Pacers' Miracle Season Thread

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

Respect. Getting a bit tired of the aristocratic Reeshard Mille consortium myself. Clown world.

Beg to differ, Reeshard Mille are part of the no-scrub, no-agenda committee. The one Nesmith helped build. Can't light Rome any other way.

What's so Piaskam hard to understand about that. We good we hood.

[ninjacookies]

Keepin thuganomics alive. As a real one should.

[Nomad]

Who would you say is the vocal leader in this locker room?

DustinDopirak
CO-HOST

To your below comment, the thing that makes these guys work well together is that there's not one guy who's THE vocal leader. All the guys you mentioned kind of combine to make this team's vocal leadership. And I've seen that kind of situation not work, but for these guys it really does. Haliburton kind of creates the team's entire ethos. He's plenty vocal, but the bigger thing is that the team is created in his image and style of play. The unselfishness permeates. Siakam is the most likely to step up and make a speech, but he's been careful not to try to establish that the Pacers are in any way HIS team. He doesn't like to talk that much to start with, but it was made clear to him when he started that the Pacers wanted to hear his experiences as someone who's been a big part of a championship team so he's become more comfortable sharing those experiences. Turner gets respect as the guy who's been there the longest and held himself with dignity in some tough circumstances. McConnell gets respect as the guy who's made the most of not having what you'd call the traditional physical gifts of an NBA player. James Johnson gets respect as the elder, as the guy who scares the hell out of everybody on the opposing team, but also as someone who is just relentlessly positive and good at getting people to believe in themselves. Nesmith and Nembhard don't talk a whole lot, but Nembhard has some leadership skills as a lifelong point guard and they both are kind of viewed as the quiet, decorated soldiers. They don't necessarily get to overrule Haliburton or Siakam or someone like that when they talk, but their reputations are impeccable so that makes a difference. It makes for a fascinating collective leadership unit that really works.

[Mahomie]

Pascal (noun) - a unit of pressure

[Mahomie]

Samurai Myles.

I liked this Prizm set with the on-card autos. They look so much cleaner than chrome stickers.

[al3xmac10]

Mahomie, those are 2 very nice rookie autos.

[Mahomie]

Originally Posted by al3xmac10

Mahomie, those are 2 very nice rookie autos.

Thanks - it's weird for me to even think about now, but I was a huge Beckett fan during that period (in terms of third party grading).

Things have changed so much in just the past 10 years.

[Nomad]

That Siakam haircut proves that cool didn't start in 2023.

I personally would rather want to have a double gold than a medicine label 10. Never seen a black label of my dude appear on the market.

[Nomad]

Imma crossover. The day warrants it.

[Nomad]

Theory: Pacers are just on the cusp of a run

I think that once again, with the Pacers' fluke wins and fluke game 7 loss (hadn't game planned for no Haliburton), people are writing the Pacers off too soon.

For one, the Furphinator has been understudying nearly all the team and meeting milestones on offense and defense. He could possibly take the Haliburton role for a year with his length.

For another, so many key role players are locked up on nice contracts, because they want to be here. You got Nesmith, Nembhard, TJ, and Toppin. Mathurin, because he will probably enjoy dominating with his Nesmith, Nembhard, Furphy/Walker, Jackson starting squad. Wow.
Oh and Myles takes a $22.5 mil haircut and anchors still the best bench in the league.

[ninjacookies]

Peeps sleepin on Furfdog heavy.


Basically Tom Chambers sipping tiger blood.

Dick minus precoital extracurriculars.

Plus the Indy FO won't have to deal with the inevitable racial colloquialisms that come with it.





Will be loading up my bags this offseason.

[Nomad]

I wish it would, as Furphy and the entire team want it, not be about race. But it will be.



Basically, he was a second or third round gift who didn't get picked as high as expected, ala Nembhard. Turned out to be a cool dude who used to play Aussie football and so has gained respect on the boards.

Which, if he can hit his spots creatively and self create, gives him a quality Haliburton never fully developed. As Ty and Ja learned, you really got to have endurance strength in this new physical NBA.

[ninjacookies]

You realize his #teamlightskin origins work IN his favor not against him, right?

Like...that's the whole reason why Flagg's received honorary praise even from Netenyahu. The entire US market's been waiting for that domestic blanco hope to sprout and snatch the crown.

Unfortunately Chetneck's too aligned with his meager upbringing to cancel his blackplanet subscription and seize the moment.


So it's down to Furf, Dick, and Coop. It's anyone's guess who wins out, but I'll be watching eagerly from the sidelines with my Maga fitted and a cold one in hand.

[Nomad]

Man, Pacers are so against this brand of basketball people in South Indiana don't even root hard for them.

