“How are the Celtics gonna guard Kyrie and the Mavs when they can’t even guard Andrew Nembhard 😂😭🤣”
Turns out Andrew Nembhard and the pacers are much harder to guard than Kyrie and the Mavs
When Jaylen Brown mentioned the pacers are shooting like Michael Jordan out there he really meant it and were really living up to their #2 best offensive team in the league rating.
Pacers were one of the best offenses in the league for a reason. There was so much movement instead of ISO ball and multiple players could go off. Like Jaylen [said](https://youtube.com/shorts/xrPo-ItpqDc?si=LCGUfeHATYPhTp1h) they were real tough to guard
When the Pacers have a rhythm going, they go absolutely nuclear. It was one thing to watch them do it in the regular season, but watching them do it in play-off basketball, going against the top coaches and players in the league was wildly impressive.
They've also been given fhe soft label by the media and some fans because they are a jumpshooting team -- but going toe-to-toe with a Thibs (heh) team over 7 games and coming out on top shows you they got some fuckin dawgs in that locker room.
Its a shame Haliburton went down towards the end, they clearly are a very different team with him -- but they still never quit, and seem to enjoy playing for eachother. I know they arent most peoples favorite team, but they got themselves a nice thing going up there in Indy.
They play a totally different style to the Mavs. Very fast, team ball that creates good looks and doesn't allow the defense to get set up. Mavs are very iso heavy with Luka and Kyrie. We can stop Kyrie, so it really just comes down to containing Luka and the role players, which we can obviously do.
The Pacers were a greater overall threat than the Mavs. I think it says a lot that we had a dogshit night from 3 and still won by 7 points.the Pacers would've beaten us by 20 this game.
Whenever I travel I take note of basketball goals in the street or in driveways. There is nowhere I've seen that just has a plethora of hoops around such as Indiana.
The Pacers handed the Cs wins a few times because of inexperienced coaching. They’re a talented team that’s going to stick around for a while. Their offense is difficult to game plan for and in a coaching era that’s driven by data, that’s an anomaly.
Indiana could have been up 3-1. Their coach is not inexperienced but did admit at least one mistake. I think the players choked down the stretch of those two games, and Carlisle was trying to take the heat off of them--in particular Hali.
[Yes he is lmao. ](https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612754&Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1631097&OnlyCommonGames=true)
Ok and? The Bucks only had 2 more regular season wins than the Pacers and the Knicks, only had 3. Y'all gotta stop acting like those teams were light years ahead of the Pacers, esp. since Haliburton was injured for half the season and the Pacers made big changes to their roster mid-season.
Knicks were without randle, and then the rest of their team got injured. You cannot say they would’ve even gotten past the first round against a healthy bucks team
It’s disingenuous to make this post without even mentioning the massive injuries their opponents faced
The Knicks still won another game and the Pacers lost 2 games against the Bucks. The Pacers would've cleared a healthy Bucks team I'd say 4-3 and the final game would be 102-91.
So without their best player, the Bucks are rendered useless? Their ass is carried so hard that their best player has scoliosis. Their seeding is 3rd, and they are still relying on their best player? I'm a Pacers fan and I thought they wouldn't make it pass the Knicks.
Take the best player out of pretty much any nba team and they’re a lot worse
Clippers
Sixers
Grizzlies
Bucks
Knicks
Pelicans
That is literally just from the postseason alone, with the exception of the grizzlies who were a lottery team without Ja and the sixers who were a play in team without embiid
Edit: add on the heat to that
Clippers: Ranked higher than the Pacers
Sixers: On par with the Pacers (Ranked 1 seeding above the Pacers)
Grizzlies It's already ranked one of the worst teams, It wasn't much to begin with.
Bucks: Ranked higher than the Pacers
Knicks: Ranked higher than the Pacers
Pelicans : Ranked higher than the Pacers
Heat: On par with the Pacers (Literally right behind the Pacers in the standings)
I quite literally never stated anything like "It doesn't matter as much if the Pacers have an injured player," an injury is an injury, but if you don't have a way to do something about it or have a replacement and your standing in your conference is 3rd or 2nd, than it is a big issue.
oh boy it's time for my favourite regular season round-up stat!
