Game 70 Pacers (37-29) @ Wolves (40-29)

[TimberKat]

Golden opportunity missed. DEN beat GSW at SF. Westbrook once again found the fountain of youth.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

That most inexcusable Ant shot was the pull up 3 when the lane was wide open. He made the layup, we won.

No, strongly disagree. The most inexcusable Ant shot was on the inbound with 4.6 left in the fourth. Jaden is literally wide open with only one other player on that side of the floor guarding Randle by the basket. Jaden takes two dribbles and is at the rim for a dunk, could pull up and hit is middy or dish to JR for an easy layin. Instead Ant dribbles to the elbow and takes a double teamed off balance 3. That was beyond selfish and stupid. That was down right despicable.

Yes, I don't know if he could make the pass. Although he had no intention to pass. I think the OT play pass to Randle was what they should had done instead. Basically, Ant shouldn't be the first guy touch the ball.

That’s the point . At clutch time ANT never find the open guy.. maybe he got tunnel vision maybe he just want to be the hero whatever. Coach are here to fix those problems.

[TimberKat]

Pacers' bench is one of the deepest in the league. It took two crazy Toppin shots to win. Destiny of the year or story of life of Minnesota fans.

[winforlose]

Pacers' bench is one of the deepest in the league. It took two crazy Toppin shots to win. Destiny of the year or story of life of Minnesota fans.

Deep benches are great. Beating Ant, Jaden, Naz, Randle, and DDV without any starters is… something else.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

you'd think atleast 1 of these shots has to go in at some point of time...this is the reason why this team is gonna end up in play-in rather than 2nd/3rd seed

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Is Mike on the list? Would like to compare him and ANT. I follow Mike since he got draft and he was pretty efficient with Grizz.

[winforlose]

you'd think atleast 1 of these shots has to go in at some point of time...this is the reason why this team is gonna end up in play-in rather than 2nd/3rd seed

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Is Mike on the list? Would like to compare him and ANT. I follow Mike since he got draft and he was pretty efficient with Grizz.

In other words, (and I am both paraphrasing and reading between the lines,) Chris Finch is one of if not the worst play callers in the NBA in the last 28 years when in clutch time and trailing by one basket. He should be fired immediately and replaced by someone whose inclination is not to have Ant chuck heavily contested and often off balance shots.

Special note, I quoted the wrong person. Should have been lifesaver. That said if Mike is better than Ant he should also take some of them.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

you'd think atleast 1 of these shots has to go in at some point of time...this is the reason why this team is gonna end up in play-in rather than 2nd/3rd seed

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Is Mike on the list? Would like to compare him and ANT. I follow Mike since he got draft and he was pretty efficient with Grizz.

In other words, (and I am both paraphrasing and reading between the lines,) Chris Finch is one of if not the worst play callers in the NBA in the last 28 years when in clutch time and trailing by one basket. He should be fired immediately and replaced by someone whose inclination is not to have Ant chuck heavily contested and often off balance shots.

Special note, I quoted the wrong person. Should have been lifesaver. That said if Mike is better than Ant he should also take some of them.

I guess at that stage, almost the entire team is better than ANT when clutch time come

[minimus]

What was the biggest issue?

1) Gobert ejection = no rim protection

2) inability to contain PoA

3) Toppin as not an ideal matchup for our guard heavy lineup (aka TC needs to add another big wing in rotation)

4) no energy. Clark and TJ should have played more?

[Domejandro]

Is Mike on the list? Would like to compare him and ANT. I follow Mike since he got draft and he was pretty efficient with Grizz.

In other words, (and I am both paraphrasing and reading between the lines,) Chris Finch is one of if not the worst play callers in the NBA in the last 28 years when in clutch time and trailing by one basket. He should be fired immediately and replaced by someone whose inclination is not to have Ant chuck heavily contested and often off balance shots.

Special note, I quoted the wrong person. Should have been lifesaver. That said if Mike is better than Ant he should also take some of them.

I guess at that stage, almost the entire team is better than ANT when clutch time come

Sad truth is that everybody in the NBA is better than Anthony Edwards when clutch time comes.

This isn't just a "final shot choker" issue either, the dude is just a mess when games are tight down-the-stretch. I honestly believe that if Minnesota decided to bench Anthony Edwards for the final six minutes every game this season, they would be the second seed in the NBA (only five less losses).

[Dalvin]

Well, this should put more games for Pacers to be ahead of Pistons as the 5th seed and making that Pistons pick as low as possible. So this is the team I'd be fine with taking a loss with

[minimus]

Well, this should put more games for Pacers to be ahead of Pistons as the 5th seed and making that Pistons pick as low as possible. So this is the team I'd be fine with taking a loss with

Chess move

[Biff Cooper]

Ant has the opportunity to be a great closer still. Long contested 2s and 3s are not a good recipe for a consistently great closer. Taking it to the rim to break the defense down and making a smart decision from there is what typically makes a great closer.

