2025 NBA PLAYOFFS East Semifinals: #1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 2-0)

[basketballwacko2]

How about the stats again tonight Tyrese with 9 assists and zero turnovers! Turner 23 points 8 rebounds and 5 blocks. And Nembhard with 13 points and assists but 8 TO's almost a triple double!!

[Nuntius]

Carlisle really trusts his guys

He does. We had a timeout left there at the end. Down 2, 10 seconds to go, he could have definitely taken it and no one would bat an eye. But he chose to trust his guys and let them play. And we hit a 3 for a walk-off win.

If Hali doesn't hit that shot, Carlisle was going to be getting heavily criticized for not taking that timeout.

[soboMP3]

Carlisle really trusts his guys

He does. We had a timeout left there at the end. Down 2, 10 seconds to go, he could have definitely taken it and no one would bat an eye. But he chose to trust his guys and let them play. And we hit a 3 for a walk-off win.

If Hali doesn't hit that shot, Carlisle was going to be getting heavily criticized for not taking that timeout.

I disagree. They already stole homecourt. I think he was letting them go for even more of a dagger. If not? Oh well home court. If he hits it? Oof.

[IMF]

Damn if the Nuggets get past the Thunder, their chances are looking very good, especially if the Knicks manage to knock out the Celtics too.

I can’t see Denver keeping up with Indiana or New York’s offenses, even if they got past OKC & Minny

OKC is the team that scares me.

I think Indiana can play with any of the rest.

[Doranku]

Just watched the end of the game. Why are the Cavs having low IQ players like Okoro and Max Strus inbounding the ball at the end of the game?

[youOK]

Some of the comments in here are pretty crazy in the context of the actual game. I thought the Pacers played horribly for the most part this game, considering they had 17 turnovers with Nembhard contributing 8, almost all before the 4th quarter. Whatever their basketball plan around Nembhard bringing up the ball and isoing with Siakhim and Haliburton not touching the ball for most of the game was criminal, and Mitchell almost beat them by himself because of it.

Haliburton was super clutch when it mattered and took over the game in the last two minutes, but it is still ridiculous that he did not touch the ball for most of the game. Even if he doesn't shoot/score a ton, he should bring the ball up the court to facilitate. What frustrated me with Hali a little in this game is not his ability to drive to the basket and either score or kick out and facilitate, but the fact that he was largely invisible for most of it and the Pacers somehow thought Nembhard dribbling the air out of the ball for 15 seconds every possession is a smart strategy. All is forgiven, and they were clutch when it mattered, but they need to be much more focused and disciplined to advance further. Put the ball in Hali's hands the whole game and let him run with it for better or worse. I like Nembhard a lot but he needs to realize when its not going well for him and take a back seat, when he's on, fire away.

[soboMP3]

Just watched the end of the game. Why are the Cavs having low IQ players like Okoro and Max Strus inbounding the ball at the end of the game?

Took a chapter from the Doc Rivers playbook.

[IMF]

Pacers and cavs fans need to get a room. Too respectful in here... what is this

That's what happens when you play the Pacers. Ask some of your Knicks brethren like cgf and Capn'O

Hoosier vibe is turning enemies into friends.

It’s not entirely working with Bucks fans

[Doranku]

Feel so bad for Spida, man. His teammates never show up in the playoffs.

[Jellybeans]

So now we call fouls like last one against Hali in playoffs or in general?

[Nuntius]

Pacers and cavs fans need to get a room. Too respectful in here... what is this

That's what happens when you play the Pacers. Ask some of your Knicks brethren like cgf and Capn'O

Hoosier vibe is turning enemies into friends.

It’s not entirely working with Bucks fans

I'm not even a Hoosier but I guess that there's a reason why I chose the Pacers as my team

[baldur]

You have 46 seconds left, lead by 7 and got the ball. Even if you just keep the ball and make shot clock violation twice, you would have won. Ridiculous meltdown by the cavs.

[pepe1991]

Cavs complete lack of focus in last 5 min killed it for them. I don't think series is over, if they can scrap 2/3 hurt players to play, they will be dangerous. But you simply can't lose game where you are up by 7 and there is only 48 sec to play.

If you can't rebound FTs, put Tristan Thompson in for 5 sec to box out Pacers wings.