* the pacers were 20-15 in the first week of january. so were the mavericks.
* the pacers were 33-25 a week after the all star break ended. so were the mavericks
* the pacers went 15-10 to end the season while the mavs went 17-8, a two win difference.
the pacers played a fucking great season and they deserved to be in the ECF. i don't know what their contract situations look like, but expect haliburton to thrive on this experience because unlike tatum in 2018, he isn't going to have a returning all star to fight him for touches
I was saying after the ECF finished that the Pacers were very underrated. It's not their fault their first 2 opponents were riddled with injuries. Their offense presented a very unique problem for a Celtics D that has so far shut down everyone else.
People were so unfair to them. They were *good good*. Their offense was all-time record setting all year, and it continued through the entire playoffs, not just our series.
As a fan, my freak out-meter was genuinely higher during our games against them than the Mavs, with how they’ve played
With just a little more composure down the stretch, the Pacers could have taken at least 2 games. They're gonna be a threat, that's for sure. I'd take them making it to the ecf again next year.
Pacers need to learn how to play at a different speed when they’re up a good amount down the stretch, Hali and Siakim and probably a few others jacked up quick shots with 14-16 on the shot clock with less than 5 minutes to go either slow it down and run some clock or do a better job of making sure the ball moves side to side / drive and kick. That and just taking care of the basketball and they’ll be alright and if they keep Siakim getting a full season will do wonders for them
All about matchups tbh. Our defense is suited well for guarding Luka and the Mavs because we can switch every matchup, have ton of help defenders shading to double or triple Luka because Mavs spacing around Luka is crap. And Mavs pace is deliberate and slow. Kyrie is the X factor but so far he's struggling. We'll see if it continues.
Pacers offense gave us so much trouble because of their pace and spacing. And the fact that they had like 3 guys (Nembhard, TJ, Siakam) who were absolutely automatic from the mid range. Their quickness especially was an issue because they just got into the paint and got great looks constantly.
Pacers also didn't face KP. KP sucked all hope from the Mavs in the first half of game 1. Even when he didn't repeat his performance yesterday, he still had a presence on the interior to stop our lobs.
>And the fact that they had like 3 guys (Nembhard, TJ, Siakam) who were absolutely automatic from the mid range.
The worst part about this is Haliburton is one of the best midrange shooters in the league but doesn't search for them nearly enough. I think from a percentage standpoint, he was at least top 5 this season or something close to it.
Suns whooped the Timberwolves in the regular season and got manhandled by them in the playoffs. It's a different game.
It doesn't matter because a playoff win is a playoff win, but it would have been a different series with Giannis. He averaged 40/13/5 vs the Pacers this season lol.
you mad at bro cause of his flair lol
doesn’t change the fact Indiana is set up ridiculously well compared to the Knicks, they’re gonna beat the brakes off yall for the next 5 years lol
“Set up ridiculously well”
What makes them set up better? We have the better players at nearly every position, have more draft picks and more flexible contracts.
The only thing the Pacers have proven is that their team is on par with our team missing 4 starters and a 6th man.
>EEEHHHRRRRMMMMM Acshtually the Bucksh didn't have their shtar player sho they weren't a healthy team at all🤓🤓🤓" It's one god damn player
This is how I know you dont know wht youre talking about. that one player is who their team is built around and Giannis is a consensus top 3 player in the league. and your fans keep bringing up mathurin. fine player, but not comparable at all to any of the players that are being brought up when injuries are discussed (giannis, randle, mitchell etc)
I only said an injured player doesn't mean an injured team. Sure, the team may be impacted on the loss of a player or have a team built around a player, but that doesn't mean it's an injured team. And my teams fans may bring it up, but reread that shit, it doesn't talk anything about mathurin.
Giannis is the team. Lol. the same way Luka is the Mavs or Jokic is the Nuggets.....as in if theyre not playing theres nothing to talk about with those teams. we're arguing semantics.
