cgf wrote:Nuntius wrote:LFGK wrote:Whipping the ball around, ok but I also don't think the Pacer offense is better then the Celtics and outside the one game Tatum was unconscious OG held the guy in front of him to 22% from the field, Bridges was pretty ridiculous as well. Would be nice if it was a good series, I truly don't see it, I think the Knicks are a nightmare matchup for the pacers
It's not about which offense is better. It's about how these offenses attack and whether the way they attack is a good match-up for a team or not.
The Celtics love to isolate, especially the Jays. They averaged 14 isolations per game in this year's playoffs. The Knicks have excellent perimeter defenders so isolation basketball isn't going to work well against them. And it didn't work well at all. In fact, it arguably cost them games 1 and 2.
On the other hand, we only average 8.5 isolations per game in the playoffs (and even less during the RS). We aren't going to bail out New York's defense by going 1-on-1. We're going to force you into rotations.
Yeah, Boston didn't really get Karl in PnRs and force him to make reads on the move. They tried to isolate him and attack him that way, which Karl isn't nearly as bad at. Jalen worries me less since he's very smart & strong, and surprisingly quick. But the pacers' ball movement could get Towns turned around when he's out there without Mitch.
Fortunately we do have that double big counter, as Robinson is one of the best PNR defenders in the game and as long as they are controlling the glass enough to control the pace, we can roll that lineup quite a bit. Plus your ball movement based offense could play right into our disruptiveness in passing lanes with our wings, Robinson, and Brunson...as long as you don't wear us out.
What I think I'm most curious about is how you'll defend us. In the regular season we were able to burn you because you played us very traditionally with Turner on Towns and Siakam on OG. While what teams were having more success doing was putting their center on Hart and defending Karl with a big wing like Siakam. Which is the adjustment I'm expecting from Carlisle...but Karl has gotten a lot better at punishing teams for defending him with guys he can cook in the post, so I'm not sure how much that will help.
This could be a huge series for Bridges & Anunoby as well; assuming that sooner or later you end up with Nesmith on Brunson, Siakam on Towns, and Turner on Hart, that would mean Hali & Nembhard had to check our wings defensively and they're just too small to keep OG from the rim, or Mikal from getting to his midrange bag.
Chances are that we'll start off with a traditional outlook. Myles on KAT, Siakam on OG, Hali on Hart, Nesmith on Bridges, Nembhard on Brunson. Carlisle will definitely adjust and try different coverages but he'll start off traditionally.
The important thing is that we don't have to defend you traditionally. We can put Myles on Hart and let him roam and protect the rim more.
Here's what I would personally try:
Myles on Hart, Siakam on OG, Nesmith on KAT, Hali on Bridges, Nembhard on Brunson.
That could also morph to the following:
Myles on Hart, Siakam on KAT, Hali on OG, Nembhard on Bridges, Nesmith on Brunson.
It all depends on how you choose to attack us as well. If we have Hali on Bridges and you choose to involve Bridges as a screener for Brunson then we'll probably move away from it. We prefer Hali playing the passing lanes, using his game processing skills to get deflections and his length to close out on shooters. We don't want him involved in screening actions all that much and, afaik, Bridges is a really good screener.
OG, on the other hand, isn't a very intuitive screener (much like Nesmith) so he's less likely to be involved in these actions. Of course, OG is significantly stronger and much more physical than Hali so if we put Hali on OG, you may choose to go to OG more often and try to punish us inside.
Things definitely become a lot more interesting when you replace Hart with Mitch since Myles won't really have to worry about Hart's 3-point shooting any more and can focus on rim protection even more. Of course, Mitch brings a ton of offensive rebounding so it's really a pick your poison type of thing.
The matchups are going to be very interesting but we have a number of looks that we could throw your way.