[yoadknux]

Has anyone noticed that when the buzzer rang, Strus ran to Hali and pushed him, and to avoid unnecessary crap Turner and Nesmith did a sandwiched celebration

[threethehardway]

Why are you saying this like it is a bad thing? Being elite in the pick and roll, hitting teammates with good passes and being a competent 3 point shooter leading to a high quality offense is literally the idea "true PG". Teams don't need to be constructed around outdated isolation players like it is the late 90s. Your takes reek of someone who lives for instagram reels.

Because you have situations where your "true PG" watches an inferior guard ruin possession after possession for 46 minutes because he doesn't want to make a mistake or impose his will on the game despite the fact that he's going against a team without 3 of their best players and he's supposedly the best player on his own team.

I think we all saw the "true PG" of the 90s and 2000s and how ineffective they were at winning championships because they didn't take over games when they should've and wanted to "play the right way".

It's not a coincidence that the last PG led team was a guy that routinely dropping 40 points in 3 quarters and was sitting out the 4th.

You think Steph Curry would watch Shaun Livingston or Andre Iguodala have 8 turnovers against a squad without their 3 best players with the opposing star going off?

People need to re-watch this game and see how timid and ineffective Haliburton was against a team without 3 of their best players and then tell me how that "true PG" stuff works in practice.

If the player with the ball in their hands the most cannot or refuses to impose their will on the game, they aren't that valuable.

Haliburton has pretty stats and when he's front-running, he makes the game look easy, but I never seen a "star" not wanting to be a "star" unless it's going his way or when it's time to take the last shot just in case it goes in so he can get the credit.

[IMF]

That's what happens when you play the Pacers. Ask some of your Knicks brethren like cgf and Capn'O

Hoosier vibe is turning enemies into friends.

It’s not entirely working with Bucks fans

I'm not even a Hoosier but I guess that there's a reason why I chose the Pacers as my team

If anyone is an honorary Hoosier it’s you dude, you’ve earned that 10 times over.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Some of the comments in here are pretty crazy in the context of the actual game. I thought the Pacers played horribly for the most part this game, considering they had 17 turnovers with Nembhard contributing 8, almost all before the 4th quarter. Whatever their basketball plan around Nembhard bringing up the ball and isoing with Siakhim and Haliburton not touching the ball for most of the game was criminal, and Mitchell almost beat them by himself because of it.

Haliburton was super clutch when it mattered and took over the game in the last two minutes, but it is still ridiculous that he did not touch the ball for most of the game. Even if he doesn't shoot/score a ton, he should bring the ball up the court to facilitate. What frustrated me with Hali a little in this game is not his ability to drive to the basket and either score or kick out and facilitate, but the fact that he was largely invisible for most of it and the Pacers somehow thought Nembhard dribbling the air out of the ball for 15 seconds every possession is a smart strategy. All is forgiven, and they were clutch when it mattered, but they need to be much more focused and disciplined to advance further. Put the ball in Hali's hands the whole game and let him run with it for better or worse. I like Nembhard a lot but he needs to realize when its not going well for him and take a back seat, when he's on, fire away.

I think Hali did something to his wrist and wasn’t feeling fully comfortable.

Could be mistaken, but he was grabbing at it some. Wonder if that’s why they took the ball out of his hands more.

[youOK]

Some of the comments in here are pretty crazy in the context of the actual game. I thought the Pacers played horribly for the most part this game, considering they had 17 turnovers with Nembhard contributing 8, almost all before the 4th quarter. Whatever their basketball plan around Nembhard bringing up the ball and isoing with Siakhim and Haliburton not touching the ball for most of the game was criminal, and Mitchell almost beat them by himself because of it.

Haliburton was super clutch when it mattered and took over the game in the last two minutes, but it is still ridiculous that he did not touch the ball for most of the game. Even if he doesn't shoot/score a ton, he should bring the ball up the court to facilitate. What frustrated me with Hali a little in this game is not his ability to drive to the basket and either score or kick out and facilitate, but the fact that he was largely invisible for most of it and the Pacers somehow thought Nembhard dribbling the air out of the ball for 15 seconds every possession is a smart strategy. All is forgiven, and they were clutch when it mattered, but they need to be much more focused and disciplined to advance further. Put the ball in Hali's hands the whole game and let him run with it for better or worse. I like Nembhard a lot but he needs to realize when its not going well for him and take a back seat, when he's on, fire away.