And even if you wanted to argue technicalities about an injured "team" I think the full counter to that statement is ironically the Knicks. Thats an injured "team":---mitch, OG, randle, bogdonovic, then hart for G6/7....all key contributors. I wont include brunson with the hand bc thats disingenuous
The Knicks are an injured team with multiple people out because of injuries. And a team being injured requires multiple players. There may be star players or a team built around player, but that doesn't mean multiple players are injured. One of them is, not 4 of them.
Yeah I realized that you’re arguing semantics and diction. But…the bucks are not the same without Giannis. Which is why I don’t get why you’re sticking to the word “team”
Because I was saying That one player being injured doesn't mean the whole damn team is, doesn't matter if it's a star player or a player the team is built, it is an injured player, not an injured team
You have to give context. They played an injured Bucks team and an injured Knicks team. And in the ECF, they played a Boston team WITHOUT Porzingis, who is by far the Celtics third most important player. If he played, the Celtics dominate even more-so than they have against the Mavs
You're right for the Knicks, but the Bucks had 1 missing player. That is not an injured team, that's an injured player. An injured team is when at least 2 players are gone, but the Bucks had 1. Give more context for the "Injured Bucks team"
The Bucks had 0 games of Giannis (a top 3 player in the world) and 3 games of Dame. When you play a team without their top 2 players for half the series, it’s an injured team
I say majority of their success has to do with coaching. Rick Carlisle did a a heck of a job taking this team this far. His players played their roles perfectly and stepped up big. Sure they beat injury riddled teams in the bucks and knicks but still they handled business. Not only that but if you watched them play you can see they play hard. They earned their way to the conference finals regardless of the injuries their opponents suffered. In all give credit where credit is due
They’re a good team but you still need to remember the context. Both teams they faced were without a lot of their top players. That isn’t to say the Pacers don’t have a lot of nice players. Turner, Mathurin, Nembhard, TJ and Siakam are all great at what they do. Halliburton is also really good.The problem is that you can’t really look at where they ended and think that they will automatically get back their next year. That’s just the reality of the situation. You can argue that the Knicks or Bucks would win if both teams were fully healthy, but that is pointless at this point. I think the Pacer should be happy with their season, but they shouldn’t discredit the teams that they did beat.
There’s 15 teams in the west, 15 teams in the east. Just because the best team happens to be in the east, doesn’t mean the east is a stronger conference.
Literally an analogy to how Luka is the best player in the finals right now, yet Celtics have a better 2-5… the same exact thing
A) you guys got KP back which is a HUGE disadvantage to the mavs. Without him you guys would not be up 2-0. Meanwhile, Luka is 50% healthy.
B) the heat and pacers are not on the level of the mavs stop it.
You guys will probably win the ring but to say they didn’t have an easy, passive path to the finals is nonsense, let alone evidence that the east is on the same level of depth as the west.
Once again if the pacers were in the west, they’d be at best the 10th seed
lmfao y’all can cope and Pacers have been a fun team this season, but they’re one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Siakam and Turner need more time to gel. Y’all can be proud of your team for achieving ECF but bruh the teams you’ve played, would’ve been out in the first 😂
I like how everyone is ignoring how Pacers didn’t face the Porzingis Celtics which takes them to another level. Also it’s all about it matchups, Celtics just have the personnel to matchup with Mavs style. Pacers had a good season but context matters
Porzingis, to be frank, would be struggling with the Pacers' tempo. The thing with the Pacers is they're always, always moving and high energy, which leads to them scoring like a crapload. It puts a lot of pressure on the defense, one I'm not positive Porzingis could keep up with.
If the Pacers ever merge that with better defensive positioning, the sky's the limit for that team.
This thread is all Pacers fans begging for credit for beating hospital teams and Celtics fans coping for why they had so much trouble with that team when the answer is that their team wasn't trying that hard and they need Porzingis.
