We’re playing with house money people.
In other words we weren’t supposed to be here. We were supposed to provide the Heat a nice tough 5-6 game series where everybody could talk about how we gave the Heat a wake up call and LeBron arose to the challenge and was on his merry way to another championship.
Didn’t happen that way and while certainly many of them, heck maybe all of them, love the fact that the NBA Eastern Conference Finals gets a seventh game very few of the elite NBA media thought we had a real chance to do this.
As Pacer fans we want more, hell we want it all, but even both the most pessimistic fan and optimistic fan amongst us has to know that taking the defending NBA champions to seven games in the E.C. finals is probably more than any of us dared to dream.
Well I’m here to say it.
Dream Higher!
I may be to high coming off of this win, I won’t deny it I’m thoroughly enjoying this, but I’m here to tell everyone right now WE CAN WIN THIS GAME MONDAY!
We all know LeBron will be LeBron and both the team and fan base will be all energized due to getting the putrid Chris Anderson back in their lineup.
But I’m here to say now, if our front court gives us what they have given us every game and our back court shows up then we can win this.
I hate to put so much pressure on them but honest to God our season right now will rise or fall on the shoulders of George Hill & Lance Stephenson. I said after game 5 if they had combined to score 20 points we would have won that game. Well guess what they gave us tonight, 20 points on the nose and we won this thing.
Either way though, win or lose, this has been one hell of a run and honestly it truly will go down in the annals of Pacers history as one of the great series. I’ve seen every NBA playoff series the Pacers have ever been in and I’m telling you this is as good as any of the ones from the 90’s.
I don’t even know where to begin today’s venture in writing because there are so many places to go. I guess I’ll just start off with this, as I’m leaving my house today the Schwann’s truck at my neighbors house has a big Pacers flag hanging off of the side of it. As I pull away I see the driver standing talking to my neighbor and they are both wearing Pacers gear. Now this comes as a surprise to me as I’ve never seen my neighbor wear Pacers gear but okay whatever. As I pickup Diamond Dave we head through town and see an SUV with two Pacers flags flying out the windows.
We go to Maxine’s Chicken & Waffle’s for dinner (hey you don’t get to look like I do by eating salads & gazpacho) and the place is filled with people wearing their Pacers gear. Some are surely going to the game but others I don’t think were. People were all over town today with Pacers shirts, hat’s, flags, banners, etc.
Once you entered into the fieldhouse you could just feel the electricity in the air. I told Sandman after the game that through no fault of their own but due to the crowd noise I could not hear either area 55 or the G 2 Zone tonight. I’m telling you our crowds are loud and frankly hostile towards the opposition. I’ve always had a feeling that this both surprises and upsets King James. I think he is very used to having a large group of followers everywhere he goes. Well other than the few Heat fans that come in I can assure you that the King does not receive the warm accolades that he is accustomed to. In fact the chants of “he’s a flopper” have to ring in his ear all night long as our crowd gave it to him loud and clear.
Anyway not only were the fans great with being loud. But they were also somewhat organized. I mean every how often can you get an organized chant going without someone leading it but when both Wade & LeBron went to the line they were serenaded with sweet nothings by our crowd. But on top of that with no electronic assistance our crowd bellows out DE-FENSE in great unison when it is appropriate.
But we also had some outstanding signs in the crowd as well. Here are a couple of the better ones.
Flop, Flop
Who’s there?
LeBron
Then there was this gem.
I’ve been a Pacers fan my whole life; you’ve been a Heat fan since 2010.
This isn’t even adding in the great LeBron Baby Fat Head by our own Bill Bradley.
But what I want to show you next is what I thought was the most impressive. This video was taken almost a half hour after the game was over. Yes some people were watching the TNT crew but more than anything there were just people not leaving and celebrating the win.
In fact security had to come along and kick everyone out as people just were not leaving.
What I’m saying is if you couldn’t be there tonight it’s a damn shame. But according to Dr. Dunk Darnell Hillman you’ll have three more chances to catch a game in the next few weeks.
Where we were standing Dr. Dunk went by and Diamond Dave asked him what his prediction was for game seven. His reply “we’ll be playing San Antonio next week”.
Hey, it’s Dr’s orders at this point.
Anyway I’m telling everyone again, cherish this moment. Absorb it and live it. Game 7’s in an NBA playoff game is the sport at its absolute best. These are the ultimate win or go home.
