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Nembhard is back. Nesmith still out. Tyrese has a wrapped wrist but is playing.

The Magic beat the Celtics today, meaning that a Pacers win tonight guarantees that they will play at home in the Quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament.

Very unimpressive first half down 63-61 to the 2 win Pistons. You guessed it. Lack of defense and getting out rebounded 28-13.

Detroit has size. We played Stix some at 4 to matchup.

Great 4th quarter to win this tough game. Brown, Nembhard, and Myles stepping up huge defensively to create offense from it.

Haliburton and Hield on the bench most of 4th quarter.

I'm liking what Jackson brings to the team, aggressive rebounding and rim protection

Topofthekey wrote:I'm liking what Jackson brings to the team, aggressive rebounding and rim protection

With the depth, youth, and roster construction one of the benefits is unique skill sets individual players possess on this team.

The detriment currently is that the youthful roster has less well rounded experienced players possessing many skills each. Hopefully some develop their games to become stars here.

Examples tonight were I-Jax and Smith together were bringing some offense in the paint, 3’s, blocks, and rebounding as neither have matured their games enough to provide all of that. Smith obviously is ahead in his development.

Also Mathurin brought offense while Nembhard was providing defense and point guard duties in the 4th quarter. Obviously until Ben learns defensive skills Andrew is a bit more advanced.

As a whole it gives Carlisle a mix and match opportunity until either the roster matures into more multi skilled players or those needed pieces are acquired in the future.

While the team is fun to watch so far this season, there’s so much growth that needs to happen in order to remain a playoff team. They’re just so young and inexperienced NBA wise.

The acquisition of Bruce Brown in my opinion has been a huge boost to the team this year because of the way he defends and makes plays. Hopefully he sharpens the youngsters games.

Conversely Obi Toppin has a lot of work to do to remain here. His defense and rebounding must improve. His offense is hit and miss.

So no surprise that the more veteran Hield, Brown, Haliburton, and Turner are starting currently. They’re still missing a big experienced 4 as I think Smith has become the backup 5 for the future. Nesmith is not the answer at 4 even though I hope they retain him for his defensive abilities.

they got a lot of defense from this lineup: Nembhard, Brown, Mathurin, Toppin, and Turner.

Wizop wrote:they got a lot of defense from this lineup: Nembhard, Brown, Mathurin, Toppin, and Turner.

I thought the defensive stops started prior to Turner and Toppin re-entering the game. Pretty sure Smith and Jackson were manning the 4 and 5. In any event, have to wonder if we might see a lineup of Hali, Nembhard, Brown, Nesmith and Turner closing games. I’d like to think that group could get defensive stops.

Nembhard and Brown belong in a defensive lineup. Stix and iJax are much improved and the hope is Walker will figure things out. I think we're still in an experimental phase.