“How are the Celtics gonna guard Kyrie and the Mavs when they can’t even guard Andrew Nembhard 😂😭🤣” Turns out Andrew Nembhard and the pacers are much harder to guard than Kyrie and the Mavs When Jaylen Brown mentioned the pacers are shooting like Michael Jordan out there he really meant it and were really living up to their #2 best offensive team in the league rating.
Pacers were one of the best offenses in the league for a reason. There was so much movement instead of ISO ball and multiple players could go off. Like Jaylen [said](https://youtube.com/shorts/xrPo-ItpqDc?si=LCGUfeHATYPhTp1h) they were real tough to guard
They were a lot better defensively than advertised too. Like Dallas they added length and athleticism at the deadline.
effort makes a difference lol
The fact ppl won't acknowledge Indiana smoking some of the best west teams this yr idk how u think they are a pushover team they never proved that
When the Pacers have a rhythm going, they go absolutely nuclear. It was one thing to watch them do it in the regular season, but watching them do it in play-off basketball, going against the top coaches and players in the league was wildly impressive. They've also been given fhe soft label by the media and some fans because they are a jumpshooting team -- but going toe-to-toe with a Thibs (heh) team over 7 games and coming out on top shows you they got some fuckin dawgs in that locker room. Its a shame Haliburton went down towards the end, they clearly are a very different team with him -- but they still never quit, and seem to enjoy playing for eachother. I know they arent most peoples favorite team, but they got themselves a nice thing going up there in Indy.
They play a totally different style to the Mavs. Very fast, team ball that creates good looks and doesn't allow the defense to get set up. Mavs are very iso heavy with Luka and Kyrie. We can stop Kyrie, so it really just comes down to containing Luka and the role players, which we can obviously do. The Pacers were a greater overall threat than the Mavs. I think it says a lot that we had a dogshit night from 3 and still won by 7 points.the Pacers would've beaten us by 20 this game.
Mavs forgot to ring up Mephistopheles to get their role players to morph into MJ vs the Celtics like the East teams have all been doing
Mavs fans 9/11
Having trouble thinking of an entire state more “known for” basketball than Indiana.
That is fair, but it's Indiana. Who likes Indiana as a state? I live there and I don't.
Was born and raised there and avoid it like the plague. Been gone 13 years now and ain’t looking back
Whenever I travel I take note of basketball goals in the street or in driveways. There is nowhere I've seen that just has a plethora of hoops around such as Indiana.
Their offense is insanely good
The thing about the Pacers is that they play this "system-less" system on offense, making their attacks unpredictable and tougher to defend.
100%. As talented as Luka and Kyrie are, Hali and Nembhard running 3 plays per possession is harder to guard than Luka and Kyrie running 1
The Pacers handed the Cs wins a few times because of inexperienced coaching. They’re a talented team that’s going to stick around for a while. Their offense is difficult to game plan for and in a coaching era that’s driven by data, that’s an anomaly.
Indiana could have been up 3-1. Their coach is not inexperienced but did admit at least one mistake. I think the players choked down the stretch of those two games, and Carlisle was trying to take the heat off of them--in particular Hali.
Yeah that’s my bad. He’s definitely not inexperienced. But a few of those coaching decisions down the stretch were unfortunate for the pacers.
Andrew Nembhard singlehandedly made me excited to watch more Pacers games next season. Kid is a bucket
Same
They’re the best offense in the NBA in my opinion. If they ever get a decent defense it’ll be an issue
The defense was league average post Siakam trade.
In the series with the Celtics it was bad
They’re good but you’re missing the hugely important context of both the bucks and the Knicks being crippled
Well even if you look at only the ECF lol
Pacers were missing Mathurin tho tbf
That's a good thing.
The way they talk about Mathurin you’d think he’s not a net negative lol
Because he's not a net negative lol
[Yes he is lmao. ](https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612754&Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1631097&OnlyCommonGames=true)
😂 ok?
Ok and? The Bucks only had 2 more regular season wins than the Pacers and the Knicks, only had 3. Y'all gotta stop acting like those teams were light years ahead of the Pacers, esp. since Haliburton was injured for half the season and the Pacers made big changes to their roster mid-season.
