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THE SKINNY



It is the first playoff game for the Pacers in 4 years, and the 1st playoff game for most of the active roster. Chicago has the best record in the NBA, and the Pacers lag behind by 25 wins. Many have written the Pacers off as a sweep, and most Pacer fans themselves don't expect any miracles. However, it's about moving forward and experience. This young squad is looking to grow together, and trial by fire may be the best motivation for improvement in this offseason.

THE LINEUPS



Point Guard

Darren Collison has been eaten alive by the equal quickness and superior size of Derrick Rose. Most likely Collison will guard the 2. On offense he needs to make sound decisions and not be afraid to take it at people. Any chance to run must be seized, and any chance to pin fouls on bigs must also be taken.

Shooting Guard

Paul George heads the superior Pacers 2-spot, but with so much foul trouble and inconsistent play, it will be hard to tell whether he will be a factor or not. If George is going to be the wing of the future for these Pacers, he's going to have to show some flashes of it in this series.

Small Forward

Danny Granger has had critics question his effort on defense, his commitment to team play, his ability to take care of the ball, his ability to rebound, his ability to pass, his shot selection, and even the color of his bench-side civvies. This s do or die time for a man who is the leader of the team moving forward. If he doesn't elevate his game for the playoffs, it may be time to look to someone else to be the primary voice of the players.

Power Forward

Tyler Hansbrough is no stranger to playoffs. However, he is now playing one of the most elite teams at the most elite level for best-of-7 instead of one-and-done. His effort and passion has never been questioned. What remains to be seen is whether or not he can transform that into production.

Center

Roy Hibbert has had an up-and-down year. Promise and whispering of an all-star selection faded into despair and it levelled out somewhere around hopeful. He holds the key to this series. Time and time again history has taught that the playoffs are for big men to make the difference. In what looks to be a physical, defensive series, Hibbert must step up and be the anchor the Pacers need.

THE BENCH







The Goon Squad must live up to its name. Between the savvy Foster and the quick-draw AJ Price, the second unit cannot hide behind the first unit, especially against a stronger opponent.

THE COACHES




Coach of the Year candidate Tom Thibodeau has had a long time to acclimate himself to the coach's seat. In the Bull's 3rd win against the Pacers, Jim O'Brien got kicked out of the game, and was replaced by Frank Vogel days after. Now, Vogel heads into the playoffs with a winning record under his belt. The players have believed him in the past when facing adversity. Now, with the world against them, the Pacers and their fearless leader will be tested.

THE INJURY REPORT



Pacers
None.

Bulls
Ronnie Brewer - Thumb: Probably.

THE HEAVY MATTERS



-They say Rose needs to be contained. Funnily enough, the Pacers allowed him to go off for 42 in their lone win against this squad.
-Win the battle inside. A lot of things have to go right for an upset, but controlling the boards and getting looks inside is a surefire method of victory.

THE TRADITION

Sheesh. By the time I got to the bottom of the post, I had completely forgotten what this was about...

damn, pacers fans doing a playoff thread right. i like.

This thread = #Winning.

I'm torn as a Bulls fan now. I definitely want the Bulls to win, but I really wouldn't mind seeing Pacers game threads for the next two months!

Let's get it done.

Wait theres a game on??

I totally forgot after looking at them 'stats'

Brewer is going to be ready to go this game...he is going to be seeing the most minutes at SG. Also you have to take into account for Taj and Kurt Thomas when talking about our bigs. With Taj, KT and Asik we are very deep on the front line! We have a deep bench in general.

The one match up that could be interesting is Hansbrough vs Boozer. While Granger is your best player, Psycho T could get going offensively on Booz depending on how interested Carlos is to playing defense.

BTW...kudos on the thread

Miller4ever sure knows how to make a game thread right.

What were we talking about?? I somehow lost my train of thought...

My god, come make some of our game threads please.

What the **** is basketball? I just got lobotomized. Fell free to post on the Bulls board any time you want.

PS- Stroke of genius, it should be required to post pics like that if you are going to troll another board. It should become common courtesy.

PPS- Can I stay here for the series? If you post like this all the time we will never go home.

awesome. it'll be just like the 90s when the pacers played 5 on 8 against the chicago bull.

I usually don't post on opposing teams' forums, but bajeeeeezes. Well done, sir.

Good luck guys.

Heres to a fun, tough and clean series!

Ready to have some fun. Good luck Pacers & Bulls fans alike.

Damn, going to miss this game due to work. Hope the Pacers pull off the upset, or at the very least remain competitive throughout the game.

