That was the most physical game and the most well-defended game I have seen in 35 years of watching NBA basketball. I hope the Pacers can recover and that Artest starts playing better. He seems to have lost the ability to know what a good shot is, or to pass effectively when it isn't there.
I want to see the irony of Rick Carlisle beating the heck out of the prick Larry Brown who took his job behind his back.
So what's going on with the Pacers in this series? I'm seeing a few things that may be warning flags: 1. The team has gone from 91 ppg in the regular season and 90 ppg in the postseason, to 73 ppg in the Detroit series. The FG% has gone from 43.5% (reg) and 42% (post) to 31%. This drop is mostly due to running into a top defensive team that denies high percentage shots, but shooters going cold may also be playing a factor. More alarming though, should be the team assists average going from 22 (reg) to 19 (post) to 11 per game. That is something that is more of an internal matter than Detroit's schemes. Something else notable is that turnovers per game are actually lower (13.0 vs 13.5) than the total post season, so don't blame the lack of assists completely on Detroit. 2. Ron Artest has gone from 20 ppg on 39 % shooting to 15 ppg on 25%. His assists have gone from 3 to 0.5, hinting at him forcing his offense at the expense of the team. 3. Jermaine O'Neal's points have also dropped, but only by less than 3 ppg. Not bad, considering he's the most affected by the Wallace & Wallace defense. 4. Al Harrington has gone from regular season 6th man runner up (31 mpg, 13 ppg, 6 rpg) to struggling in the postseason (27 mpg, 10 ppg, 7 rpg) to mere reserve (22 mpg, 7 ppg, 7.5 rpg). He's picked up his rebounding, but Carlise seems to be yanking his only real bench big for lack of O. Not good when Indiana already is struggling to match Detroits depth of size. 5. The PG situation looks unsettled. In the rest of the postseason, Tinsley averaged 28 mpg to Johnson's 19. Now they're virtually splitting time at the point. Tinsley's postseason a/t ratio has gone from a sharp 2.7 to a below average 1.2, while Johnson's has leaped from 2.2 to 3.0. Tinsley's strong D (2.5 spg) in the series seems to be the only thing keeping him on the floor. Unless he can regain his ability to execute the team's offense, there's going to be trouble. Evan
