Round 1, Game 1: #8 Hawks vs. #1 Pacers - 4/19/14, 7 PM,ESPN

[Jake0890]

Watson should be starting imo. he's been so much better than Hill recently.

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[EuroPacer]

Vogel needs to bench Scola and play Copeland or Lavoy. It's absolutely pathetic that we bring Scola off the bench for scoring and he just takes stupid contested long twos. If he does try and go to the basket, he throws up some crap hoping for a foul. Yeah he had that nice hustle play when he came in early for West, but other than that he was terrible. I wouldn't be shocked if Hibbert was referring to him as one of the selfish guys.

I said it at the end of last year, but I really wish we had kept Hansbrough. He was infuriating at times, but at least he went hard and got us to the line. Would have really helped at times.

I don't know what needs to be done with Hill too, but Vogel needs to figure it out. Too many times he's standing right behind PG or Lance looking for the ball (while killing any spacing we may have) and they just dribble the ball and ignore him. And Hill's defense was terrible last night. Put him on Carroll and let PG take Teague.

Scola does need to be dropped, I'd rather see Cope's threes to spread the floor. I actually think that might help get Hill into rhythm as well, plus open more room on the low block for Roy.

Whatever it is though, if we defend this poorly against them in game 2 we will lose. If we don't start playing inside out more, we will lose.

If we keep relying on drives by Lance and Paul, we will lose. If we keep letting Roy chase Antic round instead of just switching that cover as soon as Antic runs out, we will lose.

I put this loss on Vogel, in its entirety. We looked ill-prepared, unorganised and pathetic out there and he is the man in charge. If we go out in the first round I want to see a new coach for next year.

[pacers33granger]

Watson should be starting imo. he's been so much better than Hill recently.

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I agree. Watson can still make some stupid mistakes, but he plays well off of PG and Lance. Hill just can't get into a rhythm. Watson also seems to just try more on defense. If PG or Lance start playing like crap again I'd be in favor of giving Butler some minutes too. At least he tries.

Ultimately I think one of the the biggest problems we have right now is no one other than West to be a steadying vet presence. Butler can be to a point, but he's an end of the bench guy. Once West gets knocked off his game and gets fired up, we can't seem to do anything right as a team. Our other vets just aren't those types of guys. We really could have used someone like Earl Watson.

[pacers33granger]

Vogel needs to bench Scola and play Copeland or Lavoy. It's absolutely pathetic that we bring Scola off the bench for scoring and he just takes stupid contested long twos. If he does try and go to the basket, he throws up some crap hoping for a foul. Yeah he had that nice hustle play when he came in early for West, but other than that he was terrible. I wouldn't be shocked if Hibbert was referring to him as one of the selfish guys.

I said it at the end of last year, but I really wish we had kept Hansbrough. He was infuriating at times, but at least he went hard and got us to the line. Would have really helped at times.

I don't know what needs to be done with Hill too, but Vogel needs to figure it out. Too many times he's standing right behind PG or Lance looking for the ball (while killing any spacing we may have) and they just dribble the ball and ignore him. And Hill's defense was terrible last night. Put him on Carroll and let PG take Teague.

Scola does need to be dropped, I'd rather see Cope's threes to spread the floor. I actually think that might help get Hill into rhythm as well, plus open more room on the low block for Roy.

Whatever it is though, if we defend this poorly against them in game 2 we will lose. If we don't start playing inside out more, we will lose.

If we keep relying on drives by Lance and Paul, we will lose. If we keep letting Roy chase Antic round instead of just switching that cover as soon as Antic runs out, we will lose.

I put this loss on Vogel, in its entirety. We looked ill-prepared, unorganised and pathetic out there and he is the man in charge. If we go out in the first round I want to see a new coach for next year.

Agreed. It's getting to the point where there's no excuses for how bad our offense is. It's not going to be top 10, but it should at least be respectable. I wonder how much of the offense is Mcmillan though. Unfortunately for Vogel I think a lot of this is really on the starters as well. All of them have been horrible and all of them have been pouty, most noticeably Roy and Lance.

Really the blame can be placed on everyone in this situation. Bird messed up with the Granger trade. Turner has given us exactly the same problem as we had with Collison, a ball dominant guard who isn't that good and can't shoot. The starters have been playing like crap and look disinterested. Vogel has made no changes to a failing system.

[Moooose]

Was unable to watch the game as I was on a mini vacation. But I am surprised that Vogel seem to have done nothing in terms of addressing the Pacers' defensive strategy against Atlanta. Back in the regular season, it was obvious where the Hawks are beating us - outside shooting. And Atlanta will surely rely on that sole strategy to make it to the next round. If we keep on making Roy chase Antic, the Pacers are in trouble.

We can go small, as many of us fans are suggesting. Smaller but quicker. Not saying we give up the paint, but the Pacers are still going to be bigger to and will still be able to control the paint. I like to see Vogel playing faster guys over Hibbert and Scola when we need to chase threes. Allen and Copeland would be fine, but I am leaning more towards Allen as he's got more of an inside game. Take their perimeter shooting down and the Pacers will be able to control of the series.

[SmashMouthRod]

As much As I hate to say it. Hibbert needs to be moved out of the rotation until he can get his act together. Play Lavoy Allen and Mahinmi. The team doesnt play to mismatches or team first ball anymore. The biggest difference is that Roy was able to get plenty of touches last season and be effective at get the opposing centers in foul trouble (ie. Tyson Chandler). And also George Hill should be benched in favor of Watson. Hill just isnt reliable offensively for over a month now. George Hill and Roy are a big reason why everything isnt working anymore. Hill cant guard Teague; and its a big reason why the team has struggled against Atlanta. Vogel normaily makes adjustments when necessary but seems he doesnt want to pull Roy or George Hill. Its time. Indy can win this series with Ian and Lavoy while Roy and G Hill can spend some extra time in practice getting warmed up. It also would hurt experimenting with a two point guard line up off the bench (Sloan and Watson or G Hill) to improve the ball handling and floor spacing to create better driving lanes for E Turner; Lance or PG24.

[Grang33r]

It doesn't matter matter who is starting to be honest. This team has zero "togetherness". They are all sorts out of messed up on defense, playing out of position, their passing is off on offense, their route running is off, guys don't know where guys are going to be. They look like a all-star team would look like, and by that i mean with how they don't pass well, they hold onto it too much. You can start the hotter guys and they will only work for so long. The problem isn't 1 player holding the squad back. It's a entire team chemisty issue that has been lost for whatever reason.

Did they quit on Vogel?

Is it fixable mid-season?

If not, how much will they need to change this off-season?

Very crazy what is happening right infront of our eyes. A historic collapse.