I think Hali did something to his wrist and wasn’t feeling fully comfortable.

Could be mistaken, but he was grabbing at it some. Wonder if that’s why they took the ball out of his hands more.

Definitely could be the case, and I hope it was versus any prescribed gameplan or refusal to adjust. Love Nembhard but unless he is super hot he should not be taking the ball out of Hali's hands. Rather Hali go 5/15 than some of the games he has sometimes where he is like 2/6 or 4/8 and just fades into the background. That is not to take away from the final minutes in the 4th where he was super awesome I'd like to just see him defer less and be more ball dominant even if he is passing versus shooting.

[jtan08]

Why are you saying this like it is a bad thing? Being elite in the pick and roll, hitting teammates with good passes and being a competent 3 point shooter leading to a high quality offense is literally the idea "true PG". Teams don't need to be constructed around outdated isolation players like it is the late 90s. Your takes reek of someone who lives for instagram reels.

Because you have situations where your "true PG" watches an inferior guard ruin possession after possession for 46 minutes because he doesn't want to make a mistake or impose his will on the game despite the fact that he's going against a team without 3 of their best players and he's supposedly the best player on his own team.

I think we all saw the "true PG" of the 90s and 2000s and how ineffective they were at winning championships because they didn't take over games when they should've and wanted to "play the right way".

It's not a coincidence that the last PG led team was a guy that routinely dropping 40 points in 3 quarters and was sitting out the 4th.

You think Steph Curry would watch Shaun Livingston or Andre Iguodala have 8 turnovers against a squad without their 3 best players with the opposing star going off?

People need to re-watch this game and see how timid and ineffective Haliburton was against a team without 3 of their best players and then tell me how that "true PG" stuff works in practice.

If the player with the ball in their hands the most cannot or refuses to impose their will on the game, they aren't that valuable.

Haliburton has pretty stats and when he's front-running, he makes the game look easy, but I never seen a "star" not wanting to be a "star" unless it's going his way or when it's time to take the last shot just in case it goes in so he can get the credit.

I'm a longtime Pacers fan and I really want to see Hali and the team succeed. While I don't fully agree with all of your points, I do recognize some of your observations about Hali. In fact, those same things—like his passiveness, being overly unselfish, and not asserting himself enough—have frustrated me at times too.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Why are you saying this like it is a bad thing? Being elite in the pick and roll, hitting teammates with good passes and being a competent 3 point shooter leading to a high quality offense is literally the idea "true PG". Teams don't need to be constructed around outdated isolation players like it is the late 90s. Your takes reek of someone who lives for instagram reels.

Because you have situations where your "true PG" watches an inferior guard ruin possession after possession for 46 minutes because he doesn't want to make a mistake or impose his will on the game despite the fact that he's going against a team without 3 of their best players and he's supposedly the best player on his own team.

I think we all saw the "true PG" of the 90s and 2000s and how ineffective they were at winning championships because they didn't take over games when they should've and wanted to "play the right way".

It's not a coincidence that the last PG led team was a guy that routinely dropping 40 points in 3 quarters and was sitting out the 4th.

You think Steph Curry would watch Shaun Livingston or Andre Iguodala have 8 turnovers against a squad without their 3 best players with the opposing star going off?

People need to re-watch this game and see how timid and ineffective Haliburton was against a team without 3 of their best players and then tell me how that "true PG" stuff works in practice.

If the player with the ball in their hands the most cannot or refuses to impose their will on the game, they aren't that valuable.

Haliburton has pretty stats and when he's front-running, he makes the game look easy, but I never seen a "star" not wanting to be a "star" unless it's going his way or when it's time to take the last shot just in case it goes in so he can get the credit.

I'm a longtime Pacers fan and I really want to see Hali and the team succeed. While I don't fully agree with all of your points, I do recognize some of your observations about Hali. In fact, those same things—like his passiveness, being overly unselfish, and not asserting himself enough—have frustrated me at times too.

Whoa, JTan! That’s a name I haven’t seen in a long time.