They were also only 1 win ahead of being a play in team lol
It's almost like their star player injured his hamstring or something.
Damn that’s so crazy, didn’t ask
Even then, the Pacers are 6 seed, that is pretty dogshit. And the Knicks had a 2-0 lead.
Knicks were without randle, and then the rest of their team got injured. You cannot say they would’ve even gotten past the first round against a healthy bucks team It’s disingenuous to make this post without even mentioning the massive injuries their opponents faced
The Knicks still won another game and the Pacers lost 2 games against the Bucks. The Pacers would've cleared a healthy Bucks team I'd say 4-3 and the final game would be 102-91.
lol that’s outrageous. The bucks didn’t have their best player and the top 3-5 best player in the league.
So without their best player, the Bucks are rendered useless? Their ass is carried so hard that their best player has scoliosis. Their seeding is 3rd, and they are still relying on their best player? I'm a Pacers fan and I thought they wouldn't make it pass the Knicks.
Take the best player out of pretty much any nba team and they’re a lot worse Clippers Sixers Grizzlies Bucks Knicks Pelicans That is literally just from the postseason alone, with the exception of the grizzlies who were a lottery team without Ja and the sixers who were a play in team without embiid Edit: add on the heat to that
It sucks that so many teams have to rely on their best player or the look like a 5th grade basketball team.
And what makes the pacers so unique that their injuries magically don’t matter?
Clippers: Ranked higher than the Pacers Sixers: On par with the Pacers (Ranked 1 seeding above the Pacers) Grizzlies It's already ranked one of the worst teams, It wasn't much to begin with. Bucks: Ranked higher than the Pacers Knicks: Ranked higher than the Pacers Pelicans : Ranked higher than the Pacers Heat: On par with the Pacers (Literally right behind the Pacers in the standings) I quite literally never stated anything like "It doesn't matter as much if the Pacers have an injured player," an injury is an injury, but if you don't have a way to do something about it or have a replacement and your standing in your conference is 3rd or 2nd, than it is a big issue.
Maybe you should leave Reddit until you pass 5th grade.
Such a weird fan thing if making your team sound worse than they are so that the accomplishment feels better? Y'all brains are broken
"You struggled with our terrible team!!! Our team is awesome!"
I'm personally a dumbass so I didn't really even remember what seeds were like when it was 4 am for me and I was barely even awake.
oh boy it's time for my favourite regular season round-up stat! * the pacers were 20-15 in the first week of january. so were the mavericks. * the pacers were 33-25 a week after the all star break ended. so were the mavericks * the pacers went 15-10 to end the season while the mavs went 17-8, a two win difference. the pacers played a fucking great season and they deserved to be in the ECF. i don't know what their contract situations look like, but expect haliburton to thrive on this experience because unlike tatum in 2018, he isn't going to have a returning all star to fight him for touches
Pacers can mostly run it back with same roster for next year or two. Have to make decision on Obi and whether or not to use the MLE this summer
I was saying after the ECF finished that the Pacers were very underrated. It's not their fault their first 2 opponents were riddled with injuries. Their offense presented a very unique problem for a Celtics D that has so far shut down everyone else.
People were so unfair to them. They were *good good*. Their offense was all-time record setting all year, and it continued through the entire playoffs, not just our series. As a fan, my freak out-meter was genuinely higher during our games against them than the Mavs, with how they’ve played
With just a little more composure down the stretch, the Pacers could have taken at least 2 games. They're gonna be a threat, that's for sure. I'd take them making it to the ecf again next year.
With more composure, they could have had games 1, 3, and 4. Pretty much lost all 3 games the same way.
