GT Sat Jan 7th: Charlotte @ Indiana 7:00pm

[BigSlam]

Hibbert might go ape poop against our front court.

Looking forward to Hendo locking Granger up and UPS locking George up though.

[Jaruff]

Hibbert might go ape poop against our front court.

Looking forward to Hendo locking Granger up and UPS locking George up though.

Tyler vs. DJW - The tale of two PF's that can't play defense.

Maybe they'll go back and forth and score 40 apiece.

[BigSlam]

Hibbert might go ape poop against our front court.

Looking forward to Hendo locking Granger up and UPS locking George up though.

Tyler vs. DJW - The tale of two PF's that can't play defense.

Maybe they'll go back and forth and score 40 apiece.

DJA Vs Collison
Hendo Vs Granger
UPS Vs George
Boris Vs West
Mully Vs Hibbert


Kemba Vs Hill
Hammer Vs Price
T2 Vs Jones
DJW Vs Hansbrough
Biz Vs Foster

[bobcats3wallace]

Couple things that will be interesting from this game.

1) how much zone will we actually end up playing and will we be a little more effective in it?

I think that DJ and Kemba should be used more. If it means that we get Kemba on the floor, then I'm good for it. I also think that it really adds a new dimension to our offense because both are so quick and crafty. Neither are afraid to go inside either. As far as the zone goes, I think it could be greatly improved with Biyombo and TT out there, two quicker long lanky guys to cover more space and rebound.

2) how will the rotation play out with the new starting lineup?

My hope is that this will put more people in natural positions and free up more time for Biz. DJW will go to where he is best suited, a role player off the bench. It's going to be good for him, that's his niche. If you think of it as TT being primary SF option with UPS, then you have Diaw and DJW at PF, then you would think that the back-up C role would be given primarily to Biz. Which I would think means he gets more minutes. Hopefully with the increased small backcourt we can phase out Hammers minutes all together. Anyway, hopefully more Biz will come of this.

3) do we see any improvement from TT

He played well defensively but looked horrific on offense. He is playing SF now primarily so that is an adjustment and hasn't had a lot of games under his belt since the lockout (only 2). Lets see if he can't progress some and become at least the player he was last year where he will provide scoring.

Love the Pacers depth that they have built up. They are a very complete team in my eyes. I think they should be a dark horse team to finish high and compete hard in the playoffs. Really like what they have done.

[Eoghan]

Prediction: Hibbert will get 20 and 10 easy and Mullens will get early foul trouble.

[Jeff23]

Prediction: Hibbert will get 20 and 10 easy and Mullens will get early foul trouble.

I remember last year in a game against the Pacers, everybody on OKC's roster got destroyed by Hibbert, then OKC put Mullens on him and Mullens slowed him down.

[BigSlam]

if Biz gets most of his PT Vs Foster I bet Foster beats up on him. Should be interesting to see how Biz reacts.

[Diop]

Mullens shooting should drag Hibbert out of the key.

Been enjoying watching this team and how much they have been fighting, even though the team looked awful on paper and was written off by everyone but Kenny Smith

[LamarMatic7]

Couple things that will be interesting from this game.

1) how much zone will we actually end up playing and will we be a little more effective in it?

I think that DJ and Kemba should be used more. If it means that we get Kemba on the floor, then I'm good for it. I also think that it really adds a new dimension to our offense because both are so quick and crafty. Neither are afraid to go inside either. As far as the zone goes, I think it could be greatly improved with Biyombo and TT out there, two quicker long lanky guys to cover more space and rebound.

Was I the only one who didn't like the zone we played?

First off all, I don't think that the 2-3 zone fits NBA that much. It seems to suit the Euro and college game more where the talent of the players isn't that good (IMHO you just can't let even the most mediocre NBA guard/forward take an open shot) and the three point line is closer to the basket, so it's easier for the defenders to cover all of the ground.

Secondly, NBA players don't play zone often and it seems to be that they don't really know how to do it at a good level. I was taught that while playing zone defense you always have to find the closest man to you to guard. You are responsible for checking him, not just for the area you are positioned in. Last night our guys did a poor job doing that. When the ball left the hands of their man, instead of staying at an arm's length, they left him and played the area where they are supposed to be not the man (so when a slow guy like Diaw leaves his man on the corner to be in his supposed position about 10 feet from the basket on the baseline, he can't make it back in time when the ball gets fed back to his man. You should be closer to him, in my opinion. At least that's the way they teach zone defense in Latvia). So they broke down our zone with simple perimeter passing. They didn't even have to feed it in to the big man on the foul line to open things up or make any cuts. Their 1, 2 and 3 position exchanged passes on the three point line till they had an open shot.