[TimberKat]

Ant has the opportunity to be a great closer still. Long contested 2s and 3s are not a good recipe for a consistently great closer. Taking it to the rim to break the defense down and making a smart decision from there is what typically makes a great closer.

Especially when the defense knows exactly what you want to do - take the long 3 pt shot - and put two guys on you.

[Note30]

Is Mike on the list? Would like to compare him and ANT. I follow Mike since he got draft and he was pretty efficient with Grizz.

In other words, (and I am both paraphrasing and reading between the lines,) Chris Finch is one of if not the worst play callers in the NBA in the last 28 years when in clutch time and trailing by one basket. He should be fired immediately and replaced by someone whose inclination is not to have Ant chuck heavily contested and often off balance shots.

Special note, I quoted the wrong person. Should have been lifesaver. That said if Mike is better than Ant he should also take some of them.

I guess at that stage, almost the entire team is better than ANT when clutch time come

... Yeah I'd put money on that. Everyone on the team? Ant is one of 3 guys on the team that score from anywhere and can dribble the ball. Unless Finch is calling a set play, which he's not, DDV, Mike, and Ant are our only options in clutch time. I don't trust Naz or Randle to iso and drive into traffic.

If we actually had set plays we'd be fine. It doesn't help that Jadens only spot is the corner, Randle is kind of a blackhole, and a HS kid is more effective with the ball than Gobert.

[Klomp]

It feels like a bad loss in the sense that Indiana sat so many players. However, I would contend that it won't hurt us as much as you might think. I bet we respond in the rematch to split the season series, which is what I think most people expected 48 hours ago.

I would remind people that Golden State's loss last night was worse, because it was against another West team. Every game against the West affects tiebreakers, both for us and every other team.

[BlacJacMac]

It feels like a bad loss in the sense that Indiana sat so many players. However, I would contend that it won't hurt us as much as you might think. I bet we respond in the rematch to split the season series, which is what I think most people expected 48 hours ago.

I would remind people that Golden State's loss last night was worse, because it was against another West team. Every game against the West affects tiebreakers, both for us and every other team.

Its a horrible loss. We need every win we can get if our goal is to avoid the Play-In.

You can not be at full strength and lose to a team without 4 of its starters - and its clear 3 best players.

[Klomp]

It feels like a bad loss in the sense that Indiana sat so many players. However, I would contend that it won't hurt us as much as you might think. I bet we respond in the rematch to split the season series, which is what I think most people expected 48 hours ago.

I would remind people that Golden State's loss last night was worse, because it was against another West team. Every game against the West affects tiebreakers, both for us and every other team.

Its a horrible loss. We need every win we can get if our goal is to avoid the Play-In.

You can not be at full strength and lose to a team without 4 of its starters - and its clear 3 best players.

That's my point. That is the ONLY reason to say this was a bad loss. Indiana is a well-coached franchise and has a good collection of depth (yes, I know many of their top players sat out).

We were not going to end the season on a 21-game win streak. We just weren't. Again, I find it better to lose to Indiana than to lose to Denver, Phoenix or Memphis.

[Klomp]

Read on Twitter

These moments are part of the maturation and development process of a 23-year old Anthony Edwards.

[Klomp]

In other words, (and I am both paraphrasing and reading between the lines,) Chris Finch is one of if not the worst play callers in the NBA in the last 28 years when in clutch time and trailing by one basket. He should be fired immediately and replaced by someone whose inclination is not to have Ant chuck heavily contested and often off balance shots.

Do you really believe that Finch told Ant to bobble the ball and then dribble into traffic before chucking an off-balance contested prayer at the buzzer?!

[BlacJacMac]

It feels like a bad loss in the sense that Indiana sat so many players. However, I would contend that it won't hurt us as much as you might think. I bet we respond in the rematch to split the season series, which is what I think most people expected 48 hours ago.

I would remind people that Golden State's loss last night was worse, because it was against another West team. Every game against the West affects tiebreakers, both for us and every other team.

Its a horrible loss. We need every win we can get if our goal is to avoid the Play-In.

You can not be at full strength and lose to a team without 4 of its starters - and its clear 3 best players.

That's my point. That is the ONLY reason to say this was a bad loss. Indiana is a well-coached franchise and has a good collection of depth (yes, I know many of their top players sat out).

We were not going to end the season on a 21-game win streak. We just weren't. Again, I find it better to lose to Indiana than to lose to Denver, Phoenix or Memphis.

It doesn't matter if its the ONLY reason. Its still a very, very bad loss.

Again, I find it better to lose to Indiana than to lose to Denver, Phoenix or Memphis.

But we could still lose any of those games! Losing to Indy doesn't automatically mean we won't lose one (or more) of those games.

We need to bank wins against whoever we can. Last night we absolutely threw away a win. I don't care that Indy has a better coach than we do. There is no excuse for losing to that roster.