Let’s look at the game.
I ask this as an honest question. In the NBA has there ever been and Indiana Pacer who has had a better more dominant series than the one that Roy Hibbert is having right now?
I’m serious btw. Reggie had several big games, he had moments but he never put together six straight performances like this.
I’m going to have to go look at Jermaine O’Neal’s stats in a couple of series because generally I try and block those out of my mind but I can’t even think of him putting together 6 games like this before.
Here is the single craziest thing to come out of these playoffs.
LeBron James is afraid of Roy Hibbert. Yes, you read that right I’m saying LeBron is afraid to go directly at Roy. Whenever Roy is out of the game LeBron slashes straight to the rim with no fear or hesitation. He went right at Mahinmi tonight, but whenever Roy is in there LeBron is slow and passive often looking to pass or taking awkward shots that sometimes he hits and sometimes he doesn’t. But either way Roy is on his mind.
This tells me two things. First Roy is the man. Second while LeBron is great he just will never pass Michael Jordan in my mind because can you imagine Michael being scared off the rim by Roy?
But anyway there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind who has been the MVP of this series so far for the Pacers and frankly if we were to vote for series MVP right now it’s Roy Hibbert and it’s Roy hands down.
NOBODY has affected the game on a nightly basis more than Roy. LeBron would be a close second but IMO Roy has been the center of attention (sorry for the pun) on both sides of the floor and LeBron has only been on the offensive side.
Also I’m sorry to throw out any form of negativity here but (well not really, not when it comes to them) the Miami Heat are really just a despicable team. I am not sure I have ever seen a group of floppers, complainers and crybaby’s ever assembled together on one team like that. Then mix in the fact that a few of them (not all of them mind you) are dirty players and you have the ingredients There is not one second of dead ball time that one of the Heat players is not involved in deep conversation with the referee’s about how he is not getting the calls he wants to get to move forward. In fact at one point in time Tony Brothers was accosted by 5 of the Heat players during a time out, it actually looked like he was a member of the Heat in their huddle for awhile. BTW it didn’t work, a few plays later he called that charge on LeBron which was almost worth the price of admission.
Yea I think the other thing I will take away from this series is that the NBA referee’s have either tired of or caught onto Dwayne Wade. There are many times he has driven to the hoop to end up on his backside looking around to see where the whistle is only to watch us go the other way with the ball. Oh it’s a ***** having to live like the common man isn’t it Dwayne?
BTW I give him fits when I think he deserves it but I want to make sure to give big props to David West for stepping up like a man in that second half and taking care of business. He was helping on the boards in the first half but wasn’t getting anything going offensively which I think we all kind of excused due to illness. Well he sure made up for it in the second half. Illness or not he put a hurt on the Heat.
Have I mentioned yet that we have witnessed something special? If you haven’t got that yet from my post get it now. This game and this series is one for the ages (to steal a line from Frank). This is no different than what the 98 Pacers did to that Bulls team except this time it is more impressive because this group does not have nearly the experience either as players or a playoff team than what our 98 team did then and this Heat team was supposed to be as good as those Bulls teams.
Also does everyone on TV see this? I’m not sure if they show it or not. But the two teams do NOT do pre game fist bumping, hugs, hand shaking or anything. We just go straight to the tip. That’s old school from both clubs.
Before I go to the individual players I want to point out one thing, our defense caused the vaunted Miami Heat offense to have more turnovers than assists. Think about that for a good long while, because that tells you how aggressive we are.
Hot damn I love our team.
Let’s do some grades.
Paul George: A+
Went toe to toe with the greatest player in the world and equaled his production. Since LeBron is so much of their team and Paul while a huge part of our is still just one of five (yes Hicks I thought of 7 of 9 right after I typed it) this is a huge win for us and thus the actual win on the court. Efficient game overall, still some sloppy passes but I’m hoping as he ages that will go away. Defense stellar as always although it seems like he isn’t on LeBron one on one as much as he was early in the series.
David West: A
Effort and illness combined to give us this game. He could have had a far worse night and almost nobody would have blamed him. But whatever he took at half time made him come out and shoot lights out while still laying his big strong body wherever he wanted to go. At one time I saw LeBron matched up with him in the post and it’s funny because I doubt there are many players in the NBA who can move LeBron to wherever they want to go, David is one of those players. He even played defense tonight which makes me, Able and even Vnzla81 happy.
