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They looked awesome earlier this year. They beat the hell out of the Rockets, Clippers, Washington, NYK, Brooklyn and others. Then that game Jan 22 at Phoenix they beat us by 24? WTF? The the game Orlando Feb 9, when our guys blew a 17 point lead in the 3 quarter and lost the game to one of the worst teams in the NBA! Now we are up against ATL who is without it's top player Al Horford and they are taking us 7 games? Beating us on our Floor? Something is bad wrong with this team.

Is it Chemistry? Was the Granger trade that damaging to the teams cohesiveness? Or is there another issue?

I've heard rumors that I don't want to repeat involving a dispute between George Hill and Roy. Roy seems to have lost his mojo and Hill seems to just vanish at times. If we loose this series I'd trade both of them and resign Lance to a 5 yr deals. I like Turner and Allen to come back too.

I know we have a trade thread but I've been exploring Ideas for a trade of one or both of them. I like Hill and Cope to Boston for Rondo and the 17th pick, I'd do it for a 2nd round pick instead of a #1 if that's what it takes. And for Hibbert I think there'd be interest from Portland, Dallas, Phoenix maybe even the Knicks.

We'll find out in the offseason what transpired.

No way Hill/Cope nets us Rondo and Boston's 1st.

Yea, this, among many other interesting off-season topics should be very big topics on this board, but i think we should wait to see how it all plays out. I still think they take the Wiz in this series and Indiana/Miami is what we've dreamed for.

Hoping you guys can turn it around, love watching your pacers play when they're themselves. I think you guys have just lost your identity as a team. I don't understand why Vogel continues to sit Hibbert and sub the way he does. You guys had a great scheme throughout the season with giving HIbbert touches and letting him work/create plays from the post. Him playing more caused opposing teams centers to get in foul trouble, now with him not playing centers can play as aggressive as they want. It doesn't help that the Wizards are on a hot streak, but I think Vogel needs to let Hibbert play himself out of this funk and gain some confidence back, seems like when he plays well you guys win (game 7 he had 13,7,5 in 31 minutes). Wish you guys luck, hope to see the pacers from january this week. Oh and btw, I'll speak on behalf of Philly when I say, Sorry about ET

When your big man Roy can't get a rebound...something is up.

Yeah you guys are the only ones who match up well with the Heat. The Bulls didn't go anywhere as many of you mentioned, but surprised Pacers have struggled so much more.

Anyone's guess if the rumours are true. I'd be shocked if there wasn't personal issues behind this poor performance. I know Vogel said Bynum could still work his way into the side for the playoffs so how badly does Hibbert have to play for Bynum to make an appearance?

Will be an interesting off season that is for sure.

EmperorLocky wrote:Anyone's guess if the rumours are true. I'd be shocked if there wasn't personal issues behind this poor performance. I know Vogel said Bynum could still work his way into the side for the playoffs so how badly does Hibbert have to play for Bynum to make an appearance?

Will be an interesting off season that is for sure.

0 points and 0 rebounds I don't really think he can get any worse. He's flat out not trying.

Starkiller wrote:

EmperorLocky wrote:Anyone's guess if the rumours are true. I'd be shocked if there wasn't personal issues behind this poor performance. I know Vogel said Bynum could still work his way into the side for the playoffs so how badly does Hibbert have to play for Bynum to make an appearance?

Will be an interesting off season that is for sure.

0 points and 0 rebounds I don't really think he can get any worse. He's flat out not trying.

Maybe constant goal tends.

I always thought that locker room chemistry was some mumbo jumbo that the TV analysts throw out there.

but it looks like it can really derail a team.

I mean, Pacers on paper, got better with that Granger trade.

With that said, if they can pass the Wizards (doubtful), they will give the Heat ALL kinds of problems.

they are ALWAYS fired up to play the Heat, and may hate the Heat even more than my Bulls do.

Offense:
No one can create on offense except for Lance Stephenson. And he's not the type of guy you want to be surround your offense with. On top of that, poor spacing from the perimeter makes it difficult for average interior scorers in West and Hibbert to operate. Then a very very simple offense that is easy to read. No bread and butter play.

Basically.. No go to guy. No go to play. And poor spacing and not having a true PG makes it harder for them to execute their offense.

Defensively:
Good defensive personnel but poor defensive system. Then the struggles on offense lowers the teams' energy level and morale making them not on top of their game on defense.

Not bashing. Just an honest view of what I think is the pacers problems.

Perhaps they were overrated and they are who they are.

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm not sure how accurate or true this story is, but everything does seem to fit into the puzzle and make some sense. It's the best reasoning I could see as to why Hibbert has regressed so much.

