NBA PLAYOFFS - Round 1, Game 3: Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat (IND 0-2)

[Pacersike]

It better be a close game or I'm not watching game 4.

Without Domas and with Vic rusty, the playoffs fights should always be competitive till the final seconds.

[boomershadow]

I'm watching, but I'm cautiously pessimistic.

[Scoot McGroot]

:mouthfart:

[Moooose]

Again, painful to watch. Domas is coming back to the bubble but is not expected to play. What good does it bring other than moral support?

[boomershadow]

Brogdon 34 points is pretty cool.

[Vorda]

They are better coached team... Nate is just not capable to run offense at PO level...

[Pacersike]

Better effort but still not enough urgency.

My observation is that lack of clear leadership hurts us the most.

We hope Victor can lead us, but he isn't confident enough yet to lead a team, being mostly occupied with himself and walking out the arena before the end of the game...

Props to Brogdon for finally feeling the need to lead our team, great game from Malcolm.

[pacers33granger]

Brogdon had a good game, but the way he did it wasn't great. It was off the same iso plays, he was just hitting contested threes and layups that are misses 60% of the time. I don't really blame him that much for it as it's clear that is how he's been instructed to play. Collison, Vic, Teague, etc. all did the same.

You can visibly see the difference in this series. Miami routinely runs sets that have multiple options and each guy knows what to do and everyone moves with purpose. Indy runs basic high school level plays just to get some movement going and either someone fumbles the ball or it ends up stopping somewhere for an iso. I don't think I've been confident in us even getting an attempt on a last second shot since Carlisle coached the team.

And at this point, I'm just baffled that Nate hasn't given Goga any minutes. Jakarr brings a lot of energy, but every time Myles is out Miami kills us inside and we cannot get stops, which leads to guys leaving the 3 point line and collapsing. Beyond that, why don't we see if Goga can just set a good screen to get Doug going?

The no adjustments, we'll just play our game style works when your the better team. Tweaks to the gameplan must be made in a playoff series. And it's abundantly clear we can't just rely on our defense to create good offense for us. We need a better gameplan for the half court offense that's 90% of playoff ball.

I will say that it's 100% on the players for being overly aggressive on threes this game. I know the staff told them to hound shooters, but not jump at every single thing. When we're letting guys like Olynyk pump fake and get a layup, there's a major issue.

[Topofthekey]

Brogdon had a good game, but the way he did it wasn't great. It was off the same iso plays, he was just hitting contested threes and layups that are misses 60% of the time. I don't really blame him that much for it as it's clear that is how he's been instructed to play. Collison, Vic, Teague, etc. all did the same.

You can visibly see the difference in this series. Miami routinely runs sets that have multiple options and each guy knows what to do and everyone moves with purpose. Indy runs basic high school level plays just to get some movement going and either someone fumbles the ball or it ends up stopping somewhere for an iso. I don't think I've been confident in us even getting an attempt on a last second shot since Carlisle coached the team.

And at this point, I'm just baffled that Nate hasn't given Goga any minutes. Jakarr brings a lot of energy, but every time Myles is out Miami kills us inside and we cannot get stops, which leads to guys leaving the 3 point line and collapsing. Beyond that, why don't we see if Goga can just set a good screen to get Doug going?

The no adjustments, we'll just play our game style works when your the better team. Tweaks to the gameplan must be made in a playoff series. And it's abundantly clear we can't just rely on our defense to create good offense for us. We need a better gameplan for the half court offense that's 90% of playoff ball.

I will say that it's 100% on the players for being overly aggressive on threes this game. I know the staff told them to hound shooters, but not jump at every single thing. When we're letting guys like Olynyk pump fake and get a layup, there's a major issue.

I would like to give ten And 1's for that paragraph

The Heat isn't beating the Pacers because they have more talent. They're beating us because, exactly as you said, they execute better and everyone on their team knows their roles

Duncan Robinson knows what his job is. Goran Dragic knows what his job is. Jae Crowder knows what his job is. On a purely talent basis, none of these guys are overly exceptional. But put them in a system where they have clearly defined roles that play to their strengths, they start shining like borderline stars

Meanwhile, on the Pacers, everyone spends a split second after catching the ball trying to figure out what is it that they're supposed to do (for some players, it takes actual seconds instead of split seconds)

In fact, Pacers offense suck even when they do try to run a play. That broken play towards the end of the game when the win was still in reach had me throwing my hands up in frustration and I stopped watching due to that (I think my words running through my mind at that time were "What the hell was that?? What the actual hell???"). I think Vic was also frustrated by that bungled play, and he reacted to that a little bit

That has been the same old story with Nate's Pacers over the last few years actually. Players spending most of the shot clock being confused and incompetent, before everything devolves into some kind of "let's hope Vic makes something happen" play

It's also the reason why the absence of Domas makes such a big difference. He is one of the few Pacers who can make things happen on offense, whether it is scoring himself or finding his teammates for easy buckets

Nate has just been really lucky thus far. Offensively, he got carried by Vic's breakout season in 2018, and Domas in 2020

[pacers33granger]

It's also the reason why the absence of Domas makes such a big difference. He is one of the few Pacers who can make things happen on offense, whether it is scoring himself or finding his teammates for easy buckets

Nate has just been really lucky thus far. Offensively, he got carried by Vic's breakout season in 2018, and Domas in 2020

To this specific point, I do give Nate credit for his hand in developing Vic, Domas, and several others. We've gotten some good development and found out who the guys are that can usually make the right play instinctively. At this point in our teambuilding though, we need to be instilling more of a system. Those guys are basically Domas, healthy Vic, Warren, Brogdon, and McConnell. As you pointed out, everyone else takes time to think, even if it's a set play.

The problem is that we have a lot of guys playing major minutes who need more of a structure. I know this was always a bridge year. But our best chance for contention is to have a 00s era Pistons approach to offense that maximizes each player's strengths while discouraging isoball and looking for the best option each time down the floor. The way the gameplan has gone over the 5 games with Miami has just been awful in every way from a developmental standpoint to actually trying to win a series and is sadly not a new phenomenon.