I don't know, maybe they played it decently enough, yet the talent level in the NBA is just too high to get away with guarding zone and not allowing any open threes.

Of course, this zone defense may be necessary most of the time when playing Kemba at the two with DJ on the floor, yet I don't particularly like our execution of it.

[doc.end]

Hibbert might go ape poop against our front court.

Looking forward to Hendo locking Granger up and UPS locking George up though.

Tyler vs. DJW - The tale of two PF's that can't play defense.

Maybe they'll go back and forth and score 40 apiece.

Then we could just put Hendo the Elbow on him.

[fatlever]

good stuff lamar. the hawks did make look too easy and joe and marvin had way too many wide open looks.

however i will counter with this argument, with dj on the floor without a shotblocking center behind him, our man defense isnt really any better. at least this way we can have dj and kemba playing together.

also, dj and kemba can play together in man to man against teams that dont have a 6'8" sg like the hawks.

[mrknowitall215]

good stuff lamar. the hawks did make look too easy and joe and marvin had way too many wide open looks.

however i will counter with this argument, with dj on the floor without a shotblocking center behind him, our man defense isnt really any better. at least this way we can have dj and kemba playing together.

also, dj and kemba can play together in man to man against teams that dont have a 6'8" sg like the hawks.

Too bad the Pacers got a 6'8" SG too (Paul George).

[LamarMatic7]

good stuff lamar. the hawks did make look too easy and joe and marvin had way too many wide open looks.

however i will counter with this argument, with dj on the floor without a shotblocking center behind him, our man defense isnt really any better. at least this way we can have dj and kemba playing together.

also, dj and kemba can play together in man to man against teams that dont have a 6'8" sg like the hawks.

Too bad the Pacers got a 6'8" SG too (Paul George).

Report from the Indianapolis Star said that he's grown two inches during the lockout and is already 6'10". Wow. Freakishly tall shooting guard. He's having a decent season by the way, picked him up from the free agents in my fantasy league recently.

[Marino]

Indiana is such a boring state.

Sent from Hayden Panettiere's #1 fan

[SWedd523]

Report from the Indianapolis Star said that he's grown two inches during the lockout and is already 6'10". Wow. Freakishly tall shooting guard. He's having a decent season by the way, picked him up from the free agents in my fantasy league recently.

Oh yeah, we know. Pacers fans put up a new "Paul George is tall" thread at least once a week.


As if being 6'10 automatically makes him the best young SG in the league

[daschysta]

George's high potential is independent of his height, which is just a plus, and makes his shot difficult to block.

Pacers fans don't hype George nearly as much as certain fanbases hype young players (knicks, warriors etc...) But you have to be blind to not see the potential George has. He has tons of raw talent, and he's improved very quickly compared to expectations.

[Fred Williamson]

ugh, every time we play the Pacers, I think about that one game against them 3 years ago. it was one of the worst Bobcats games ever and the worst I have ever seen. On par with the season opener against the Celtics

[Jaruff]

Going to miss this one too with another auction tonight. Stupid back-to-back weekend games.

I expect a surprise win tonight though I would not be surprised by a 20 point Indy blowout.

[daschysta]

Good luck tonight (though I don't see what bashing our players or Indiana's perceived status as "boring" has to do with the game tonight). You guys should be proud of how your young players have played, your future is of course highly dependent on getting a high pick this year with the way you've decided to build. I love, love, love Kemba, he give you guys a leader, or he will be eventually, no matter how his play turns out, and he's been solid so far, and that leader is imo just as hard to find as a true star, or at least a real good leader, I don't think our Pacers had one until this season with David West, who has completely changed our culture and outlook.

Whats the deal with Henderson though, why has he been so inconsistent? One night he'll look like a legit second option with good defense, like vs. Miami or New York and another night he'll look like the Brandon Rush the "invisible man" as Pacers fans used to call him. I love his game when he's on, is he just not aggressive enough some nights or is it on the rest of the team for not looking for him?

Diaw's chubby ass scares me more than anyone honestly, he's been beastly at times this year, though as a bobcats fan I can't imagine I would be happy with his contract year heroics artificially inflating your win total and causing you to miss out on Rivers, Jones or Drummond, especially since Diaw (i'm guessing) isn't in any of your guys future plans, and you have to think he'll go back to being obese and lazy after he gets his last big deal.

Interesting to see White getting some burn, how are you guys liking him? I live in Bloomington while i'm studying at Indiana University, and while he undeniably has always been able to put the ball in the basket I didn't think he was talented enough to really stick anywhere in the NBA, since in College he pretty much did nothing but score and he just didn't do it at an elite enough level to be worth much in the NBA. Has his all around game improved at all?

