Think this Pacers team could have beaten the Raptors?

[boomershadow]

I'm continuing a thought I had on a GB thread. The Raptors are already down 2-0 to the Cavs. Kevin Love looks like an NBA player again. The Raptors offense is struggling at times against a Cavs defense that isn't that amazing, really. I don't think its on par with the pacers D this year.

I wanted to believe that the raptors would exact some revenge for us, but it doesn't look good.

[basketballwacko2]

We beat the Cavs by 18 in game 1 then 34 in game 6. We should have won at least one of the close games 2, 4, 5.

It looks like the Raps are gonna get run in 4. Like last year we gave the LBJ's a better fight than Toronto.

[Jake0890]

Yes.

Like last year, it's beginning to look like we are the only team even remotely capable of taking down LeBron.

[basketballwacko2]

It's because of Lance.

[winter_mute_13]

Hard to say really because LeBron is so dominating. But I think the key difference is that we defended Love really well. In retrospect, putting Thad on Love (instead of on LBJ as I would have done) was a really good move. Of course LBJ still ended up beating us, but they never dominated us offensively (Cavs were a top 5 offense in the regular season).

[Pacers_Freak]

I don't think they would have beaten the Raps. I think it would have been a long series. It is a matchup thing. I think the Pacers match up well with Cleveland, but not Toronto. JV's physicality down low would have been really tough for the Pacers to handle. I've never really like our matchup with Toronto the past couple years.

[granger05]

For whatever reason, we matchup well with Cleveland and have never been intimidated by LeBron. I'd still have Toronto as a favorite in a series vs the Pacers (they are the one seed after all), but this team is pretty resilient and I'd give them a puncher's chance at an upset. It would have been a lot of fun to find out the answer to this question for real. The Pacers just needed to make one more play in any of several games.

I do think that this is where you see the mental side of the game. LeBron James gets his team ready for the next round after a hard fought series. There was no let down. I think that the Pacers may have had a tough game 1 if they had gotten by Cleveland, just too much emotional energy spent on the last one to be ready for the next. Teams that have a long playoff track record know how to put the last game behind them. I think this year was a positive step in that regard. You have to take your lumps first.

[basketballwacko2]

I don't think they would have beaten the Raps. I think it would have been a long series. It is a matchup thing. I think the Pacers match up well with Cleveland, but not Toronto. JV's physicality down low would have been really tough for the Pacers to handle. I've never really like our matchup with Toronto the past couple years.

What do you think will happen if the Raps get swept? Will they decide to tear it down? I would like to have JV at center and Turner back at PF then bring Sabonis off the bench in a 3 player rotation.

[Pacers_Freak]

I don't think they would have beaten the Raps. I think it would have been a long series. It is a matchup thing. I think the Pacers match up well with Cleveland, but not Toronto. JV's physicality down low would have been really tough for the Pacers to handle. I've never really like our matchup with Toronto the past couple years.

What do you think will happen if the Raps get swept? Will they decide to tear it down? I would like to have JV at center and Turner back at PF then bring Sabonis off the bench in a 3 player rotation.

Great question. Not sure.

[Yunsen]

Going into our series with Cleveland I gave us a 30% chance to win. With Toronto I’d give us probably the same chance, if not slightly less. IMO if we did match up with Toronto I would have started Sabonis. Poeltl has too much of a length advantage against him and he could body up Jonas better than Turner could. I don’t think you can underestimate the mental aspect Lebron has over Toronto, something that wouldn’t happen against us.

[8305]

I don't think they would have beaten the Raps. I think it would have been a long series. It is a matchup thing. I think the Pacers match up well with Cleveland, but not Toronto. JV's physicality down low would have been really tough for the Pacers to handle. I've never really like our matchup with Toronto the past couple years.

What do you think will happen if the Raps get swept? Will they decide to tear it down? I would like to have JV at center and Turner back at PF then bring Sabonis off the bench in a 3 player rotation.[/quote

FWIW, I think big plodding centers can still deliver nice stat lines but they don’t win many games. I like the idea of a three man rotation at the 4 and 5 but, I’d rather keep what we have (Thad, Domas, and Myles) than inject a big plodder into it.

[Wizop]

I’d rather keep what we have (Thad, Domas, and Myles) than inject a big plodder into it.

we saw all of the double plodder lineups we'll ever want to see in 16-17.

Sent from my phone.

[Miller4ever]

We would've made it to the Finals and gotten swept

[8305]

We would've made it to the Finals and gotten swept

Agree

[Pacersike]

We will never know. Just like we will never know how far we would have gone if our FO had made this season a target to contend.

It would have been an opportunity to make the ECF again, with Lebron his team being so vulnerable, so Sabonis and Turner better be worth it in the long run.

[Wizop]

Sabonis and Turner better be worth it in the long run.

how would you compare the trio of Dipo, Damo, and Myles to Reggie, Rik, and DD? granted Jordan an Ewing blocked that team but it was a wonderful Pacer decade. if we can find a defender to take on the McKey/Artest role, we should be a 50 win team for a lot of years.

[pizza guy]

Sabonis and Turner better be worth it in the long run.

how would you compare the trio of Dipo, Damo, and Myles to Reggie, Rik, and DD? granted Jordan an Ewing blocked that team but it was a wonderful Pacer decade. if we can find a defender to take on the McKey/Artest role, we should be a 50 win team for a lot of years.

As of right now, there's just not enough data to make that comparison. I think their ceiling as a group is high, and I think those three as the 'core' will have a solid run for a number of years. But the same way Reggie, Rik, and DD had to have Mark and Mullin and AD and Rose, this current trio is going to need plenty of help. Individually, Oladipo might be on his way to Reggie territory if his play continues to impress for roughly 10 years and we do indeed find ourselves as legit contenders. Myles gets the Rik comparison enough, and I think his impact could be the same (still hoping it might be better). Domas plays nothing like DD, but in terms of fan appreciation and importance on the court, I think he's got a good shot. They're just different players, so it's hard to compare them, especially across eras of the game, and especially so early in this current run. Maybe this year was all a big fluke? I don't think so, but only time will tell.

We'll need that McKey defender, a Mark Jackson distributor, and a Jalen Rose scorer. Only, to get by the teams being built in Boston and Philly, the juggernauts of GSW, Houston, and LeBron, and whoever else wants to get in this fight, we'll need even better.

[boomershadow]

It's hard to compare this year's team with the 90s teams directly simply because the game has changed so much since then, and the roles each position plays are fairly different as well. The thing, though, that I liked about the 90s teams was the continuity. We had roleplayers for a number of years that were here on reasonable contracts, knew their role and performed it well and worked on it over the years, and the chemistry of the team seemed really good. Especially compared to the chemistry of the teams that came afterwards lol.

If I'm hoping for anything, it's that Kevin Pritchard keeps true to what he's been saying about chemistry and continuity. Those are super super underrated aspects of building a team.