with a straight face still say that was a bad trade? At best it was a good trade for both, but if you really look at bang for the buck I think Indiana wins this trade hands down. I wouldn’t trade Lou for 2 Brandon Rush’s and I really hope that we get him secured to a deal in the off season.
I mean right now we are just so deep its ridicules. We legitimately are 10 deep with 8 of the 10 being capable of dropping 20 points on you on any given night and the other two easily able to go for 10-15 points. We’ll se how that does in the playoffs but I for one really want it to work. Nothing would make me happier than not only advancing in the playoffs but to be the team to break the notion that you have to have a superstar to win. Obviously the Pistons did this as well but I think that each of their starters was considered top 5 at their positions (minus Prince). I don’t think the same could be said of our team. Roy would be the only player who could be considered top 5 in the NBA at his position.
Now is the time in odd thoughts when we dance.
On a totally NBA note, not just pacers related, the NBA board of governors voted to not have advertising on the uniforms for next season. They will revisit the issue next year. It probably will eventually happen but at least for some of us we get another year reprieve from overt commercialism.
Also I want to add my sympathies to the fans of the Sacramento Kings. This has to be heartbreaking to them. I mean its one thing to know you are going to lose your team but then to have what seemed like a giant victory with all parties in agreement to keep the club local to then have it yanked out from under you after the celebration has got to be devastating. I just can’t forget the vision of Maloof crying when the agreement was announced.
Indiana Pacers fans get down on your knees every night and thank God for Herb Simon.
If I can figure out how to embed it here I think we all should watch the arena link interview with Frank Vogel after the game. I know a lot of you guys that only see ESPN don’t think that the national media knows who we are, and you would be correct, but believe me on NBAtv they know who we are and tonight have been going out of their way to say how good we are.
Ok let’s give some grades tonight. Now right up front we have to understand that a lot of the starters didn’t even come back in the 4th quarter so we will have to make some adjustments to their grades accordingly. In other words some people are probably going to have a higher grade than what they might get with similar stats in other games.
Danny Granger: A In the immortal words of the King T.C.O.B (taken care of business). I’ve already raved about him above but I would be remiss if I did not extol on the virtues of a fast break that he ran with George Hill & Paul George. He drove the ball down the middle drawing both defenders to him and hit George Hill at the absolute perfect time for a layup and a foul. This may have been his best play of the night and he didn’t even score on it. Mentally he is just locked in right now and he is almost willing our club to win’s.
David West: A- Nobody benefits more than David West by George Hill defending the point. At no time did I feel the need to curse because he didn’t rotate fast enough to cut off a driver because for the most part, he didn’t have to. On top of that he once again was very efficient on offense and scored the majority of his points when the Pacers made a big run to put the game out of reach. He also hit the boards which is always appreciated.
Roy Hibbert: A While he didn’t block a ton of shots I can tell you that his presence loomed large in the paint and several times you could see guards passing out when Roy was close by. He also was controlling the boards when he was on the floor, which I understand he is much taller than their front line but still we’ve seen tall players not get boards before. All that on top of hitting 60% of his shots from the field.
George Hill: A As I said the first half was a struggle on the offensive end but in the second half it broke loose. Some of that was our team changing up the offense a little but some of it was Hill increasing his level of play and hitting people faster with the pass. His defense alone would get an A from me, but ultimately you have to get some offense from you point and in the three games he has started, IMO he has delivered. Now don’t get me wrong I love him starting but I do NOT advocate making a change. Not this year, we are really clicking along at the moment so there is ZERO reason to risk team unity or chemistry at this point in time. But overall we are just very fortunate to have two point guards who can start which is so much more than we have had for several years.
Paul George: F Look I know I said I was going to focus on the good and not the bad and I am going to do just that. I am not going to dwell on yet another miserable game by George. I am telling anyone who will listen to me that he has hit the rookie wall although he is not a rookie. But remember Satan had him in street cloths a lot last year so really this is his first real year of playing. So I’m just going to give him the benefit of the doubt here, but there is just no way I can give him a better grade as he was abysmal on the floor.