Anywho, I hope we win and you lose, but honestly that's OK because it's a bit of a win, win no? You guys are still hoping for the tank, and we feel the Pacers can challenge for HCA in the playoffs this year. Good luck to you guys and hopefully your young guys pan out and you can add a real star to that core, which could turn around in a big way as soon as next year. The Pacers should win this one big, being at home, and given that the Bobcats were in OT last night IIRC, but despite being 5-2 the Pacers have kept it close with some teams they should have beaten big. It's both good and bad, good in the sense that Danny Granger has undeniably been the worst "star" player in the league so far, and you have to think he'll round into form eventually, ditto with D-West who we have the luxury of bringing along slowly while he gets his legs underneath him post-surgery, and that once they start playing even average we will be very, very good. Bad in the sense that we've played to the level of our competition alot this year.

The Pacers play smash mouth grind it out basketball, we rebound hustle, defend, and knock guys on their asses. You can imagine how refreshing that is to a Pacers fan after sitting through 3 years of Satan, I mean Jim O'brien, the antithesis of how Indiana Basketball is supposed to be played. The game will probably be low scoring and ugly unless we're hitting jump shots, or Granger or West have their first great/good game of the year, and good luck in the rest of the season, sans when you are playing the Pacers.

[Marvel]

Good luck tonight (though I don't see what bashing our players or Indiana's perceived status as "boring" has to do with the game tonight). You guys should be proud of how your young players have played, your future is of course highly dependent on getting a high pick this year with the way you've decided to build. I love, love, love Kemba, he give you guys a leader, or he will be eventually, no matter how his play turns out, and he's been solid so far, and that leader is imo just as hard to find as a true star, or at least a real good leader, I don't think our Pacers had one until this season with David West, who has completely changed our culture and outlook.

Whats the deal with Henderson though, why has he been so inconsistent? One night he'll look like a legit second option with good defense, like vs. Miami or New York and another night he'll look like the Brandon Rush the "invisible man" as Pacers fans used to call him. I love his game when he's on, is he just not aggressive enough some nights or is it on the rest of the team for not looking for him?

Diaw's chubby ass scares me more than anyone honestly, he's been beastly at times this year, though as a bobcats fan I can't imagine I would be happy with his contract year heroics artificially inflating your win total and causing you to miss out on Rivers, Jones or Drummond, especially since Diaw (i'm guessing) isn't in any of your guys future plans, and you have to think he'll go back to being obese and lazy after he gets his last big deal.

Interesting to see White getting some burn, how are you guys liking him? I live in Bloomington while i'm studying at Indiana University, and while he undeniably has always been able to put the ball in the basket I didn't think he was talented enough to really stick anywhere in the NBA, since in College he pretty much did nothing but score and he just didn't do it at an elite enough level to be worth much in the NBA. Has his all around game improved at all?

Anywho, I hope we win and you lose, but honestly that's OK because it's a bit of a win, win no? You guys are still hoping for the tank, and we feel the Pacers can challenge for HCA in the playoffs this year. Good luck to you guys and hopefully your young guys pan out and you can add a real star to that core, which could turn around in a big way as soon as next year. The Pacers should win this one big, being at home, and given that the Bobcats were in OT last night IIRC, but despite being 5-2 the Pacers have kept it close with some teams they should have beaten big. It's both good and bad, good in the sense that Danny Granger has undeniably been the worst "star" player in the league so far, and you have to think he'll round into form eventually, ditto with D-West who we have the luxury of bringing along slowly while he gets his legs underneath him post-surgery, and that once they start playing even average we will be very, very good. Bad in the sense that we've played to the level of our competition alot this year.

The Pacers play smash mouth grind it out basketball, we rebound hustle, defend, and knock guys on their asses. You can imagine how refreshing that is to a Pacers fan after sitting through 3 years of Satan, I mean Jim O'brien, the antithesis of how Indiana Basketball is supposed to be played. The game will probably be low scoring and ugly unless we're hitting jump shots, or Granger or West have their first great/good game of the year, and good luck in the rest of the season, sans when you are playing the Pacers.

Thanks for the comment.

Hendo's inconsistency can be boiled down to his injury which has prevented him from working on his game over the off season, the lockout(which i'm sure 90% of players have struggled with) and a shortened training camp. He's still improved though, no thanks to Larry Clown who totally **** him in the ass as a rookie and knocked his development back a couple years. He'll be alright though.

DJ White plays hard, hustles. He's shown a bit of an improvement in the post and most nights his J is money. Still think his offensive game is a work in progress as he's pulled out some moves i've never seen from him before. Defensively is where he struggles. His IQ is pretty poor at this stage and his rotations kill us on drives and on the weakside help.

I just want to get rid of Diaw and develop our young guys.

I'm sure we'll get the beatdown tonight, we're 4-0 against you guys going into tonight's game.