Yeah, they're run with by the greatest overall basketball mind in the history of the NBA IMO. Larry Bird. MVP, coach of the year and executive of the year. That's just insanely impressive. They drafted brilliantly.
#NBA reports Tuesday's #Pacers vs. #Heat game was the most-watched game in the network's history. ---- ABC televises 6 Knicks games this year & 0 Pacers games.
Pacers are the class of the East...if Oden cannot play. However, they are not even in the top 3 in the league.....They cannot beat Portland...OKC or Houston. Hibbert destroys Miami every time he plays them because Riley continues to go small....but look what happened to Hibbert when he ran into Aldridge who made a foot out of him...and then Ibaka and Perkins who also made things a lot more complicated for him downlow.....and Dwight, albeit in the pre season..were swept by Houston...getting outrebounded both meetings.....Pacers only edge is their boy Hibbert....I like the Pacers...but if Miami doesn't stop them, There's at least 3 teams in the West who will...
The Pacers won't be the class of anything until they get a superstar who can create his own shot in crunch time.
Paul George is well on his way. You don't average 25 and not being able to create your own shot. I think the Pacers' biggest need is at the point position. If George Hill isn't hitting his shots, he is largely ineffective. They need someone who can penetrate and distribute better than Hill. Someone plays like JJ Barea but a little taller and can finish at the rim.
Point guard is definitely their weakest position, but they need a guy who can dribble the ball under pressure. George Hill handles pressure by dribbling back to the mid-court line because he can't go around anybody and doesn't see the floor well enough to make an effective pass. This liability is magnified because they don't have other reliable guys to handle and create. Paul George is still feeling his way and creates mostly for himself. KD figured it out and PG will eventually. What made me really throw my hands up in disgust at George Hill was the ECFs when Mario Chalmers bodied him up 35 feet away from the basket and Hill was helpless to make him pay for it.
The Barea of 2011 wreaked havoc on the Lakers and the Heat. They didn't have an answer for his quickness and dribble penetration. That's the type of point play that can carry the Pacers further.
They already have that...in George...however...Miami took Lebron off George and put Allen on him...in the 2nd half of that game...up until that point George was shutdown...Beasley would have likely allowed Bron to rest a bit more...after running after George in the 1st...so as good as George has become he might be in for a hell of a time if Beasley is healthy come playoff time..
He's not going to average 25 over the course of the entire season, and even if he did, it would be against the weakest schedule in recent memory.
^^ yeah, 43 vs. Portland means nothing 28 vs. the Spurs means nothing 27 vs. the Clippers means nothing 28 vs. the Thunder means nothing he obviously disappears vs. quality competition :rooleyes:
Your 2014 NBA Champion? Certainly in the mix. OKC looks awfully good to me. Miami will be there. Maybe SA. Rockets can't be taken seriously at this point. Right now they will be lucky to win a playoffs series, maybe even get in the playoffs. Quite a ways to go.
LSOF- Luis Scola only fan 13pt 6rb 5-7 shooting. Luis Scola is my favorite player. That might be my Rocket biased talking but I love this dude so much!
I really liked them last year and I thought they were 1-2 good players away from being championship contenders. Addition of Luis Scola really puts them over the top. It will be a fun ECF series between Heat and Pacers.
