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This was the game we feared coming into this series. Anyone who actually saw the Pacers play the Heat this season will tell you that what you saw tonight was just the first two games of the regular season replayed for our pleasure.
First and foremost we must acknowledge that the Heat have two of the best players in the world and yes it has now been proven that two superstars can beat a team of 5. They had more help tonight than what they have gotten in other games but the point still stands, two can stand against many and be victorious. I hate it, you may hate it, but it sadly is reality.
They are able to not only dismantle us on the offensive end but they have somehow managed to completely tear apart our own offense with their ability to defend both the interior and quickly recover to not allow many open jumpers either.
Letโs be realistic here for a minute, if Granger is gimpy and or unable to play Thursday this is over. It probably is over either way but if he is out & West knee is bothered then all we can hope for is that the Heat donโt put on a repeat from tonight. I know that sounds overly negative and some of you really would much rather get a โit only counts as one lossโ speech but Iโm just saying if Granger & West are anything less than 90% we donโt have a prayer.
There were so many things that went wrong tonight that it might be just easier to say what went right which was so limited that the only thing I can think of that went right tonight was that we all showed up to the game wearing the same uniforms. Nobody had a good game some just sucked less than others.
Donโt get me wrong guys, weโll talk about the Heatโs overly physical play in a minute, but no matter about that we were beat like a kettle drum all night long. I am fairly certain we never had the lead in this game.
Letโs start off with my first pet peeve, we shoot to many threeโs. I kept looking on the sideline tonight to see if maybe we had switched coachโs back and I missed the memo. What have the last two games had in common? They both have had increased three point shooting and both have resulted in losses.
Second problem and in truth this is the bigger problem we once again were destroyed on the backboards. Sometimes the ball just bounces the other way and you canโt get it but there are so many times that the Heat get the balls because they are always chasing after them while some of our players (West) stand and watch while other of our players (Granger) cherry pick and are always trying to leak back to get a fast break point. Which leads me to my third problem.
We are honest to God the worst fast break team I have ever seen. Most of the time I would just prefer that unless they have a 2-0 fast break that I would prefer for them to pull up and run a play. We have horrid spacing, nobody knows how to pass on a break and frankly we are not the greatest finishers on the planet. Which leads me to problem number four.
I am so sick and tired of Granger & his old man game that I want to hang the first man I can get my hands on to the first tree I can find whenever he does this. You know what Iโm talking about he has a chance to go up with authority and lay down a dunk or even if it is to just lay down a weak dunk I donโt care. But his โI will make a scoop shot even if it kills meโ crap has led to him being blocked at the rim yet again in this series. He goes up to dunk that he is fouled at the very least but more than likely he can make the dunk, but no he has been convinced he will play forever if he doesnโt jump to dunk so we get his weak *** **** lofted up ever so gentle like a peaceful balloon only to have it swatted with the power of Sampson into the 4th or 5th row.
Now for all of our problems the fact of the matter is this, we are not done yet. We can win this and take it back to Miami for game 7. But we are going to have to play with an intensity and offensive cohesion that we have never played with before.
Letโs do some grades. Also side note as per norm I am not going to grade garbage time play, you can just assume that each player did what they were supposed to do (or not) and give them your own grades.
David West: F Hash? You bet, but this is the West that for a lot of the season had me wanting to pull out my hair. The Heat while great defenders can not be everywhere at once so if they were focusing on Roy Hibbert then that meant that David was able to go one on one with Shane Battier. You know the same 30 lbs less and one inch shorter Battier that West should have all of the advantages over. For the second game in a row now West has been shut out. He missed several open shots early on and even a couple that werenโt open but usually shots he can make in his sleep. I can forgive missing some shots, it happens. What I canโt handle though is that their point guards grabbed three times the amount of rebounds that West did. That part is just inexcusable.
Danny Granger: B Was all we had in the first half and when he went out it went from bad to disastrous. I hate with the passion of a white hot sun that he shot 4 of his 6 shots from behind the arc but I guess in his defense he hit 3 of those 4. Iโve already said what I think will happen if he canโt go on Thursday but in his defense he said the only thing keeping him out would be if his foot fell off. So I think heโll play but I have no idea how affective he will be.
Roy Hibbert: C Itโs a chicken and egg theory here guys. Does he not get the ball because he isnโt getting good position or does he not get good position because we never give him a good entry pass with the ball. Safe to say the Heat have devised a way to stop Roy on the offensive end and I think they watched film of Roy in the Magic series to devise a way to limit him on the defensive end.
Paul George: C+ How he can be so good on the defensive end and suck so bad on offense is one of lifeโs great mysteries. Did you see him blow that three on one fast break by passing the ball to battier? Thank God he is good on defense or I think most of us would be ready for another player at the two guard spot.
George Hill: D- Iโm not exactly sure what it is he did right tonight, if anything I am probably being to generous with the D- grade because he didnโt defend well, he shot **** poorly and passed with all of the purpose and poise of a wildebeest.