Leandro Barbosa: A- Having a player on the bench that can come in and give you double figures almost every game is a luxury most teams do not have, we sometimes have three. I think I’m going just start calling him penicillin because he cures what ails us. Even with all of the offensive weapons we have there are times we still stagnate on the offensive end and when that occurs you need someone who can just come in and get his own shots up. Presto, here comes the Brazilian Blur. Also this isn’t just a one way player, his defense is very underrated.
Tyler Hansbrough: B You may think this is harsh but really he is being graded on a curve because if you go with overall game he might get lower. He was an absolute turd in the first half but in the second half when he finally got some shots to drop he just tore the Cavs asunder. He got to the line 8 times and hit all 8 of his shots and you can’t ask for more than that. The good news is that he also turned up the defense in the second half, the not so good news was that his defense didn’t really show up till his offense did. But we’ll just let that go tonight. However I’m not sure I can live with 1 rebound that he picked up off of the floor just before he left the game.
Lou Amundson: B+ In reality you can argue for a higher grade or a lower grade depending on how value fouls. He fouled out so that is bad, but in the time he was on the floor he was once again a tornado with a pony tail. This guy just gives us everything we need when he plays and he plays much bigger than his height would indicate he should play. He grabbed 9 boards in just short of 16 min. on the floor.
A.J. Price: D Reverted to the Jim O’Brien school of point guarding tonight with not even really trying to run an offense but sure did manage to get up his own shot (8 times to be exact) even though once again could not hit the broad side of a barn. When he plays like this I would prefer that they just give the min. to Lance. Now I say that because I know he is capable of so much more. When he plays within the offense he is a capable backup but Satan really did a number on him.
Dahntay Jones: C Not real thrilled with his shooting but a lot of his shots came during garbage time and he has been so good all year long that he deserves a break. He still worked on the defensive end and hey he gets some style points for his throw down.
I’m not giving out grades to the others that played in garbage time. You can just assume that each of them did what they needed to do and give them grades in your mind commiserate to their time on the floor. Yes I know it’s tempting to give Fes an A+ but let’s not go over board here. Good first showing but the Cavs are a very small team.
Ok Pacers fans I can’t get out of here without giving a huge standing ovation to Frank Vogel. In a year’s time with no training camp and almost no practice time he has totally changed the entire culture and mentality of this team. We are no longer a bad team, we are no longer a mediocre team, and we ARE a winning team.
Management and players should take a bow and they deserve it. But I can’t help but believe the single biggest addition to this team was the subtraction of the previous coach and the addition of our current coach. If you want to take that as a slam at O’Brien feel free, it was meant to be. Yes this year we have better talent but there was some of that same talent here last year and Vogel immediately scrapped gimmicks and tailor made the game plan to fit our players not the other way around.
Soon I will once again be able to make the playoff war cry thread but this year I won’t be making it as the under dog of a team who snuck in with a losing record. With any luck (and a lot of skill) we will be doing it as the 3rd seed going into the playoffs with home court advantage.
No the team can’t afford to do this and I think everybody would be upset if they were too happy with themselves but as fans, we don’t have to be like that.
37-22 fifteen games above .500% as the season is drawing to a close. I never dreamed it. Sure we’ve had some points in the season where we all questioned if they had lost their way or maybe they really just weren’t that good. But management looked at the club, saw the weaknesses that all of us saw and went out and got the best answer they could at the time and there is just no way to deny the results.
The Barbosa trade was huge. Did it save the season? I would not say that because that would imply that we were on the verge of pulling what will now be known forevermore as the Philly nosedive. We weren’t that bad but certainly our team struggled.
But since the trade we are 11-4 and are sitting in the 3rd seed in the East with at least a 2 game lead over our next closest team.
So while it is always important to look to see where you can improve as a team and find flaws that need fixing I think tonight we will try and focus primarily on the positive side of the game.
I have to start off with Danny Granger because even though I have admitted being a fan of his I have to say this, and feel free to disregard it because of my bias, but I think he is just playing at a different level right now. Our team is totally different when he is not on the floor and that is not a slam at Dahntay Jones, it’s just that Danny is actually clicking on all cylinders at the moment and on offense can pretty much get about any shot he wants. Defensively he has notched it up a level or two as well (having a point guard who doesn’t cause the entire team to rotate on pick and rolls will help with that). There is no question at all right now who is the best player on our team and again that is not because other players aren’t playing very well, it’s just he is playing out of his mind good at times.
