PG Indy - GARY TRENT JR. - Big Third Quarter Cuts it to 2-1

[KidA24]

Doc might have stumbled onto something.

Second half heart was great, keep it going.

Not a coincidence that TP and Brook hardly played in the second half.

This is why you let Brook walk. I’d rather they keep Sims than Brook for next season.

[tedbrogen]

There you go. Turns out 115-120 points is enough to win a playoff game if you play effective defence.

Fantastic second half by everyone on both ends.

Absolute domination by GT and GA.

Excellent D, even Dame showing up on that end. One of the few games where he stops more points than he scores. Hopefully he gets his legs under him so he can contribute more on the scoreboard.

smh. If we played this level of D in the last two minutes of Game 2, we are up 2-1.

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They couldn’t play that level of D at the end of game two because Kuz was out there blowing assignments.

[tedbrogen]

Trent kept getting (and making) wide open shots. GOAT coach Carlisle made no adjustments and had no answers.

With Giannis your choice is give him looks at the rim or give up open threes. Not sure what Carlisle can do. When they rotated to cover GTJ, AJG started banging 30 footers.

Luckily for them Doc was letting Prince/Kuz/Brook eat up a lot of those open looks off Giannis’ gravity in the first two games and even some in the first half tonight.

[tedbrogen]

Doc might have stumbled onto something.

Second half heart was great, keep it going.

Not a coincidence that TP and Brook hardly played in the second half.

This is why you let Brook walk. I’d rather they keep Sims than Brook for next season.

He’s also awful and should have played less tonight. He’s just less slightly awful than TP and Brook. Kuz ideal role on the current team would be bringing him in when Giannis sits and hope his offball cuts get you some buckets. So 10-15 mins per game max and never out there with Giannis.

[tedbrogen]

You play Dame because if he’s on he’s on like Trent and that can happen often. He also pulls guys because of his ability. He’s healthy, just shaking the rust off.

This. He has gravity even when not hitting and can also generate looks for others in the PnR. If he’s playing D like he did tonight, he’s a massive positive even if his shot isn’t falling.

[Baddy Chuck]

Doc might have stumbled onto something.

Second half heart was great, keep it going.

Not a coincidence that TP and Brook hardly played in the second half.

This is why you let Brook walk. I’d rather they keep Sims than Brook for next season.

To each their own. Brook is a situational big. This is a situation where he's pretty useless. We always knew this was a possibility. There's series where he'd be useful, he's always useful in the regular season. Sims is showing promise, if Brook is accepting some team friendly deal to stay on I'd gladly take him back, there's room for all the guys we got and a huge hole if we lose pretty much any of them.

[aboveAverage]

Just watched the replay of the game. My thoughts:

1. The defensive intensity was there throughout the entire game, which is very encouraging. Even though the first half was poor, it wasn’t because of the defensive effort. It was because of the lineups. See more below. Hopefully the effort switch on defense has been flipped for every player.

2. Brook was useless and has been this entire series. It’s not his fault - the effort was there, but he’s just a terrible matchup for the Pacers. He was relegated to being a three point shooter, which doesn’t help us at the moment because he’s not making shots. He’s too slow to do anything else. There was one play where he tried to seal off his man down in the paint, but we turned it over and he couldn’t get back on defense fast enough.

2. Kuzma was also pretty terrible despite the few cuts to the basket that he converted on. He ruins our spacing and doesn’t do much else.

3. The second half lineup after Brook went out was the recipe to beat the Pacers. No Brook, very little of Kuz (hopefully none in the rest of the series), and every player could switch and recover on defense. The spacing was good too.

4. I don’t think this series is winnable if Dame doesn’t start playing better. I appreciate his commitment on defense tonight, but we were playing most of the game without a point guard. Indiana is going to adjust and stay tighter on GTJ and AJ, and we desperately need Dame to produce on the offensive end.

5. GTJ was perfect tonight. What a performance. AJ Green as well. He was everywhere on both ends of the court.

6. Sims and Bobby need to play more. They’re active and crash the boards.

7. Giannis was fantastic as usual. He’s our engine.

Overall we can win this series if Dame starts producing and if Brook and Kuz get benched. I’m not sure if Doc will make that easy adjustment though.

[pifhluk23]

If you want to use him as a post up big to hang fouls on Turner and Siakam, I could squint and maybe see some utility in spurts.

You cant even use him as that because he's to slow to get back on D from the paint. He's should be collecting DNPs this series if we actually want to win.

[MickeyDavis]

When your shots not falling but you play your ass off on defense I tip my hat to you

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[Daver]

It’s hilarious how starting an actual SG at SG, something most of us on here have been calling for for months now, makes the starting lineup go from awful to playing the Pacers even.

Imagine how good the starting lineup would look by pulling Kuz and his space killing for another shooter and pulling slow Brook for a center that can go full switch.