[Sticks33]

Originally Posted by Nomad

Theory: Pacers are just on the cusp of a run

I think that once again, with the Pacers' fluke wins and fluke game 7 loss (hadn't game planned for no Haliburton), people are writing the Pacers off too soon.

For one, the Furphinator has been understudying nearly all the team and meeting milestones on offense and defense. He could possibly take the Haliburton role for a year with his length.

For another, so many key role players are locked up on nice contracts, because they want to be here. You got Nesmith, Nembhard, TJ, and Toppin. Mathurin, because he will probably enjoy dominating with his Nesmith, Nembhard, Furphy/Walker, Jackson starting squad. Wow.
Oh and Myles takes a $22.5 mil haircut and anchors still the best bench in the league.

I really hope so. I enjoy Indiana’s style of play.

I still believe that they’re one, get-your-own-shot guy away. Like the end of game 4 when the wheels came off. They need a guy they can just go to to get a shot and calm the waters. Hali isn’t that, imo.

Also, don’t overlook the Cleveland series basically being served to the Cers due to injury. I think Indy may have struggled against a fully healthy Cavs squad.

That all being said, I like the approach Indy has. Much more reminiscent of an earlier time of nba ball

[Chryghst]

Originally Posted by Sticks33

I really hope so. I enjoy Indiana’s style of play.

I still believe that they’re one, get-your-own-shot guy away. Like the end of game 4 when the wheels came off. They need a guy they can just go to to get a shot and calm the waters. Hali isn’t that, imo.

Also, don’t overlook the Cleveland series basically being served to the Cers due to injury. I think Indy may have struggled against a fully healthy Cavs squad.

That all being said, I like the approach Indy has. Much more reminiscent of an earlier time of nba ball

Indiana was a horrible matchup for Cleveland, healthy or not. Pacers murdered double big lineups all season in transition (why Dag benched Hartenstein), and their drop-coverages in half-court (see Brook Lopez, Jarrett Allen, KAT, Hartenstein). They had no point of attack defense with 2 smaller guards in Garland/Mitchell. Okoro’s shooting limitations lets Indiana pack the paint to counter Mitchell drives, and Hunter is a bucket but a highly overrated defender. Health certainly could have changed the competitiveness of the series, but I felt Knicks were a tougher matchup for Indiana based on their wing defense (picked Pacers to beat both in 6) [also thought GS would beat OKC so didn’t get it all right]. If Garland had played more, Indiana would have given him the Brunson treatment x10, putting him in every single action. Ironically, think the Cavs would have a better time against both Boston (with double bigs against unhealthy Porzingis) and the Knicks even though they were higher seeds.

Windhorst is on record essentially saying the Cavs didn’t want to play the Pacers and were hoping they didn’t win their way into the 4/5 seeds at the end of the season.

My big takeaway from this postseason is more than ever you just can’t have any liabilities on the court. Isaiah Joe is a great player—so are Hartenstein and Chet, but there were moments none of them could get on the court. The best teams are just relentless in applying pressure to the weakness points. It’s not surprising we’ve seen Simons, McCollum, Poole, Jalen Green all traded and Garland on the trade block. They’re all terrific basketball players but this finals has shown none of them are worth their contracts for a team hoping to make the finals. The NBA has gotten so good you just can’t get away with it anymore, unless the guy is making <8 million a year and can be rotated out.

[Chryghst]

Originally Posted by Nomad

Theory: Pacers are just on the cusp of a run

I think that once again, with the Pacers' fluke wins and fluke game 7 loss (hadn't game planned for no Haliburton), people are writing the Pacers off too soon.

For one, the Furphinator has been understudying nearly all the team and meeting milestones on offense and defense. He could possibly take the Haliburton role for a year with his length.

For another, so many key role players are locked up on nice contracts, because they want to be here. You got Nesmith, Nembhard, TJ, and Toppin. Mathurin, because he will probably enjoy dominating with his Nesmith, Nembhard, Furphy/Walker, Jackson starting squad. Wow.
Oh and Myles takes a $22.5 mil haircut and anchors still the best bench in the league.

Highly unlikely they extend Turner and keep their bench intact. Given repeater tax penalties, and Hali’s injury, it makes sense to postpone starting that timer for a year. Sam Vecenie (just excellent on the NBA) said highest probability is they extend Turner and move Toppin and Walker. He also predicts they push the Mathurin extension decision to next year, or extend for 4/100. As sad as it is (like really, really sad), basically zero chance this team looks the same by 26/27 when Hali comes back.

[Nomad]

I don't know about the rest of the team, but from Nesmith's perspective this just means an opportunity to build a cohesive unit that outperforms and keeps the team intact.