Look we will all admit right up front that George Hill is not a natural play maker and yes the offense can get stalled when he is playing point, but my God what a world of difference he makes on the defensive end. Have you noticed over the past three games that Roy Hibbert has not had to be 20 feet away from the basket trying to defend a guard on a switch from a pick & roll play? Have you noticed how the opponents point guards have not been able to just get right to the rim? Now granted we have not played any marquee point guards either but still just the entire team defense is so much better and less helter skelter when he is on the floor.
Kyrylo Fesenko actually played tonight. This is surprising for a couple of reasons. First I was under the impression that he was having some form of visa issue. Second I’m kind of surprised that he got in above Pendegraph.
We might as well talk about him. Good Lord is he big. I don’t just mean tall I mean he is just a big man out there and the single biggest thing I think he did all night long was eat up space. He is also so big that Samuels who was banging and moving some of our big men all night (including Lou) could not move him. In fact he fouled out trying to play against him. I have no idea what his ultimate skill level is, I have no idea how much value he will have long term, but I do know that having a skilled big man who is that strong going against some of the other big men in the East during the playoffs will just once again make us deeper than most.
I mean I don’t want him to take any of Lou’s min. away from him but man there is some real value in having a big player available for a deep playoff run.
Speaking of Lou, can anybody with a straight face still say that was a bad trade? At best it was a good trade for both, but if you really look at bang for the buck I think Indiana wins this trade hands down. I wouldn’t trade Lou for 2 Brandon Rush’s and I really hope that we get him secured to a deal in the off season.
I mean right now we are just so deep its ridicules. We legitimately are 10 deep with 8 of the 10 being capable of dropping 20 points on you on any given night and the other two easily able to go for 10-15 points. We’ll se how that does in the playoffs but I for one really want it to work. Nothing would make me happier than not only advancing in the playoffs but to be the team to break the notion that you have to have a superstar to win. Obviously the Pistons did this as well but I think that each of their starters was considered top 5 at their positions (minus Prince). I don’t think the same could be said of our team. Roy would be the only player who could be considered top 5 in the NBA at his position.
Now is the time in odd thoughts when we dance.
On a totally NBA note, not just pacers related, the NBA board of governors voted to not have advertising on the uniforms for next season. They will revisit the issue next year. It probably will eventually happen but at least for some of us we get another year reprieve from overt commercialism.
Also I want to add my sympathies to the fans of the Sacramento Kings. This has to be heartbreaking to them. I mean its one thing to know you are going to lose your team but then to have what seemed like a giant victory with all parties in agreement to keep the club local to then have it yanked out from under you after the celebration has got to be devastating. I just can’t forget the vision of Maloof crying when the agreement was announced.
Indiana Pacers fans get down on your knees every night and thank God for Herb Simon.
If I can figure out how to embed it here I think we all should watch the arena link interview with Frank Vogel after the game. I know a lot of you guys that only see ESPN don’t think that the national media knows who we are, and you would be correct, but believe me on NBAtv they know who we are and tonight have been going out of their way to say how good we are.
Ok let’s give some grades tonight. Now right up front we have to understand that a lot of the starters didn’t even come back in the 4th quarter so we will have to make some adjustments to their grades accordingly. In other words some people are probably going to have a higher grade than what they might get with similar stats in other games.
Danny Granger: A In the immortal words of the King T.C.O.B (taken care of business). I’ve already raved about him above but I would be remiss if I did not extol on the virtues of a fast break that he ran with George Hill & Paul George. He drove the ball down the middle drawing both defenders to him and hit George Hill at the absolute perfect time for a layup and a foul. This may have been his best play of the night and he didn’t even score on it. Mentally he is just locked in right now and he is almost willing our club to win’s.
David West: A- Nobody benefits more than David West by George Hill defending the point. At no time did I feel the need to curse because he didn’t rotate fast enough to cut off a driver because for the most part, he didn’t have to. On top of that he once again was very efficient on offense and scored the majority of his points when the Pacers made a big run to put the game out of reach. He also hit the boards which is always appreciated.