Leandro Barbosa: F That second round pick looked pretty good tonight. He has just been miserable in the playoffs in general but tonight he became his own one man black hole. His defense was nothing to brag about and frankly his shot selection was so bad that even World B Free was shaking his head.
Darren Collison: C- Eh, whatever. Nothing here to see or say.
Dahntay Jones: B hard to imagine a player that shot as poorly as he did to get this high of a grade but Iโm telling you that he was playing elite level defense for stretches at a time tonight vs. Wade. In fact I really want Frank to start giving a lot of Barbosa min. to Jones, that is as long as Leandro is not hitting. He is a very physical player but not dirty at all.
Tyler Hansbrough: C He had a good clean playoff foul. I have no problem at all with them calling him for a flagrant foul because in todayโs NBA that is what it is. But in the old days that was just a foul. Sadly the fact that he and Lou Amundson are going to get the same grade and had almost identical stats should tell you that Tyler really has not grown much as a player and in the playoffs is being relegated to being a marginal bench player at best.
Lou Amundson: C Good decent physical play, sadly we needed much much more. Thatโs not his fault btw, itโs just the reality we face.
Now letโs talk about all of the physical play.
Should we be mad at the Miami Heat for being rough, physical and somewhat dirty? Well, yes for the dirty part for fact but no to the rough & physical part.
What I am far more upset with is the fact that nobody on our team stood up and did the same thing. Well minus the dirty part.
Now do we as Pacer fans have a right to be miffed at the NBA for the calls? Yes, emphatically yes. If Pitman isnโt suspended multiple games then they need to just throw out the flagrant foul rule. If Haslam isnโt out for game 6 then I think whatever happens on the floor is on the NBAโs head at that point.
Frankly I admire Haslams hit. It was rough, it was flagrant but at the end of the day he was stepping up to protect Wade.
I want to know what Pacer is going to step up and do the same?
Now having said all of that I will say this. I do not want the team to fall prey to the old Chicago Bulls tricks. They would send Cliff Livingston, Stacy King, Bill Winnington, Jason Caffey, etc. out to try and get your best player to fight so that they would be suspended for a game or two. I always said the thing back then. Never EVER fight with their scrubs, if they irritate you to the point you need to hit someone then walk over and punch either Pippen or Jordan square in the jaw. Well same rule applies here, donโt retaliate against their scrubs (yes Haslam you are a scrub) walk over and hit Wade or James.
Oh well, itโs just one game. We still have another chance although I will admit with health concerns the likely hood of a game 6 win is slight at best.
First and foremost we must acknowledge that the Heat have two of the best players in the world and yes it has now been proven that two superstars can beat a team of 5. They had more help tonight than what they have gotten in other games but the point still stands, two can stand against many and be victorious. I hate it, you may hate it, but it sadly is reality.
They are able to not only dismantle us on the offensive end but they have somehow managed to completely tear apart our own offense with their ability to defend both the interior and quickly recover to not allow many open jumpers either.
Letโs be realistic here for a minute, if Granger is gimpy and or unable to play Thursday this is over. It probably is over either way but if he is out & West knee is bothered then all we can hope for is that the Heat donโt put on a repeat from tonight. I know that sounds overly negative and some of you really would much rather get a โit only counts as one lossโ speech but Iโm just saying if Granger & West are anything less than 90% we donโt have a prayer.
There were so many things that went wrong tonight that it might be just easier to say what went right which was so limited that the only thing I can think of that went right tonight was that we all showed up to the game wearing the same uniforms. Nobody had a good game some just sucked less than others.
Donโt get me wrong guys, weโll talk about the Heatโs overly physical play in a minute, but no matter about that we were beat like a kettle drum all night long. I am fairly certain we never had the lead in this game.
Letโs start off with my first pet peeve, we shoot to many threeโs. I kept looking on the sideline tonight to see if maybe we had switched coachโs back and I missed the memo. What have the last two games had in common? They both have had increased three point shooting and both have resulted in losses.
Second problem and in truth this is the bigger problem we once again were destroyed on the backboards. Sometimes the ball just bounces the other way and you canโt get it but there are so many times that the Heat get the balls because they are always chasing after them while some of our players (West) stand and watch while other of our players (Granger) cherry pick and are always trying to leak back to get a fast break point. Which leads me to my third problem.
We are honest to God the worst fast break team I have ever seen. Most of the time I would just prefer that unless they have a 2-0 fast break that I would prefer for them to pull up and run a play. We have horrid spacing, nobody knows how to pass on a break and frankly we are not the greatest finishers on the planet. Which leads me to problem number four.
