2014 NBA Playoffs: Indiana Pacers(1) vs Atlanta Hawks(8)

So he's blaming it on Aaron Rodgers?

 

haha

 

Pacers used to be dominant because of Hibbert. Is Hibbert's success from last year a one time thing?? He doesn't look the same. Maybe it's like the Linsanity thing where it's a one time success and then died down....

 

No, the Hawks are just a terrible match up for the Pacers.

The Pacers rely a ton on size and length to clog up the paint. The problem is with Horford out, the Hawks current front line of Antic + Millsap means they have a stretch 5 AND a stretch 4 that can both shoot all the way to outside the arc.

This drags both Hibbert and West all the way out to the perimeter leaving the paint WIDE open for drives and cuts to the basket, which means their defense becomes heavily dependent on perimeter defense. Unfortunately, the size of the wings players and guards on the Pacers puts them at a substantial speed disadvantage against the Hawks guards.

Think back to when we were up against the 76ers and Spencer Hawes... because he could shoot to the 3 point line, Asik or Dwight always had to leave the paint to contest or risk Hawes shooting uncontested 3 point shots. This basically left the paint wide open for drives and forced really uncomfortable switches and distortion of our defensive schemes.

5 men on the perimeter who can sink 3's at a reasonable clip (Antic shoots 33% from 3, and Millsap shoots 36% from 3) means the paint is basically an open desert. At that point all Teague and company have to do is either force a switch, or screen/pick off a defender and head straight for the rim for an easy score or kick out/dump pass to a cutter/perimeter shooter.

Also, let's not forget that the new Hawks Head Coach is a 17 year veteran assistant coach from the Spurs. He's been working on implementing the Spurs offensive sets all season. They're taking MUCH better shots and passing better than they have in years. With great passers the Spurs offense is almost unstoppable. With decent passers, the Spurs system is still a handful.

The Pacers should STILL be a better team, but only if they're playing their best ball. And they haven't played their best ball since before the ASG.

It's a very real possibility that the Pacers could lose this series unless they bench Hibbert and go to a more mobile/smaller center. The problem is that if they go smaller at the 5, then they lose significant amounts of rim protection. And given that the Pacers are offensively impaired, they may still end up giving up so many points that they'll struggle to keep up with the Hawks' scoring.

 

Hope Indy loses and Vogel gets fired so we can hire him next year

 

It's not just one game dude, the pacers have been terrible for the last 2 months. On top of that they just don't match up well against the Hawks.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with a bad matchup. It's 100% the Pacers are terrible.

 

This. The scary part (if you're a Pacers fan) is that they have not hit rock bottom yet. They are still in the denial aka "it ain't my fault" phase.

 

Um, dumb. You want to hire a guy who headed a team with the best record that got beat by a team with a losing record? Oh, yeah.

 

Paul George is a good defender when he can go 1 on 1 with him and he can keep them in front of him. Kyle Korver is running through screens constantly across the court, tiring Paul George. George Hill can't defend fast point guards, Jeff Teague just made him his b**** tonight. Roy Hibbert isn't as useful on D when he is guarding Antic at the three point line. When they switched Hibbert to Paul Millsap he was too slow and was not disciplined enough to guard Millsap. It would of been better for the Pacers if they played the Knicks or Cavs.

 

Not sure if it was mentioned or not, but when Hibbert got swatted by Korver for the first time (2 overall) , one of the fans said something along the lines of "Why is he even playing?" in reference to Hibbert due to his terrible play as of late.

I heard it while watching live, just before they went to commercial.

I still have Pacers in six though, but man, Milsap would look great in a Rockets uniform.

 

It's Golden State/Dallas over again. I see this with alot of teams nowadays, it's going to be tough series for a team, like Indiana to beat Atlanta, because of those matchup problems. If Indiana had an unstoppable superstar, like LeBron or Shaq ... they could overcome a little bit better. But, as I've said before, Hibbert is an above average center, but far from great, while George is still rising, but not a completed product.

 

Vogel is a top 5-7 coach so yes. Their "stars" George and Hibbert have been lackluster on the offensive end recently which is the reason for their struggles

 

vogel overachieved with this roster tho (especially in the beginning of the year).

they really don't have much offensive talent.

not like he can turn paul george into durant and turn hibbert into anthony davis.

 

So is JVG the favorite to take the Pacers job?

 

You would think people would like to see some of the lower seeds win, especially how everyone likes to talk down on the parity in the NBA.

 

That's ok in the West. But in the East if the Pacers lose to the Hawks, the Eastern Conference playoffs will be boring as hell. Who wants to watch Miami sweep teams with losing records.

 

if you wanna crown them...

 

INDY - THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!!