Roy Hibbert: A While he didn’t block a ton of shots I can tell you that his presence loomed large in the paint and several times you could see guards passing out when Roy was close by. He also was controlling the boards when he was on the floor, which I understand he is much taller than their front line but still we’ve seen tall players not get boards before. All that on top of hitting 60% of his shots from the field.
George Hill: A As I said the first half was a struggle on the offensive end but in the second half it broke loose. Some of that was our team changing up the offense a little but some of it was Hill increasing his level of play and hitting people faster with the pass. His defense alone would get an A from me, but ultimately you have to get some offense from you point and in the three games he has started, IMO he has delivered. Now don’t get me wrong I love him starting but I do NOT advocate making a change. Not this year, we are really clicking along at the moment so there is ZERO reason to risk team unity or chemistry at this point in time. But overall we are just very fortunate to have two point guards who can start which is so much more than we have had for several years.
Paul George: F Look I know I said I was going to focus on the good and not the bad and I am going to do just that. I am not going to dwell on yet another miserable game by George. I am telling anyone who will listen to me that he has hit the rookie wall although he is not a rookie. But remember Satan had him in street cloths a lot last year so really this is his first real year of playing. So I’m just going to give him the benefit of the doubt here, but there is just no way I can give him a better grade as he was abysmal on the floor.
Leandro Barbosa: A- Having a player on the bench that can come in and give you double figures almost every game is a luxury most teams do not have, we sometimes have three. I think I’m going just start calling him penicillin because he cures what ails us. Even with all of the offensive weapons we have there are times we still stagnate on the offensive end and when that occurs you need someone who can just come in and get his own shots up. Presto, here comes the Brazilian Blur. Also this isn’t just a one way player, his defense is very underrated.
Tyler Hansbrough: B You may think this is harsh but really he is being graded on a curve because if you go with overall game he might get lower. He was an absolute turd in the first half but in the second half when he finally got some shots to drop he just tore the Cavs asunder. He got to the line 8 times and hit all 8 of his shots and you can’t ask for more than that. The good news is that he also turned up the defense in the second half, the not so good news was that his defense didn’t really show up till his offense did. But we’ll just let that go tonight. However I’m not sure I can live with 1 rebound that he picked up off of the floor just before he left the game.
Lou Amundson: B+ In reality you can argue for a higher grade or a lower grade depending on how value fouls. He fouled out so that is bad, but in the time he was on the floor he was once again a tornado with a pony tail. This guy just gives us everything we need when he plays and he plays much bigger than his height would indicate he should play. He grabbed 9 boards in just short of 16 min. on the floor.
A.J. Price: D Reverted to the Jim O’Brien school of point guarding tonight with not even really trying to run an offense but sure did manage to get up his own shot (8 times to be exact) even though once again could not hit the broad side of a barn. When he plays like this I would prefer that they just give the min. to Lance. Now I say that because I know he is capable of so much more. When he plays within the offense he is a capable backup but Satan really did a number on him.
Dahntay Jones: C Not real thrilled with his shooting but a lot of his shots came during garbage time and he has been so good all year long that he deserves a break. He still worked on the defensive end and hey he gets some style points for his throw down.
I’m not giving out grades to the others that played in garbage time. You can just assume that each of them did what they needed to do and give them grades in your mind commiserate to their time on the floor. Yes I know it’s tempting to give Fes an A+ but let’s not go over board here. Good first showing but the Cavs are a very small team.
Ok Pacers fans I can’t get out of here without giving a huge standing ovation to Frank Vogel. In a year’s time with no training camp and almost no practice time he has totally changed the entire culture and mentality of this team. We are no longer a bad team, we are no longer a mediocre team, and we ARE a winning team.
Management and players should take a bow and they deserve it. But I can’t help but believe the single biggest addition to this team was the subtraction of the previous coach and the addition of our current coach. If you want to take that as a slam at O’Brien feel free, it was meant to be. Yes this year we have better talent but there was some of that same talent here last year and Vogel immediately scrapped gimmicks and tailor made the game plan to fit our players not the other way around.
Soon I will once again be able to make the playoff war cry thread but this year I won’t be making it as the under dog of a team who snuck in with a losing record. With any luck (and a lot of skill) we will be doing it as the 3rd seed going into the playoffs with home court advantage.
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