Well... that was ugly!

[basketballwacko2]

Post mortem!

155-104!

Without Haliburton this team is really terrible.

[8305]

It’s never as bad or as good as it looks on the given night?

[Pacersike]

It’s never as bad or as good as it looks on the given night?

It's never as bad or as good as it looks.

Hield and Nembhard are better choices to start than Mathurin.

[JMaster5K]

A bit from my comment on another post:

I guess I thought the defensive scheme was ok,.. but the execution was slow, which lead to a TON of pressure at the rim and a bunch of open looks. In the Boston game,.. we were just playing a much more cohesive, proactive, committed team, that on top of their execution just went nuclear hot. They were hitting some contested 3's, that I don't think you could have better defended. They just hit them. (When there was decent defense, they went to variations of the DHO or short roll allow Porzingis to open the floor with his playmaking.)

We are a team still under construction. The Celtics are not.

White or Holiday are both just the right combination of too long and too quick for Bruce to defend. When he stayed in front of either of them, he got a hand in their face, and they still just knocked down the shot. When he was forced to tighten up to interrupt the shot,. they just blew past him. That's no knock on Bruce,... Holiday is one of the best in the league, and imo, White has been ridiculously underrated for years. There aren't many teams that are really going to defend the Celtics attack across the entire court this season.

The Pacers are not in the same tier as the Celtics at the moment, but they fought hard, tried to use what they got. I don't really feel like the Pacers lost this game, but that Boston was just that much better, more experienced, more cohesive. They just came out and won the game, no matter what we did. I've seen the Pacers, (again imo) play a lot worse and lose games they should have won.

[Wizop]

I didn't watch. I fell asleep in the pregame, woke up late in the first quarter, saw the score, and changed the channel. expectations need to return to where they were before two early wins gave a false impression.

[basketballwacko2]

My realistic look at this team is 35 wins maybe. Like I said without Haliburton they are terrible.

Center is in good shape with Turner, Theis (if he plays) and Smith/Jackson
PF is a black hole, Toppin may come around but he looks like he did with the Knicks, and Walker is very raw needs time to develop.
SF is meh with Brown who is a good player, but undersized, Nesmith also undersized, and Nwora who is bigger.
SG is fairly good with Buddy, Mathurin and Nembhard
PG is great with Haliburton, Nembhard and TJ

There is a serious size problem with this team, maybe Walker turns into a good PF. I see rebounding as a major issue Boston got 57 and the Pacers got 31. Even though they beat the Cavs they were out rebounded and Mitchell and Allen didn't play.

[Wizop]

My realistic look at this team is 35 wins maybe.

I think that's a bit pessimistic as that would be no improvement over last year. but it doesn't look like we've improved as much as we hoped we had.

[basketballwacko2]

My realistic look at this team is 35 wins maybe.

I think that's a bit pessimistic as that would be no improvement over last year. but it doesn't look like we've improved as much as we hoped we had.

I have them lucky to make 35 if they are healthy and no trades are made. The 2023 draft is looking as bad as I thought it was, no immediate help and the only signing Brown can only be justified by saying they needed to make the floor. He's an ok player but too small to play SF or PF as some suggest. The best they can hope for is 10th in the East.

We have to be realistic about this. We have 78 games to grind through, they'll win the games they should most of the time, and get murdered by the good teams.

[JMaster5K]

My realistic look at this team is 35 wins maybe.

I think that's a bit pessimistic as that would be no improvement over last year. but it doesn't look like we've improved as much as we hoped we had.

I have them lucky to make 35 if they are healthy and no trades are made. The 2023 draft is looking as bad as I thought it was, no immediate help and the only signing Brown can only be justified by saying they needed to make the floor. He's an ok player but too small to play SF or PF as some suggest. The best they can hope for is 10th in the East.

We have to be realistic about this. We have 78 games to grind through, they'll win the games they should most of the time, and get murdered by the good teams.

My post from the thread on 23-24 forecast:

'I think I would be happy with a 35 win season, if we make some real progress on defense and continue to improve the team chemistry. I do think you're right,.. we should expect a season around .500, with a few good breaks we could be a 45 win team.

(Of course,.. I was also fan from 82-83 to 85-86 when we went 20, 26, 22, 26,.. back to back to back,... so, maybe my perspective is a bit questionable..)';

I think we have improved significantly over last year,.. BUT, we may not have improved in ways (yet) that impact our number of wins. Seems like some (not all) of the foundation work is better, but the rest is still a work in progress. Like I previously said, I would be happy with 35 wins with real improvement. I think realistically with injuries, circumstances, hot / cold nights, we should win 38-41 games. If everything falls in our favor, then 41-45 wins.

If I look at this upside down,.. I can only really see 2 teams in the east that should be in a tier below us, Hornets & Wizards. I think there are a few teams in a tier with us, Pistons, Raptors, Hawks, Magic, Pacers. A next tier of Nets, Bulls, Heat. Contenders tier, Celtics, 76er's, Bucks, Cavs, & Knicks. It's almost certain that a team or two from our tier will come together & play into that next tier, that someone from our tier will under play & fall into the tier below, and that a team a tier above us will fall apart & drop into our tier. With that in mind we could finish anywhere from 8th - 11th?

Most likely outcome,. we make the playin as a below .500 team, get bounced in the first round;, and end up in the late lottery?

I do think you're right,. we will win most of the games we are supposed to, 1 or 2 that we aren't,.. we lose most of the games we should, 1 or 2 that we shouldn't. When we face real contending teams, we are likely to have a few truly ugly losses.

As for Brown, there was a lot of hype aroundhim doing all the dirty work, the little things it takes to be successful. So far, I think that's been correct, but he seems to be the only one doing them. It's gotta be a team thing if it's going to lead to team improvement. Otherwise,. he is a good above average NBA player, who fits as a 4th - 5th starter, or 6th man, as a guard, on a contending team. The fact that he is a starter for us, should reset our expectations a bit?

[Pacers Forever]

I watched the Boston game and I agree that we are very bad without Tyrese. Nembhard is not even as consistent nightly as TJ yet. I would have started TJ this game.

I agree that Boston has a superior talented starting 5 which could be the best league wide. The championship is theirs to lose.

The Pacers are in a growth and development phase. I think they will have some off nights and tonight was the first.

If there must be a few off nights hopefully they come against the very best teams that would have been difficult to beat anyway.