Miller4ever wrote:


THE SKINNY



It is the first playoff game for the Pacers in 4 years, and the 1st playoff game for most of the active roster. Chicago has the best record in the NBA, and the Pacers lag behind by 25 wins. Many have written the Pacers off as a sweep, and most Pacer fans themselves don't expect any miracles. However, it's about moving forward and experience. This young squad is looking to grow together, and trial by fire may be the best motivation for improvement in this offseason.

THE LINEUPS



Point Guard

Darren Collison has been eaten alive by the equal quickness and superior size of Derrick Rose. Most likely Collison will guard the 2. On offense he needs to make sound decisions and not be afraid to take it at people. Any chance to run must be seized, and any chance to pin fouls on bigs must also be taken.

Shooting Guard

Paul George heads the superior Pacers 2-spot, but with so much foul trouble and inconsistent play, it will be hard to tell whether he will be a factor or not. If George is going to be the wing of the future for these Pacers, he's going to have to show some flashes of it in this series.

Small Forward

Danny Granger has had critics question his effort on defense, his commitment to team play, his ability to take care of the ball, his ability to rebound, his ability to pass, his shot selection, and even the color of his bench-side civvies. This s do or die time for a man who is the leader of the team moving forward. If he doesn't elevate his game for the playoffs, it may be time to look to someone else to be the primary voice of the players.

Power Forward

Tyler Hansbrough is no stranger to playoffs. However, he is now playing one of the most elite teams at the most elite level for best-of-7 instead of one-and-done. His effort and passion has never been questioned. What remains to be seen is whether or not he can transform that into production.

Center

Roy Hibbert has had an up-and-down year. Promise and whispering of an all-star selection faded into despair and it levelled out somewhere around hopeful. He holds the key to this series. Time and time again history has taught that the playoffs are for big men to make the difference. In what looks to be a physical, defensive series, Hibbert must step up and be the anchor the Pacers need.

THE BENCH







The Goon Squad must live up to its name. Between the savvy Foster and the quick-draw AJ Price, the second unit cannot hide behind the first unit, especially against a stronger opponent.

THE COACHES



Coach of the Year candidate Tom Thibodeau has had a long time to acclimate himself to the coach's seat. In the Bull's 3rd win against the Pacers, Jim O'Brien got kicked out of the game, and was replaced by Frank Vogel days after. Now, Vogel heads into the playoffs with a winning record under his belt. The players have believed him in the past when facing adversity. Now, with the world against them, the Pacers and their fearless leader will be tested.

THE INJURY REPORT



Pacers
None.

Bulls
Ronnie Brewer - Thumb: Probably.

THE HEAVY MATTERS

Hansbourgh has never played in the playoffs.

George has more up side but avg 7 pts.

Well Bogans will do what he asked.

The superior 2 spot. Your 2s are dreadful. George only fouls and Rush is terrible.

Stop Kyle Korver & You'd do alot better than what you expect

Kravitz was being his usual sweet self in the Star today, with, as usual, absolutely nothing good to say about the Pacers.

Look, the Bulls are in all probability going to win this series--the only thing reasonably in question is how competititve the series will be.

Kravitz says the Bulls are a lot more talented than the Pacers. It's the LOT part that I question. People tend to forget that last season the Bulls were just another so-so team. They would still be another so-so team but for their highly unlikely acquisition a couple of seasons ago of Derrick Rose. The fact that the NBA brass clearly desires a strong franchise in big-market tradition-rich Chicago makes me question if that acquisition wasn't somehow "arranged," but that's another discussion entirely.

I personally don't see any position, starting or bench, other than Rose's where the Bulls are strictly in terms of talent clearly superior to the Pacers. In fact, I think we match up with them pretty well overall. Noah clearly better than Hibbert? Not buying it. Deng better than Granger? Ditto. Boozer better than Hansborough? I think Psycho T will give Boozer problems. Any of our shooting guards are clearly as good or better than Bogans or Brewer. They have a good bench--so do we.

The real difference between these two teams isn't talent--it's chemistry and a winning mindset. The Bulls have both. At present we don't. But in a year or two, with some solid playoff experience under our belts, the comparison might look much different.

I'm just tired of the negativism. You don't have to be a pollyanna homer, but there's an enormous difference between being a realist and a being black-hole pessimist, a difference Kravitz never seems to recognize.

I don't want anyone saying writerman said the Pacers are going to upset the Bulls. A lot of things would have to go very right for the Pacers and very wrong for the Bulls for that to happen. The Bulls are heavily favored, and rightfully so. But just in terms of talent I don't see the enormous gap Kravitz sees. I think the Pacers have the talent to make this a competitive series. The question is, will they have the will and the team chemistry and the focus to do so? At this point in the development of this young team, probably not.