"Do you remember when Lance Stephenson and Evan Turner got into that fight? It was all over Roy Hibbert and Paul George. Lance has been getting all the blame for the Pacers off nights and during that day at practice Lance says 'y'all need to look at Roy's ass, he's been off ever since he found out PG was f****** his b****'. That's when Evan got mad at him for exposing that in front of everybody and that sparked the fight. Roy just walked away without saying anything but ever since then it's been a bigger downfall in his performance on the court. I don't know for sure, but that might also be the connection to PG's house getting broken into because all of a sudden now he doesn't want investigators involved. Supposedly PG and Hibbert's wife have been carrying on through instagram for a while before they ended up having sex. She felt guilty and told Hibbert and that's how he found out originally. It's bad because PG and Hibbert were really friends."

Read more: http://www.balleralert.com/xn/detail/20 ... z30x8GQM8B

If this really is the case, do you think it's possible Hibbert is purposely playing this bad so he forces the team's hand to trade him? Also, if true, Paul George should be the one that they part ways with. This year has just been terrible for him off the court, and teammate issues like this shouldn't be tolerated.

Here is my ridiculous theory on why Roy Hibbert has gone south

When Lebron elbowed him on that offensive foul he suffered a mild concussion that went undiagnosed. Ever since that game he has been "just off" physically and mentally on the court.

Since nobody really knows why, and we are resorting to just about anything to explain this, I figured might as well add my speculation to the discussion.

It is just baffling.

...c.a.p... wrote:I'm going to preface this by saying I'm not sure how accurate or true this story is, but everything does seem to fit into the puzzle and make some sense. It's the best reasoning I could see as to why Hibbert has regressed so much.
Read more: http://www.balleralert.com/xn/detail/20 ... z30x8GQM8B

If this really is the case, do you think it's possible Hibbert is purposely playing this bad so he forces the team's hand to trade him? Also, if true, Paul George should be the one that they part ways with. This year has just been terrible for him off the court, and teammate issues like this shouldn't be tolerated.

Paul George addressing the rumors on twitter-

[Tweet]@Paul_George24 15m

These rumors have got to stop! Its gettin old now and all you that believe them are ignorant! #Brothers http://instagram.com/p/nrKD-2HMv1/[/Tweet]

I hope you realize, the rumor makes no sense. Theres several different angles to this story as is. According to the rumor, Hibbert found out about it during the all-star break and Vogel and Bird tried to calm everyone down. Now, according to this link, Lance threw them under the bus? Really?

Also, if you've ever been part of any kind of team, even a beer league soccer team that plays once a night, like i am on, i see the fellas once or twice a week (depending if we want to do a scrimmage practice on a sunday or not), and i see all the girlfriends/wives once a week after games at the pub who sponsors us, anything that happens is known throughout the team within a week. When i played high school soccer, and we met on a daily basis, everyone knew, without getting first hand info, who's talking to what girl, who got drunk at some party and who's been trying out drugs.

In the NBA, when you see each other for hours upon hours daily, if George slept with Hibbert's girl, no way it'd not be spread around the team within days.

If your going to play him, GIVE him the BALL.... the guys doesn't get touches unless there is 5 seconds on the clock, someone has over dribbled into the lane, then decides to give him the ball in a crowd under the rim.

just attempted to "and1" my own comment; it was that good.

give the guy the ball if you want him to have an opportunity to score. well done vogel...

game 3... David West and Lance go OFF!

I gave you two, just because I agree entirely haha

I have watched all Pacers games this year, there have been so many instances where Roy simply didn't get the ball despite having position or got the ball even though he didn't have position. It is basic basketball 101, your big man needs to have confidence and he will pay you back on the defensive end. Hibbert is capable of hitting 18 ppg on average throughout the season, I agree that he doesn't have to, but it should be a team effort to ensure he gets it regularly enough to stay happy.

EuroPacer wrote:I gave you two, just because I agree entirely haha

I have watched all Pacers games this year, there have been so many instances where Roy simply didn't get the ball despite having position or got the ball even though he didn't have position. It is basic basketball 101, your big man needs to have confidence and he will pay you back on the defensive end. Hibbert is capable of hitting 18 ppg on average throughout the season, I agree that he doesn't have to, but it should be a team effort to ensure he gets it regularly enough to stay happy.

I think you make a valid point. Both Hibbert and Hill took heat for disappearing at the end of the season. But what people were not picking up on was Paul George and Lance Stephenson's dominance of the ball and the impact that had on the production of Hill and Hibbert. Beyond Roy's remergence I liked that George Hill was keeping the ball and setting up the offense and Lance was cast more in the offensive role he had last year in the playoffs.

Moving forward I'm concerned that Lance accepts having the ball a little less. That could be a problem next game up as well as next season if he's resigned.

Starkiller wrote:

EmperorLocky wrote:Anyone's guess if the rumours are true. I'd be shocked if there wasn't personal issues behind this poor performance. I know Vogel said Bynum could still work his way into the side for the playoffs so how badly does Hibbert have to play for Bynum to make an appearance?

Will be an interesting off season that is for sure.

0 points and 0 rebounds I don't really think he can get any worse. He's flat out not trying.

Roy was none existent in game 1 but has looked better in games 2 and 3. Maybe we're back? IDK lets hope.