Philc1 wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Wright looks to me like the closest thing to a Hali stopper we have on the roster. But I’m kind of shocked we haven’t even tried OG on him after OG shadowed Cade for 6 straight games.

If you give Wright minutes that means less minutes for Hart

You sir are the $1M winner tonight.

Knicks blew Game 1.

Pacers are executing their game better than almost any team in the playoffs. We barely even know what we are doing possession to possession sometimes, but we keep finding a way.

DLeethal wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

Philc1 wrote:Thibs needs to get Hart off the floor

He was an abomination. Both Hart and Thibs.

What’s the point of not starting hart then giving him 36 minutes?

Limiting the minutes our worst net rtg unit plays together

That concept can’t ignore a guy who is making bull**** plays all over - 5 TOs in 1st half alone.

Mitch can make a bigger impact off the bench.

Josh too many boneheaded turnovers.

Mikal really kinda sucks. Picks are gone - is he a good enough player? Nesmith showing you the kind of player we need in that role.

LivingLegend wrote:Josh Hart is such a problem and I don’t give a crap about his meaningless double/double.

He guarded nobody, he pushed/hacked and played undisciplined all night.

Jalen guarded one 2 possessions the entire night both with under a minute to play. Otherwise he just got in the way or screwed defense up. F Thibs for going away from switching.

F Thibs for not playing Wright/Shamet and even Precious over Hart & Invisa-Mitch.

While I’m being critical by my calculations Mitch basically gave us 2 or 3 good games this year - per usual.

Mikal OMG. Duece come on man guard TJ.

Outside of 2 egregious TO’s Wright may have been 2nd best player on court tonight.

Kat I thought was valiant and OG played as tough as he can without falling down.

I don’t say this much but Thibs and love affair with Josh is a KILLER.

Brunson is a HUGE issue going forward as he ages, gets slower, more injuries and can’t guard paper bag - SERIOUSLY.

I agree a lot with what you say. by way of comparison, Bryant was the Pacers' #2 center. You haven't seen Carlisle call his number since Mitch played. Bryant simply wasn't the right guy against us. Bradley's size proved reasonably effective in combatting Mitch. Yet Thibs continue to be largely inflexible.

I'm still rooting for the Knicks to pull off the improbable and break the Pacers' hearts in the process. But if we fall (as stats suggest) we have very difficult decisions on how to improve.

We need to add some innovation to coaching, and I think we need to consider adding a real pg to the team. Bridges had his best years playing off a true pg. And I think KAT would benefit tremendously as well.

Brunson is too ball dominant. He needs to be off ball and fed the ball when the situation dictates.

LivingLegend wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

Panos wrote:OG is an offensively stunted player. How is he so strong and so bad down low?
He is NOT a $40m player. Sorry.

I’m fine with OG. He’s close to his pay grade. The big problem is Towns and his salary when he can’t even share the floor with Brunson.

You can’t have your top 2 players horrible on the court together and be a legit finals team. I’m still on the KAT for Durant train.

I’d argue maybe it’s Brunson who shouldn’t share court with Kat. Jalen was a -16 tonight and had to be hid all night. Kat stood up and defended and was a +3 tonight.

When does Jalen massive extension kick in and what do we say when he’s in his 30’s pulling in +$50M and getting banged up every night.

Both contracts are scary - so is OG’s and now certainly Mikal extension sounds dangerous.

Centers are the anchor. The majority of teams hide a bad defender at PG. It’s nearly impossible to at Center.

VDesai wrote:Delon was probably the best player on the floor.

Mitch can make a bigger impact off the bench.

Josh too many boneheaded turnovers.

Mikal really kinda sucks. Picks are gone - is he a good enough player? Nesmith showing you the kind of player we need in that role.

Even though I was joking, and someone said hell no. But I bet if we want to trade Mikal we probably gotta give up a pick. Damn, didn’t know rentals was that expensive.

Mikal should’ve came off the bench and deuce should’ve started. Really don’t care between hart and mikal, but deuce was my selection to start. Carlisle countered Mitch with a goon and that neutralized Mitch impact.

EwingsGlass wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

DuckVader wrote:Bridges' defense is overrated

He offered zero deterrence and simply allowed Hali to get right all night long.

He looked like he was on meds —- maybe drank a bottle of Vicks cough syrup.

Pacers ran double screens all night to get the switch.

There never was a switch unless you count Hali making it all the way to paint with Kat in drop coverage guarding both Hali/Turner.

DLeethal wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

ToddTT wrote:Losing sucks. Losing to a massive douche is salt in the wound.

Yea, but this team clearly isn’t ready. Can’t skip steps. This is not a Finals team. Indiana actually looks like one.

Indy doesn’t look great at all but we need more skill and D. Holy crap our skill level is yuck.

They look like a legit TEAM. 29 assists 11 turnovers. Knicks were 17/17. Fast break points … bench points. Their two stars having monster games. They are impressive and play like a well oiled machine.

Not knocking Indy - I’ve said all along they are tough. My point was if we could simply do basic things like dribble/pass and defend they were beatable this series.

DLeethal wrote:

Chandler wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

ToddTT wrote:Losing sucks. Losing to a massive douche is salt in the wound.

Yea, but this team clearly isn’t ready. Can’t skip steps. This is not a Finals team. Indiana actually looks like one.

we will probably lose the series of course. But I continue to think we are the more talented team. This is on the coaches. I am still dumbfounded that the Pacers and Celts can hide weak defenders but we can't. And the Pacers and Celts can exploit our weak defenders but we can't seem to exploit theirs (for the most part).

KAT may be a liability on defense but he is not a dummy by any means. Wondering if adding a coach like Malone in some capacity would benefit things. Get KAT more effective on D, Leverage his passing more.

We are 100% more talented. But Indiana has years of chemistry build up. It’s the same team they had last year and the year before. They are just way better now. Same way Cavs got way better over the years. Knicks can do that too, although I don’t advocate for keeping this core intact if they can’t play defense.

I tend to think it takes a full year for FA to acclimate. Not always true (see. Kawhai [sp?] to Raptors)

Celts have a number of weak defenders. E.g., all their bigs are vulnerable on perimeter. Pritchard is small and slow (though pesky). Hauser is bad. Tatum plays D every third Weds. Yet as a unit they were great.

We have Bridges, OG, Deuce Mitch. and guys on the bench who can defend like Shamet, Precious and Wright and yet our whole defense seems dictated by two players.

that's not a player issue, that's a coaching and scheme issue in my book.

Same issue on offense. We are totally playing into Pacers' hands when we let Brunson bring the ball up. We are letting their best defender Nesmith, wear down and frustrate Brunson, when we should be looking for the most favorable matchup

it's definitely stuck in my mind that our coach had his best success running things off D.Rose as point guard. I think he could benefit with a coach who knows how to better leverage centers, e.g., Malone as an advisor or assistant or camp visitor