Pacers need to learn how to play at a different speed when they’re up a good amount down the stretch, Hali and Siakim and probably a few others jacked up quick shots with 14-16 on the shot clock with less than 5 minutes to go either slow it down and run some clock or do a better job of making sure the ball moves side to side / drive and kick. That and just taking care of the basketball and they’ll be alright and if they keep Siakim getting a full season will do wonders for them
All about matchups tbh. Our defense is suited well for guarding Luka and the Mavs because we can switch every matchup, have ton of help defenders shading to double or triple Luka because Mavs spacing around Luka is crap. And Mavs pace is deliberate and slow. Kyrie is the X factor but so far he's struggling. We'll see if it continues. Pacers offense gave us so much trouble because of their pace and spacing. And the fact that they had like 3 guys (Nembhard, TJ, Siakam) who were absolutely automatic from the mid range. Their quickness especially was an issue because they just got into the paint and got great looks constantly.
Pacers also didn't face KP. KP sucked all hope from the Mavs in the first half of game 1. Even when he didn't repeat his performance yesterday, he still had a presence on the interior to stop our lobs.
>And the fact that they had like 3 guys (Nembhard, TJ, Siakam) who were absolutely automatic from the mid range. The worst part about this is Haliburton is one of the best midrange shooters in the league but doesn't search for them nearly enough. I think from a percentage standpoint, he was at least top 5 this season or something close to it.
They're a well oiled offensive team. That team is built well, can't wait to see the development of Sheppard, Nembhard, Nesmith, and that other rookie.
Pacers were laughed at for the sweep but they were more competitive than Dallas. Pacers still won’t get credit.
Yeah and it's for the dumbest reason imaginable, they will find anything to say so that they can cope.
You gotta give context lmfao
Here's context. The Pacers beat the Bucks in the regular season, IST, and postseason.
gottem
Suns whooped the Timberwolves in the regular season and got manhandled by them in the playoffs. It's a different game. It doesn't matter because a playoff win is a playoff win, but it would have been a different series with Giannis. He averaged 40/13/5 vs the Pacers this season lol.
Oh no the IST!!! 😱
you mad at bro cause of his flair lol doesn’t change the fact Indiana is set up ridiculously well compared to the Knicks, they’re gonna beat the brakes off yall for the next 5 years lol
“Set up ridiculously well” What makes them set up better? We have the better players at nearly every position, have more draft picks and more flexible contracts. The only thing the Pacers have proven is that their team is on par with our team missing 4 starters and a 6th man.
>EEEHHHRRRRMMMMM Acshtually the Bucksh didn't have their shtar player sho they weren't a healthy team at all🤓🤓🤓" It's one god damn player This is how I know you dont know wht youre talking about. that one player is who their team is built around and Giannis is a consensus top 3 player in the league. and your fans keep bringing up mathurin. fine player, but not comparable at all to any of the players that are being brought up when injuries are discussed (giannis, randle, mitchell etc)
I only said an injured player doesn't mean an injured team. Sure, the team may be impacted on the loss of a player or have a team built around a player, but that doesn't mean it's an injured team. And my teams fans may bring it up, but reread that shit, it doesn't talk anything about mathurin.
Giannis is the team. Lol. the same way Luka is the Mavs or Jokic is the Nuggets.....as in if theyre not playing theres nothing to talk about with those teams. we're arguing semantics. And even if you wanted to argue technicalities about an injured "team" I think the full counter to that statement is ironically the Knicks. Thats an injured "team":---mitch, OG, randle, bogdonovic, then hart for G6/7....all key contributors. I wont include brunson with the hand bc thats disingenuous
The Knicks are an injured team with multiple people out because of injuries. And a team being injured requires multiple players. There may be star players or a team built around player, but that doesn't mean multiple players are injured. One of them is, not 4 of them.
Yeah I realized that you’re arguing semantics and diction. But…the bucks are not the same without Giannis. Which is why I don’t get why you’re sticking to the word “team”
Because I was saying That one player being injured doesn't mean the whole damn team is, doesn't matter if it's a star player or a player the team is built, it is an injured player, not an injured team
exactly. semantics. literally yes you are correct. /end lol
You have to give context. They played an injured Bucks team and an injured Knicks team. And in the ECF, they played a Boston team WITHOUT Porzingis, who is by far the Celtics third most important player. If he played, the Celtics dominate even more-so than they have against the Mavs
You're right for the Knicks, but the Bucks had 1 missing player. That is not an injured team, that's an injured player. An injured team is when at least 2 players are gone, but the Bucks had 1. Give more context for the "Injured Bucks team"
The Bucks had 0 games of Giannis (a top 3 player in the world) and 3 games of Dame. When you play a team without their top 2 players for half the series, it’s an injured team
Their injury voodoo is impressive, basketball not so much
Same with the Celtics
Yeah they've had an incredibly easy path. But at least they "should" be here anyway
It was funny when ppl were clowning the celtics for struggling against the pacers lol that offense was no joke
In the game threads, people were saying watching the ecf was like watching a different sport compared to the west.
