Game Thread 01/31: Pacers vs. Magic

[boomershadow]

Indiana has an opportunity to bounce back on Thursday against another struggling team in the Magic (20-31). Orlando has dropped four straight games and seven of its last eight, although five of those losses came by five points or fewer.

The strength of the Magic is their frontcourt. Center Nikola Vucevic appears likely to make his first All-Star team, averaging 20.7 points on 52 percent shooting and 12 rebounds per game. Forward Aaron Gordon has been the Robin to Vucevic's Batman, contributing 15.9 points and 7.7 boards per contest.

Wheat Hotchkiss
https://www.nba.com/pacers/preview-pacers-magic-190131

[ducler]

Read on Twitter

[xBulletproof]

I thought they would be okay without Oladipo, like .500-ish. So far I'm concerned. Haven't looked good at all, not just about losing. We lose this one and I get much closer to that panic button. It's been ugly.

[Pacers_Freak]

Because of plane de-icing and a late start to last nights game, the team didn't arrive to their hotel until 5am this morning. Hope they have some gas in the tank to get the ship righted. Man that was a lot of cliches.

[Wizop]

CoJo to start.

Sent from my phone.

[Wizop]

is 9 - 0 too soon to panic?

Sent from my phone.

[Jake0890]

this is bad.

we obviously weren't going to be contending for anything legitimate without Victor... but this is another level of disappointment. We played fine without Vic when he was temporarily hurt earlier this season.

If we're being honest, this is showing Nate's failings. He's been propped up by team culture and Vic and now that it's on him to find ways to creatively score the ball, it's not happening.

If this continues, it might be time for Nate to go.

[boomershadow]

Losing to the Magic is not a good look.

If we can't even solidly put away teams like the Magic and the Wizards, does that make it more likely for KP to pull the trigger on trading any of the expirings on the team?

[Wizop]

glad to see Doug at 2. Quinn says need Tyreke with Vic out. could be. CoJo at 2 hasn't worked and Sumner is a year away.

Sent from my phone.

[Wizop]

Losing to the Magic is not a good look.

If we can't even solidly put away teams like the Magic and the Wizards, does that make it more likely for KP to pull the trigger on trading any of the expirings on the team?

don't think so. we can use the cap space as much as a trading partner could. sure don't want bad contracts.

Sent from my phone.

[Wizop]

strange how this works. half time 51 48 total 99 round down first to 90. tied at 89. they scored to hit the number and it went South from there.

Sent from my phone.

[Jake0890]

Sabonis looks bad.

[Topofthekey]

this is bad.

we obviously weren't going to be contending for anything legitimate without Victor... but this is another level of disappointment. We played fine without Vic when he was temporarily hurt earlier this season.

If we're being honest, this is showing Nate's failings. He's been propped up by team culture and Vic and now that it's on him to find ways to creatively score the ball, it's not happening.

If this continues, it might be time for Nate to go.

Yup

The team has been overachieving, riding on the back of team chemistry, Dan Burke's defense, and Vic's attitude of going 110%, and as a result it's made a lot of people look better than they are, Nate included

[JermaineOYea]

Didn't catch much of the last two games, can anyone tell me what's up with Domas?

[Wizop]

Sabonis looks bad.

JMichael says teams have learned to stay on left hand but Quinn questioned lift.

Sent from my phone.

[Vorda]

1. How long we have to wait to see that Holiday and Sumner are not NBA players...

2. Why did we sign Doug on 3 year contract... shooter who doesnt shoot...

3. Without Vic Evans is only player in team who can create something...

4. In just one week we became lottery team... KP made big mistakes... without 2 players we are garbage, we have no bench support... last night trashy Magic scored 40 from the bench, we had 16...

[pacers33granger]

Sabonis looks bad.

JMichael says teams have learned to stay on left hand but Quinn questioned lift.

Sent from my phone.

We also have no one who can perform a pick and roll properly with him without Vic and Tyreke. For all his crap play, Tyreke played well in that role at least. None of the other guards we have can make the pass where he needs it to be. Without that, he's stuck playing 1 on 1 which is going to be hit or miss for nearly any big.