I am so sick and tired of Granger & his old man game that I want to hang the first man I can get my hands on to the first tree I can find whenever he does this. You know what Iโm talking about he has a chance to go up with authority and lay down a dunk or even if it is to just lay down a weak dunk I donโt care. But his โI will make a scoop shot even if it kills meโ crap has led to him being blocked at the rim yet again in this series. He goes up to dunk that he is fouled at the very least but more than likely he can make the dunk, but no he has been convinced he will play forever if he doesnโt jump to dunk so we get his weak *** **** lofted up ever so gentle like a peaceful balloon only to have it swatted with the power of Sampson into the 4th or 5th row.
Now for all of our problems the fact of the matter is this, we are not done yet. We can win this and take it back to Miami for game 7. But we are going to have to play with an intensity and offensive cohesion that we have never played with before.
Letโs do some grades. Also side note as per norm I am not going to grade garbage time play, you can just assume that each player did what they were supposed to do (or not) and give them your own grades.
David West: F Hash? You bet, but this is the West that for a lot of the season had me wanting to pull out my hair. The Heat while great defenders can not be everywhere at once so if they were focusing on Roy Hibbert then that meant that David was able to go one on one with Shane Battier. You know the same 30 lbs less and one inch shorter Battier that West should have all of the advantages over. For the second game in a row now West has been shut out. He missed several open shots early on and even a couple that werenโt open but usually shots he can make in his sleep. I can forgive missing some shots, it happens. What I canโt handle though is that their point guards grabbed three times the amount of rebounds that West did. That part is just inexcusable.
Danny Granger: B Was all we had in the first half and when he went out it went from bad to disastrous. I hate with the passion of a white hot sun that he shot 4 of his 6 shots from behind the arc but I guess in his defense he hit 3 of those 4. Iโve already said what I think will happen if he canโt go on Thursday but in his defense he said the only thing keeping him out would be if his foot fell off. So I think heโll play but I have no idea how affective he will be.
Roy Hibbert: C Itโs a chicken and egg theory here guys. Does he not get the ball because he isnโt getting good position or does he not get good position because we never give him a good entry pass with the ball. Safe to say the Heat have devised a way to stop Roy on the offensive end and I think they watched film of Roy in the Magic series to devise a way to limit him on the defensive end.
Paul George: C+ How he can be so good on the defensive end and suck so bad on offense is one of lifeโs great mysteries. Did you see him blow that three on one fast break by passing the ball to battier? Thank God he is good on defense or I think most of us would be ready for another player at the two guard spot.
George Hill: D- Iโm not exactly sure what it is he did right tonight, if anything I am probably being to generous with the D- grade because he didnโt defend well, he shot **** poorly and passed with all of the purpose and poise of a wildebeest.
Leandro Barbosa: F That second round pick looked pretty good tonight. He has just been miserable in the playoffs in general but tonight he became his own one man black hole. His defense was nothing to brag about and frankly his shot selection was so bad that even World B Free was shaking his head.
Darren Collison: C- Eh, whatever. Nothing here to see or say.
Dahntay Jones: B hard to imagine a player that shot as poorly as he did to get this high of a grade but Iโm telling you that he was playing elite level defense for stretches at a time tonight vs. Wade. In fact I really want Frank to start giving a lot of Barbosa min. to Jones, that is as long as Leandro is not hitting. He is a very physical player but not dirty at all.
Tyler Hansbrough: C He had a good clean playoff foul. I have no problem at all with them calling him for a flagrant foul because in todayโs NBA that is what it is. But in the old days that was just a foul. Sadly the fact that he and Lou Amundson are going to get the same grade and had almost identical stats should tell you that Tyler really has not grown much as a player and in the playoffs is being relegated to being a marginal bench player at best.
Lou Amundson: C Good decent physical play, sadly we needed much much more. Thatโs not his fault btw, itโs just the reality we face.
Now letโs talk about all of the physical play.
Should we be mad at the Miami Heat for being rough, physical and somewhat dirty? Well, yes for the dirty part for fact but no to the rough & physical part.
What I am far more upset with is the fact that nobody on our team stood up and did the same thing. Well minus the dirty part.
Now do we as Pacer fans have a right to be miffed at the NBA for the calls? Yes, emphatically yes. If Pitman isnโt suspended multiple games then they need to just throw out the flagrant foul rule. If Haslam isnโt out for game 6 then I think whatever happens on the floor is on the NBAโs head at that point.
Frankly I admire Haslams hit. It was rough, it was flagrant but at the end of the day he was stepping up to protect Wade.
I want to know what Pacer is going to step up and do the same?
Now having said all of that I will say this. I do not want the team to fall prey to the old Chicago Bulls tricks. They would send Cliff Livingston, Stacy King, Bill Winnington, Jason Caffey, etc. out to try and get your best player to fight so that they would be suspended for a game or two. I always said the thing back then. Never EVER fight with their scrubs, if they irritate you to the point you need to hit someone then walk over and punch either Pippen or Jordan square in the jaw. Well same rule applies here, donโt retaliate against their scrubs (yes Haslam you are a scrub) walk over and hit Wade or James.
Oh well, itโs just one game. We still have another chance although I will admit with health concerns the likely hood of a game 6 win is slight at best.
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