Roy Hibbert: A++
I’ve compared the two before but I have to say it again. Roy Hibbert is the Marvel Comic book character Gladiator. Gladiator’s power, much like Roy, is fueled by his own confidence and when he is at his most confident he is nearly omnipotent. Well right now Roy’s confidence isn’t even on the same planets as the rest of ours so this man is indestructible. I don’t care what he said in any post game interview, his on floor production has been better than any of us could ever have dreamed.
*fair warning now, we won’t be discussing the post game interview in this thread. I will delete them when I see them, Mattie started a thread for that so go there.
George Hill: A
I’ll give him an A and a hug for this game. This, this is all he has to do for us to beat the Heat on Monday. He doesn’t even have to be super all he has to be is an option, well that and not let Chalmers go crazy. But while the front three had the better games none of that would have mattered if George didn’t have the game he did. He (& Lance) have to be threats so the Heat can not pack in the defense and double and triple either Roy or West in the post. He came out strong and played a very good game.
Lance Stephenson: A-
I would have given him an A but I just didn’t think it was right to give him and Hill/West the same exact grade. He hit the boards hard tonight and I can’t tell you how big of an advantage that rebounding is for our club. I would like to see him score some more sure, but I am appreciative of the fact that he doesn’t force it. Again anytime he can bring the ball quickly up the court it tends to work for us because it usually throws Miami off of their game. Also let’s not pretend that Dwayne Wade is just old and washed up here or even the dreaded “injured” that he is claiming. One of his injury’s is a giant 240 lbs strain that he is having to carry around. Lance is bigger and strong than Wade and now is faster than him as well.
Bench: C
I’m not going to go over everyone of them tonight, I just don’t feel like it. They didn’t hurt us (much) but didn’t do anything really to help either. Although Sam did hit a huge three that helped stem a Miami run, but other than that not much.
Here is the last thing I’m taking away from this game. I either just witnessed my last home game of the year or my next home game is going to be game 3 of the NBA finals. Either way I’m good really. Because if it was my last home game, what a game to witness. (Ha! Take that pun LeBron).
In other words we weren’t supposed to be here. We were supposed to provide the Heat a nice tough 5-6 game series where everybody could talk about how we gave the Heat a wake up call and LeBron arose to the challenge and was on his merry way to another championship.
Didn’t happen that way and while certainly many of them, heck maybe all of them, love the fact that the NBA Eastern Conference Finals gets a seventh game very few of the elite NBA media thought we had a real chance to do this.
As Pacer fans we want more, hell we want it all, but even both the most pessimistic fan and optimistic fan amongst us has to know that taking the defending NBA champions to seven games in the E.C. finals is probably more than any of us dared to dream.
Well I’m here to say it.
Dream Higher!
I may be to high coming off of this win, I won’t deny it I’m thoroughly enjoying this, but I’m here to tell everyone right now WE CAN WIN THIS GAME MONDAY!
We all know LeBron will be LeBron and both the team and fan base will be all energized due to getting the putrid Chris Anderson back in their lineup.
But I’m here to say now, if our front court gives us what they have given us every game and our back court shows up then we can win this.
I hate to put so much pressure on them but honest to God our season right now will rise or fall on the shoulders of George Hill & Lance Stephenson. I said after game 5 if they had combined to score 20 points we would have won that game. Well guess what they gave us tonight, 20 points on the nose and we won this thing.
Either way though, win or lose, this has been one hell of a run and honestly it truly will go down in the annals of Pacers history as one of the great series. I’ve seen every NBA playoff series the Pacers have ever been in and I’m telling you this is as good as any of the ones from the 90’s.
I don’t even know where to begin today’s venture in writing because there are so many places to go. I guess I’ll just start off with this, as I’m leaving my house today the Schwann’s truck at my neighbors house has a big Pacers flag hanging off of the side of it. As I pull away I see the driver standing talking to my neighbor and they are both wearing Pacers gear. Now this comes as a surprise to me as I’ve never seen my neighbor wear Pacers gear but okay whatever. As I pickup Diamond Dave we head through town and see an SUV with two Pacers flags flying out the windows.
