I will say that in game 1 Pacers had like a <1% chance of victory at various points in the fourth quarter and won

I don't know what our percentage is of going 4 out of 5, but that's what we're faced with. So Knicks in 6 (though I'll take it in 7)

We need to guard everyone.

McConnell and Sheppard killed us and of course Siakim was on all game. The defense on Haliburton and Nesmith was better but Hicks are good and Carlisle is a good HC. Nothing else you can really say. I hate them but they have earned these two wins and deservd to be up 2-0.

JB, Mikal and Mitch tried their best but you need everyone to do their part to beat that team. It can't be JB scoring 40.

0-2 but it's not over but we're in deep ****.

OG got killed today but game simply came down to guarding pick and roll.

We couldn’t do it and we were losing guys all over the place with defenders simply looking at each other rather than defending.

Josh Hart was BRUTAL in my eyes — Pacers basically played 5-4 with him on court.

LivingLegend wrote:Feels like something is off in locker room- ego’s or whatever we sucked.

I think there’s a 60M elephant in the room that everyone knows is a team defense killer

blkexec wrote:Indy is deeper team
More talent
And a coach not afraid to play them
Indy coach adjusted by playing guys that haven’t played in this series.

Deeper but not more talent. But they play a style of basketball that will throw you threw the spin cycle if you arent ready. And they are locked in and playing cohesively with no injuries.

SergioNYK wrote:This hurts. I definitely think there was a carry over from the game one choke job. But the game was tied going into the fourth but the defensive lapses at the start just killed us. Especially from KAT, who was responsible for all their points. He is simply not a good defensive player. That is why Thibs sat him out and I do not blame him!

McConnell and Sheppard killed us and of course Siakim was on all game. The defense on Haliburton and Nesmith was better but Hicks are good and Carlisle is a good HC. Nothing else you can really say. I hate them but they have earned these two wins and deservd to be up 2-0.

JB, Mikal and Mitch tried their best but you need everyone to do their part to beat that team. It can't be JB scoring 40.

0-2 but it's not over but we're in deep ****.

We certainly had very little energy early and OG in particular had his head up his arss.

Chandler wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:Feels like something is off in locker room- ego’s or whatever we sucked.

there is something off. I think guys, especially the starting 5, need to touch the ball more. Even if just to keep the other team honest. They already play more guys. And then we help them further by letting their guys (e.g., Haliburton) only play half a game because they can take breathers on D.

We're playing with a 18-16 second shot clock in half court because of their press, and they're playing with 21-22. Over the course of the game that might result in one or two less mistakes for them and in a tight game that's all you need.

We (meaning the actual players) need to stay composed and regroup, and Thibs has to find a way to guard everyone. Nesmith and Nembhard last game. Siakam this game; they literally run no plays for Pascal. they just find him on mismatches which he is very effective in exploiting. They run no plays for Nesmith either; they just find him when he's ignored

Carlisle is playing a very Celtic's (at least old-school Celtics, not necessarily Tatum-era) brand of team basketball

It felt like 10 times tonight we fought like hell to score a bucket either using entire clock or off a rebound and Indy turned at made a layup at the other end in 3 seconds.

Watching and literally our 2 stars can’t guard a traffic cone and tonight our elite all-everything defender was destroyed by Siakim.

Yuck

LivingLegend wrote:

blkexec wrote:Indy is deeper team
More talent
And a coach not afraid to play them
Indy coach adjusted by playing guys that haven’t played in this series.

Doesn’t explain inability to guard simple high screen action.

One explanation is Thibs absolutely refused to ever switch screen - staying with drop 100% of time. Then we get to playoffs and he starts switching BUT we never worked thru this all season (or ever).

I’m not sure what is so hard about switching but it seemed on some action we dropped, on some we switched and on some we guarded nobody.

Once Indy realized we were switching, Brunson and KAT become our primary defenders on odd matchups. I won’t accept hitting KAT on defense without accepting that Brunson is just as bad. You can say the defense can’t handle two so KAT has to go. But the play of this team needs a kick in the ass regardless. It’s just sloppy basketball. Missing free throws. Turnovers. Missed assignments. We have the better top 7. They are just getting outplayed and outcoached.