[Wizop]

1. How long we have to wait to see that Holiday and Sumner are not NBA players...

they are both essentially rookies. it's much to soon to give up on them particularly since their teammates have said good things about them.

2. Why did we sign Doug on 3 year contract... shooter who doesnt shoot...

not his fault that he doesn't receive good passes.

3. Without Vic Evans is only player in team who can create something...

here we agree completely

4. In just one week we became lottery team... KP made big mistakes... without 2 players we are garbage, we have no bench support... last night trashy Magic scored 40 from the bench, we had 16...

we've slid from 3rd to a tie for 4th. hardly lottery yet but we're sliding. still the slide reflects Vic and Evans being out and Sabonis having lost his legs. hard to say KP mistakes caused this.

[Pacers_Freak]

this is bad.

we obviously weren't going to be contending for anything legitimate without Victor... but this is another level of disappointment. We played fine without Vic when he was temporarily hurt earlier this season.

If we're being honest, this is showing Nate's failings. He's been propped up by team culture and Vic and now that it's on him to find ways to creatively score the ball, it's not happening.

If this continues, it might be time for Nate to go.

Jake love all your posts on here. Full disclosure I'm far from a Nate fanboy but I think we need to pump the breaks on sending him out the door because of the recent games. First of all you said propped up by team culture. IMO that is the number one job of a head coach is to create that culture. KP has given him great locker room guys but you have to give some of the credit of the team culture to Nate. We have a lot of solid ball players, but Vic and Tyreke are the only true creators on this team. Domas is but he needs someone to play in the P&R and P&P to be a creator. Vic and Tyreke are really are only effective P&R and P&P players. Basically offensively right now he is trying to make chicken salad out of chicken s***. Also, keep in mind the team has not had much time to make adjustments. Vic went down and Tyreke stepped into his role. Then Tyreke goes down and the team played Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. Not a lot of time for adjustments. Like it or not we are/were a P&R and P&P team and when you lose the 2 guys that can play that with no practice time the offense is going to struggle. I hate watching the PAcers lose as much as the next guy, there are plenty of things I don't agree with Nate on, but I think to put this skid on him is unfair IMO.

[Jake0890]

this is bad.

we obviously weren't going to be contending for anything legitimate without Victor... but this is another level of disappointment. We played fine without Vic when he was temporarily hurt earlier this season.

If we're being honest, this is showing Nate's failings. He's been propped up by team culture and Vic and now that it's on him to find ways to creatively score the ball, it's not happening.

If this continues, it might be time for Nate to go.

Jake love all your posts on here. Full disclosure I'm far from a Nate fanboy but I think we need to pump the breaks on sending him out the door because of the recent games. First of all you said propped up by team culture. IMO that is the number one job of a head coach is to create that culture. KP has given him great locker room guys but you have to give some of the credit of the team culture to Nate. We have a lot of solid ball players, but Vic and Tyreke are the only true creators on this team. Domas is but he needs someone to play in the P&R and P&P to be a creator. Vic and Tyreke are really are only effective P&R and P&P players. Basically offensively right now he is trying to make chicken salad out of chicken s***. Also, keep in mind the team has not had much time to make adjustments. Vic went down and Tyreke stepped into his role. Then Tyreke goes down and the team played Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. Not a lot of time for adjustments. Like it or not we are/were a P&R and P&P team and when you lose the 2 guys that can play that with no practice time the offense is going to struggle. I hate watching the PAcers lose as much as the next guy, there are plenty of things I don't agree with Nate on, but I think to put this skid on him is unfair IMO.[/quote]

All I’m saying is that if Nate’s entire offensive strategy is based on a pick and roll set and he can’t adapt to score the ball without an elite PnR ballhandler than he’s not a coach I want to have long term.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now as he just may not have had time to implement a new offensive strategy.

But I will say even with Vic here we are about the least creative offensive teams in the league. What, we added some pin downs to get Doug open off screens this year. That’s about it.

We’ll see, but if something doesn’t change I won’t be the only one to suggest it’s time to make a change.