The Pacers: Indiana’s Babies

Lance Stephenson is in LeBron James’ head? The Pacers beat the Heat in Game 4 if the refs don’t give it away, according to Paul George? Roy Hibbert would have scored more than zero points (again) if the game plan called for it?

Let’s try an exercise, fellow readers. Point your finger. Point it anywhere. Just one…. Now look at the other fingers on your hand. Old sayings become old because they are timeless and true: whenever you stop to point a finger, there are three more pointing right back at you.

George has 25,000 reasons to learn from his past mistakes. 1

THEATER vs DRAMA CLASS

I’ve always said that the NBA Playoffs make for the best theater of the major North American team sports. The NFL has the best action. MLB offers more unexpected twists. But the NBA delivers the best theater.
There is a difference, however, between adult delivering an athletic theatrical performance and people acting like they’re in a high school drama class. If you’ve followed the 2014 NBA Eastern Conference Finals and/or the Indiana Pacers for any stretch of this playoff run, you know where they fall. It would be funny if it weren’t so silly.


GREAT EXPECTATIONS

The Pacers were one game away from advancing to the 2013 NBA Finals. In 2014, they raced to the best record in the Eastern Conference. They split the four game regular season series with the three-time defending conference champion Miami Heat, with the home team winning every game. The Pacers set themselves up to dethrone the two-time NBA champions.

Indiana has a young team. Power forward David West is the only Pacers’ starter over the age of 28. He is one of only five players on the entire roster over the age of 30. He appears to be the only grown up in a Pacers’ uniform. In a game in which the most respected “talking” is done with one’s game on the court, too many of the players appear to have gotten that concept backwards.

The Pacers began to wilt near the end of the regular season. Conspicuously poor performances, a lack of accountability, attention grabbing headlines in the media, and an undertone of finger pointing threatened to derail the regular season goal of clinching home court in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Indiana started off with a 46-13 record. They limped to the end of the regular season with a 56-26 record, nipping the (coasting) Miami Heat by two games for the top seed in the conference.

Seeing zeros in Hibbert's box score is becoming less unusual with each occurrence. 2

HUH?

The Pacers fell behind the 8th seeded Atlanta Hawks, 3 games to 2. The Hawks had a sub-.500 record in the regular season. Nonetheless, with center Roy Hibbert becoming an offensive black hole and players looking disconnected, the Pacers went into Atlanta for Game 6 facing elimination.

The Pacers are vastly superior to the Hawks in talent. They couldn’t drop a best-of-seven to the Hawks if they tried (though it appeared they were at times). The Pacers cleaned up the glaring messed a Forrest-Gumped their way into the second round against the Washington Wizards, offering more of the same underwhelming basketball in Game 1 of that Eastern Conference Semifinals series.

The Pacers appeared to return to their pre-meltdown form in Game 2, with small forward Paul George and Roy Hibbert having breakout playoff performances. After beating the Heat in Game 1 of the Conference Finals, the NBA appeared to have the showdown that it expected between these two teams for much of the regular season.

Yes, David West. It's like that. 3

THE CREAM RISES TO THE TOP

Miami is leading in this series three games to one. In each of Miami’s three wins, they appear to get better and beating Indiana and Indiana seems to get better at beating itself. For all of the talk that the Pacers have done leading up to and during this series, all they have to show for it is a trip home for Game 5 facing elimination and Paul George’s pockets being $25,000 lighter after criticizing the officials following a Game 4 romp by Miami, 102-90, that was never as close in the 4th quarter as the final score may indicate.

Here are the cold, hard facts, Pacers Fan: The Heat are a better NBA basketball team. The Pacers have a better, younger collection of basketball players. NBA championships are won by teams. They are led by their starts, but the titles are won by teams. The Pacers appear to be drowning in their own immaturity and searching for a key to beating a two-time champion with three or four future Hall of Famers on the roster. They will never find that key until they tune out the superficial and trivial and focus on beating their opponent in every possession, every quarter, and in each game.

The Pacers are not going to sniff the Finals until they stop reading their own headlines and, instead, write the headlines that they wish to see themselves. Thirty-three year old All-Star David West is the team’s veteran leader and an example the younger players should follow. Much like one can only lead a horse to water, West can only show his younger counterparts how (and how not) to carry themselves deep in the post season. The Pacers will never drink the refreshment of a conference championship until they grow up and focus. It is not a coincidence that the key players of the two front runners in each conference, the Heat and San Antonio Spurs, are either near or over the age of 30. It shows.  