We go to Maxine’s Chicken & Waffle’s for dinner (hey you don’t get to look like I do by eating salads & gazpacho) and the place is filled with people wearing their Pacers gear. Some are surely going to the game but others I don’t think were. People were all over town today with Pacers shirts, hat’s, flags, banners, etc.
Once you entered into the fieldhouse you could just feel the electricity in the air. I told Sandman after the game that through no fault of their own but due to the crowd noise I could not hear either area 55 or the G 2 Zone tonight. I’m telling you our crowds are loud and frankly hostile towards the opposition. I’ve always had a feeling that this both surprises and upsets King James. I think he is very used to having a large group of followers everywhere he goes. Well other than the few Heat fans that come in I can assure you that the King does not receive the warm accolades that he is accustomed to. In fact the chants of “he’s a flopper” have to ring in his ear all night long as our crowd gave it to him loud and clear.
Anyway not only were the fans great with being loud. But they were also somewhat organized. I mean every how often can you get an organized chant going without someone leading it but when both Wade & LeBron went to the line they were serenaded with sweet nothings by our crowd. But on top of that with no electronic assistance our crowd bellows out DE-FENSE in great unison when it is appropriate.
But we also had some outstanding signs in the crowd as well. Here are a couple of the better ones.
Flop, Flop
Who’s there?
LeBron
Then there was this gem.
I’ve been a Pacers fan my whole life; you’ve been a Heat fan since 2010.
This isn’t even adding in the great LeBron Baby Fat Head by our own Bill Bradley.
But what I want to show you next is what I thought was the most impressive. This video was taken almost a half hour after the game was over. Yes some people were watching the TNT crew but more than anything there were just people not leaving and celebrating the win.
In fact security had to come along and kick everyone out as people just were not leaving.
What I’m saying is if you couldn’t be there tonight it’s a damn shame. But according to Dr. Dunk Darnell Hillman you’ll have three more chances to catch a game in the next few weeks.
Where we were standing Dr. Dunk went by and Diamond Dave asked him what his prediction was for game seven. His reply “we’ll be playing San Antonio next week”.
Hey, it’s Dr’s orders at this point.
Anyway I’m telling everyone again, cherish this moment. Absorb it and live it. Game 7’s in an NBA playoff game is the sport at its absolute best. These are the ultimate win or go home.
Let’s look at the game.
I ask this as an honest question. In the NBA has there ever been and Indiana Pacer who has had a better more dominant series than the one that Roy Hibbert is having right now?
I’m serious btw. Reggie had several big games, he had moments but he never put together six straight performances like this.
I’m going to have to go look at Jermaine O’Neal’s stats in a couple of series because generally I try and block those out of my mind but I can’t even think of him putting together 6 games like this before.
Here is the single craziest thing to come out of these playoffs.
LeBron James is afraid of Roy Hibbert. Yes, you read that right I’m saying LeBron is afraid to go directly at Roy. Whenever Roy is out of the game LeBron slashes straight to the rim with no fear or hesitation. He went right at Mahinmi tonight, but whenever Roy is in there LeBron is slow and passive often looking to pass or taking awkward shots that sometimes he hits and sometimes he doesn’t. But either way Roy is on his mind.
This tells me two things. First Roy is the man. Second while LeBron is great he just will never pass Michael Jordan in my mind because can you imagine Michael being scared off the rim by Roy?
But anyway there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind who has been the MVP of this series so far for the Pacers and frankly if we were to vote for series MVP right now it’s Roy Hibbert and it’s Roy hands down.
NOBODY has affected the game on a nightly basis more than Roy. LeBron would be a close second but IMO Roy has been the center of attention (sorry for the pun) on both sides of the floor and LeBron has only been on the offensive side.
Also I’m sorry to throw out any form of negativity here but (well not really, not when it comes to them) the Miami Heat are really just a despicable team. I am not sure I have ever seen a group of floppers, complainers and crybaby’s ever assembled together on one team like that. Then mix in the fact that a few of them (not all of them mind you) are dirty players and you have the ingredients There is not one second of dead ball time that one of the Heat players is not involved in deep conversation with the referee’s about how he is not getting the calls he wants to get to move forward. In fact at one point in time Tony Brothers was accosted by 5 of the Heat players during a time out, it actually looked like he was a member of the Heat in their huddle for awhile. BTW it didn’t work, a few plays later he called that charge on LeBron which was almost worth the price of admission.
