Game Thread 10/21: Pacers vs. Heat

[Pacersike]

Lance Stephenson major contender for 16th man of the year award aka player that helps your opponent more than he helps you.

Bogdanovic having as much turnovers as assists, rebounds, steals, blocks combined, that's impressive in a tragic way.

At least we know now that Turner is the real deal and that we have some other (very) good players as well considering how god awful our small forwards are playing. Congratulations to Wilkins for fooling everyone, if that is supposed to be ready to play in the NBA, than I'm ready for the Pacers front office job.

All other players have shown positive things though. Even Al Jefferson. We just need a decent small forward, badly.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

New prediction... 25 wins, top 3 pick. We may actually need that more than anything. We could use any of Porter, Bagley, Ayton, Doncic, Bamba or Bridges.

It wouldn't be that bad if they get another top 5-6 pick in 2019 too. Leaf is 20, Turner is 21, Sabonis is 21, Olidipo 25.

Problem is 90% of the top players are PF/C's haha.

That said, I saw this video of Ayton earlier.

Watch on YouTube

That guy looks like he is going to be a monster.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Really have to hand it to these guys, still fighting.

I was just going to come here and say that. Major props to the team for not giving up and keep fighting. Last years Pacers would've thrown in the towel and lost by 25.

Hey old friend, its DGrangeRx33 if you remember haha.

[Grang33r]

Really have to hand it to these guys, still fighting.

I was just going to come here and say that. Major props to the team for not giving up and keep fighting. Last years Pacers would've thrown in the towel and lost by 25.

Hey old friend, its DGrangeRx33 if you remember haha.

haha of course i remember, you were one of my favorite posters! Welcome back!

[CableKC]

All I care about is Sabonis, Dipo, Leaf and Myles getting minutes. Sabonis will get some good burn until Myles return. I hope that even when he does, AlJeff is going to go back to garbage or no minutes. The team appears to be more of a hustle and rebounding team with a Myles/Sabonis frontcourt.

[cruwinas]

All I care about is Sabonis, Dipo, Leaf and Myles getting minutes. Sabonis will get some good burn until Myles return. I hope that even when he does, AlJeff is going to go back to garbage or no minutes. The team appears to be more of a hustle and rebounding team with a Myles/Sabonis frontcourt.

Sabonis always plays with grit. His physicality punishes opponents and he does all the little things. He enjoys the game and is a true warrior.

[CableKC]

All I care about is Sabonis, Dipo, Leaf and Myles getting minutes. Sabonis will get some good burn until Myles return. I hope that even when he does, AlJeff is going to go back to garbage or no minutes. The team appears to be more of a hustle and rebounding team with a Myles/Sabonis frontcourt.

Sabonis always plays with grit. His physicality punishes opponents and he does all the little things. He enjoys the game and is a true warrior.

Defensively, I think that due to the increased pace.....we won't be able to adequately defend the perimeter like before. But I am hoping that we return to playing with physicality, protecting the rim and return to being a top 5 rebounding Team. I am hoping that Sabonis can help with that alongside Myles.

[winter_mute_13]

As a die hard Lance fan, I'm getting concerned. He's looking like the player who couldn't cut it with the Hornets and the Clippers. I don't know what's wrong with him, is it that he can't handle high expectations? Maybe he needs to see Hibbert's shrink.

The Pacers are kind of stuck though, at least for this year. Not financially, thankfully, but the bench offense is designed to be the Lance show. Quite frankly we don't have a lot of shot creators on the roster. It's basically Turner, Dipo, and Lance, and for the past 2 games we've seen how ugly it could get with Turner out.

Lance needs to snap out of whatever is bothering him.

[winter_mute_13]

Defensively, I think that due to the increased pace.....we won't be able to adequately defend the perimeter like before.

Part of the problem is that Dipo is our best defensive wing, but also is pretty much the only source of offense. He probably can't handle the workload of both - even PG's defense lapsed considerably because of his scoring workload.

The other part is that our rim protection hasn't been great, especially with Turner out. It's been a layup line at times.

[CableKC]

Defensively, I think that due to the increased pace.....we won't be able to adequately defend the perimeter like before.

Part of the problem is that Dipo is our best defensive wing, but also is pretty much the only source of offense. He probably can't handle the workload of both - even PG's defense lapsed considerably because of his scoring workload.

The other part is that our rim protection hasn't been great, especially with Turner out. It's been a layup line at times.

In terms of Rim Protection, I know that we will struggle without Myles. I just like a Frontcourt of Myles providing the Rim Protection and then Sabonis providing any janitorial cleanup on the Defensive Rebounding end.

As for our Starting Wing and Perimeter defense; for now, we don't have our future Starting SF. So, I know that our Starting Lineup and future rotation is a work in progress. My hope is that we can find a 3D Tweener Forward <<< COUGH COUGH Robert Covington COUGH COUGH >>>

[Pacers_Freak]

As a die hard Lance fan, I'm getting concerned. He's looking like the player who couldn't cut it with the Hornets and the Clippers. I don't know what's wrong with him, is it that he can't handle high expectations? Maybe he needs to see Hibbert's shrink.

The Pacers are kind of stuck though, at least for this year. Not financially, thankfully, but the bench offense is designed to be the Lance show. Quite frankly we don't have a lot of shot creators on the roster. It's basically Turner, Dipo, and Lance, and for the past 2 games we've seen how ugly it could get with Turner out.

Lance needs to snap out of whatever is bothering him.

I had a fear of this coming into the season. He was awesome last year but it was a short sample size and he was given a 2nd chance. Hopefully it is just a little slump, but I think there is a cause for concern.