Don't pack up for the summer yet! The Heat cheerleaders have a few more games on their schedules this season. 4

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1) Image from http://nba.si.com
2) Image from www.alphoop.com
3) Image from www.wpxi.com
4) Image from www.doodlesports.com

Game Seven!

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The NBA Eastern Conference Finals will come to a close tonight. The Indiana Pacers, fresh off of a big win at home over the Miami Heat in Game 6, travel to South Beach for tonight's game in an attempt to shock the sports world and dethrone the defending NBA Champions. It is one game for all the marbles and perhaps the most exciting situation in sports - a decisive 7th game in a playoff series.

The Miami Heat were favored coming into this series, but many, myself included, are not surprised that Indiana has made a deep run in the series. Indiana has been a physical, sharply executing defensive team all season. They protect the rim well and grab rebounds as well as any team in the NBA. All season, the Heat's Achilles heel has been post play. They have compensated for that deficiency all season with a finesse game that includes sharp perimeter shooting, speedy ball movement, a ball-hawking defense that forces turnovers, a ruthlessly efficient transition game and the Herculean physicality (not to mention superior all-around skills) of four-time MVP LeBron James.

Roy Hibbert (left), David West (right) and the Pacers showed that LeBron James (center) "stretching them out" won't necessarily keep them from winning, no homo (smh).

WHO WINS? WHO LOSES?

Indiana wins if: They play their "A" game. The Pacers need to play the equivalent of a pitcher in baseball throwing a shutout. Give Miami nothing in the lane, nothing in the post, and nothing under the boards. Make the Heat as uncomfortable along the perimeter as possible. In short, if Indiana does everything exactly right to the best of its ability, they could pull off a colossal, shocking upset.

Indiana loses if: They lose the turnover battle. The Heat will eat the Pacers alive off of turnovers. If the Pacers' guards get into early foul trouble, Dwyane Wade will get the freedom he needs to overcome his ailing legs. If that happens in Miami, the Pacers are finished.

Miami wins if: They don't do anything stupid. All Miami has to do is show up and do the things they are supposed to do. They are not rebounding juggernauts and do not have to be. The do not bang well with bigs in the paint and they don't have to. If the Heat force turnovers, are sharp in transition, are crisp at the free throw line and none of their "big three" get into early foul trouble, I don't think it matters what the Pacers do. This game is in Miami, the crowd is with the Heat, the closer calls always tilt towards the home team, the Heat are comfortable in their own building and the Pacers are the ones traveling.

Miami loses if: Everything goes to hell early. If Dwyane Wade takes shots that don't find the basket, he will be playing directly into Pacers Head Coach Frank Vogel's game plan. If Chris Bosh remains ice cold, it will play into the Pacers' hands. If Ray Allen continues his inexplicable tribute to Shaq at the foul line, it gives the Pacers hope. If none of the role players - Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier, or Mike Miller - can give Miami a lift, the Pacers will have one less obstacle to winning the Eastern Conference title. If LeBron James racks up unnecessary fouls in succession like he did in the fourth quarter of Game 4, the Heat will have big problems in a close game. In short: Miami loses if they give the game away.

Advantage: Heat - No way will the defending champs lose a Game 7 at home unless LeBron James gets injured early and misses most of the game.     

What you say today could haunt you forever. 1

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Retweet of the Day - May 29, 2013

The Eastern Conference Finals are (finally) offering the theater that fans crave from the NBA playoffs. After a multitude of series that were neither competitive nor compelling, the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers are tied at 2-2 following the Pacers' Game 4 win at Indiana last night.

One of the sub-plots of this series includes former All-Star David West. David West has a sincere look of indignant surprise on his face whenever he thinks he is unfairly called for a foul, which is every time he is called for a foul. This is not a new phenomenon unique to the big stage of a Conference Finals series.

West spent the first eight years of his career with my home team, the former New Orleans Hornets (now "Pelicans"). Anyone who followed the team knows that, in West's mind, David West never committed a foul in his life. It is amusing to see the rest of the country picking up on this habit of Mr. West.

Today retweet is from  D'Brickashaw ‏(@DragonflyJonez):

"David West always looks like he wants to punch somebody SOOOO bad after a foul. He's like that dude hooping at the park who's on probation."

"What do you mean I took out his knee?!? He's got TWO!"

Image from www.gazettenet.com