Yea I think the other thing I will take away from this series is that the NBA referee’s have either tired of or caught onto Dwayne Wade. There are many times he has driven to the hoop to end up on his backside looking around to see where the whistle is only to watch us go the other way with the ball. Oh it’s a ***** having to live like the common man isn’t it Dwayne?
BTW I give him fits when I think he deserves it but I want to make sure to give big props to David West for stepping up like a man in that second half and taking care of business. He was helping on the boards in the first half but wasn’t getting anything going offensively which I think we all kind of excused due to illness. Well he sure made up for it in the second half. Illness or not he put a hurt on the Heat.
Have I mentioned yet that we have witnessed something special? If you haven’t got that yet from my post get it now. This game and this series is one for the ages (to steal a line from Frank). This is no different than what the 98 Pacers did to that Bulls team except this time it is more impressive because this group does not have nearly the experience either as players or a playoff team than what our 98 team did then and this Heat team was supposed to be as good as those Bulls teams.
Also does everyone on TV see this? I’m not sure if they show it or not. But the two teams do NOT do pre game fist bumping, hugs, hand shaking or anything. We just go straight to the tip. That’s old school from both clubs.
Before I go to the individual players I want to point out one thing, our defense caused the vaunted Miami Heat offense to have more turnovers than assists. Think about that for a good long while, because that tells you how aggressive we are.
Hot damn I love our team.
Let’s do some grades.
Paul George: A+
Went toe to toe with the greatest player in the world and equaled his production. Since LeBron is so much of their team and Paul while a huge part of our is still just one of five (yes Hicks I thought of 7 of 9 right after I typed it) this is a huge win for us and thus the actual win on the court. Efficient game overall, still some sloppy passes but I’m hoping as he ages that will go away. Defense stellar as always although it seems like he isn’t on LeBron one on one as much as he was early in the series.
David West: A
Effort and illness combined to give us this game. He could have had a far worse night and almost nobody would have blamed him. But whatever he took at half time made him come out and shoot lights out while still laying his big strong body wherever he wanted to go. At one time I saw LeBron matched up with him in the post and it’s funny because I doubt there are many players in the NBA who can move LeBron to wherever they want to go, David is one of those players. He even played defense tonight which makes me, Able and even Vnzla81 happy.
Roy Hibbert: A++
I’ve compared the two before but I have to say it again. Roy Hibbert is the Marvel Comic book character Gladiator. Gladiator’s power, much like Roy, is fueled by his own confidence and when he is at his most confident he is nearly omnipotent. Well right now Roy’s confidence isn’t even on the same planets as the rest of ours so this man is indestructible. I don’t care what he said in any post game interview, his on floor production has been better than any of us could ever have dreamed.
*fair warning now, we won’t be discussing the post game interview in this thread. I will delete them when I see them, Mattie started a thread for that so go there.
George Hill: A
I’ll give him an A and a hug for this game. This, this is all he has to do for us to beat the Heat on Monday. He doesn’t even have to be super all he has to be is an option, well that and not let Chalmers go crazy. But while the front three had the better games none of that would have mattered if George didn’t have the game he did. He (& Lance) have to be threats so the Heat can not pack in the defense and double and triple either Roy or West in the post. He came out strong and played a very good game.
Lance Stephenson: A-
I would have given him an A but I just didn’t think it was right to give him and Hill/West the same exact grade. He hit the boards hard tonight and I can’t tell you how big of an advantage that rebounding is for our club. I would like to see him score some more sure, but I am appreciative of the fact that he doesn’t force it. Again anytime he can bring the ball quickly up the court it tends to work for us because it usually throws Miami off of their game. Also let’s not pretend that Dwayne Wade is just old and washed up here or even the dreaded “injured” that he is claiming. One of his injury’s is a giant 240 lbs strain that he is having to carry around. Lance is bigger and strong than Wade and now is faster than him as well.
Bench: C
I’m not going to go over everyone of them tonight, I just don’t feel like it. They didn’t hurt us (much) but didn’t do anything really to help either. Although Sam did hit a huge three that helped stem a Miami run, but other than that not much.
Here is the last thing I’m taking away from this game. I either just witnessed my last home game of the year or my next home game is going to be game 3 of the NBA finals. Either way I’m good really. Because if it was my last home game, what a game to witness. (Ha! Take that pun LeBron).
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