I dont know for the longest time this board was hsppy playing non SGs at the SG spot.All i heard in the start was you dont need a shooter at the 2 have enough scoring so 85% of this board was happy fu... ajax was the guy.Very few wanted trent in there even if he got hosed out if his spot back because of injury but you are so spot on its beautiful to see

[jute2003]

When your shots not falling but you play your ass off on defense I tip my hat to you

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He was significantly more active and engaged on defense last night. Quick hands and good physicality. His shot needs to come back but he wasn't a negative last night

[Daver]

When your shots not falling but you play your ass off on defense I tip my hat to you

Read on Twitter

He was significantly more active and engaged on defense last night. Quick hands and good physicality. His shot needs to come back but he wasn't a negative last night

That block was a beauty sure as hell surprised siakim lol.2 blocks for him

[BigO]

Just watched the replay of the game. My thoughts:

1. The defensive intensity was there throughout the entire game, which is very encouraging. Even though the first half was poor, it wasn’t because of the defensive effort. It was because of the lineups. See more below. Hopefully the effort switch on defense has been flipped for every player.

2. Brook was useless and has been this entire series. It’s not his fault - the effort was there, but he’s just a terrible matchup for the Pacers. He was relegated to being a three point shooter, which doesn’t help us at the moment because he’s not making shots. He’s too slow to do anything else. There was one play where he tried to seal off his man down in the paint, but we turned it over and he couldn’t get back on defense fast enough.

2. Kuzma was also pretty terrible despite the few cuts to the basket that he converted on. He ruins our spacing and doesn’t do much else.

3. The second half lineup after Brook went out was the recipe to beat the Pacers. No Brook, very little of Kuz (hopefully none in the rest of the series), and every player could switch and recover on defense. The spacing was good too.

4. I don’t think this series is winnable if Dame doesn’t start playing better. I appreciate his commitment on defense tonight, but we were playing most of the game without a point guard. Indiana is going to adjust and stay tighter on GTJ and AJ, and we desperately need Dame to produce on the offensive end.

5. GTJ was perfect tonight. What a performance. AJ Green as well. He was everywhere on both ends of the court.

6. Sims and Bobby need to play more. They’re active and crash the boards.

7. Giannis was fantastic as usual. He’s our engine.

Overall we can win this series if Dame starts producing and if Brook and Kuz get benched. I’m not sure if Doc will make that easy adjustment though.

All excellent points. You and Ted brogen are going to put me out of business if you two keep putting out flawless posts.

[ShootingtheJ]

When your shots not falling but you play your ass off on defense I tip my hat to you

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He was significantly more active and engaged on defense last night. Quick hands and good physicality. His shot needs to come back but he wasn't a negative last night

I wouldn't pay $48.7 million for Pat Beverly, and he's no Beverly. Still got destroyed in switches. Dude needs to continue to defend, make some shots, or chuck less. KPJ is the better defender if that's all we're getting from the PG. We won in spite of Dame.

I couldn't imagine how crucified Giannis would get if he ever shot 2-12 for 7 points.

[ShootingtheJ]

I could see a monster GTJ type game from Portis if he's given a start. Keep tweaking the starting lineup Doc. Portis absolutely needs to be in there.

[ShootingtheJ]

Rollins needs to return to the rotation. We don't have enough defenders without him to move on from Kuzma, and we need to move on from Kuzma because he's killing the offense.

[ShootingtheJ]

The Pacers have no answer for PG Giannis with GTJ and AJG setting him ghost screens. Spam the heck out of that. It's such an easy action, never a turnover.

[MickeyDavis]

When your shots not falling but you play your ass off on defense I tip my hat to you

Read on Twitter

He was significantly more active and engaged on defense last night. Quick hands and good physicality. His shot needs to come back but he wasn't a negative last night

I wouldn't pay $48.7 million for Pat Beverly, and he's no Beverly. Still got destroyed in switches. Dude needs to continue to defend, make some shots, or chuck less. KPJ is the better defender if that's all we're getting from the PG. We won in spite of Dame.

I couldn't imagine how crucified Giannis would get if he ever shot 2-12 for 7 points.

I get the Dame hate from you and yes he needs to shoot better. But he played very good defense last night no matter how much you don't want to admit it.

[Bucksmaniac]

When your shots not falling but you play your ass off on defense I tip my hat to you

Read on Twitter

He was significantly more active and engaged on defense last night. Quick hands and good physicality. His shot needs to come back but he wasn't a negative last night

I wouldn't pay $48.7 million for Pat Beverly, and he's no Beverly. Still got destroyed in switches. Dude needs to continue to defend, make some shots, or chuck less. KPJ is the better defender if that's all we're getting from the PG. We won in spite of Dame.

I couldn't imagine how crucified Giannis would get if he ever shot 2-12 for 7 points.

He’s sometimes that bad from the line and that’s unguarded and sometimes even when he’s in shape. I will give it another game or two before I truly bemoan his shooting coming off this stint of no basketball.

[ShootingtheJ]

He was significantly more active and engaged on defense last night. Quick hands and good physicality. His shot needs to come back but he wasn't a negative last night

I wouldn't pay $48.7 million for Pat Beverly, and he's no Beverly. Still got destroyed in switches. Dude needs to continue to defend, make some shots, or chuck less. KPJ is the better defender if that's all we're getting from the PG. We won in spite of Dame.

I couldn't imagine how crucified Giannis would get if he ever shot 2-12 for 7 points.

I get the Dame hate from you and yes he needs to shoot better. But he played very good defense last night no matter how much you don't want to admit it.

Siakam had a great shooting night thanks to Dame getting switched onto him, no matter how much you want to admit it.

Typical Dame night, people get distracted by the highlights and ignore the whole body of work.