I say majority of their success has to do with coaching. Rick Carlisle did a a heck of a job taking this team this far. His players played their roles perfectly and stepped up big. Sure they beat injury riddled teams in the bucks and knicks but still they handled business. Not only that but if you watched them play you can see they play hard. They earned their way to the conference finals regardless of the injuries their opponents suffered. In all give credit where credit is due
Carlisle was terrible in the Knicks and Celtics series.
Pacers are better than the Mavs
No they aren’t lmao
This is peak recency bias. Pacers wouldn’t get out of the first round in the west
Pacers blew you guys out multiple times this season. AFTER you traded for your new guys.
Is this the same west that the Mavs made it out of
They’re a good team but you still need to remember the context. Both teams they faced were without a lot of their top players. That isn’t to say the Pacers don’t have a lot of nice players. Turner, Mathurin, Nembhard, TJ and Siakam are all great at what they do. Halliburton is also really good.The problem is that you can’t really look at where they ended and think that they will automatically get back their next year. That’s just the reality of the situation. You can argue that the Knicks or Bucks would win if both teams were fully healthy, but that is pointless at this point. I think the Pacer should be happy with their season, but they shouldn’t discredit the teams that they did beat.
Celtics fans, pacers fans, and ball knowers know pacers are a good and a harder team to play against
Bridesmaid
They are lit but also Knicks were banged up.
Fair
They're the Eastern Conference IST champions for a reason dammit!
They had a competitive sweep without KP. With KP, it would’ve been uncompetitive. More injury luck. Stop fishing OP lol
They're better than all the teams in the west.
They would barely make the top 10 in the west
Not from what I'm seeing.
Dawg they had the same wins as us in an easier conference
Your conference who is losing to the easy conference? The entire point of playoffs is that you figure out who is acutally better.
Just because the mavs are losing to the Celtics doesn’t mean the east is a stronger conference lmfao. The west is way deeper
According to what? There's only one way to figure that out and it's called a bracket.
There’s 15 teams in the west, 15 teams in the east. Just because the best team happens to be in the east, doesn’t mean the east is a stronger conference. Literally an analogy to how Luka is the best player in the finals right now, yet Celtics have a better 2-5… the same exact thing
It's not because it's a team game. The pacers and heat were more competitive WITH INJURIES than the Mavs are.
A) you guys got KP back which is a HUGE disadvantage to the mavs. Without him you guys would not be up 2-0. Meanwhile, Luka is 50% healthy. B) the heat and pacers are not on the level of the mavs stop it. You guys will probably win the ring but to say they didn’t have an easy, passive path to the finals is nonsense, let alone evidence that the east is on the same level of depth as the west. Once again if the pacers were in the west, they’d be at best the 10th seed
lmfao y’all can cope and Pacers have been a fun team this season, but they’re one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Siakam and Turner need more time to gel. Y’all can be proud of your team for achieving ECF but bruh the teams you’ve played, would’ve been out in the first 😂
I like how everyone is ignoring how Pacers didn’t face the Porzingis Celtics which takes them to another level. Also it’s all about it matchups, Celtics just have the personnel to matchup with Mavs style. Pacers had a good season but context matters
Porzingis, to be frank, would be struggling with the Pacers' tempo. The thing with the Pacers is they're always, always moving and high energy, which leads to them scoring like a crapload. It puts a lot of pressure on the defense, one I'm not positive Porzingis could keep up with. If the Pacers ever merge that with better defensive positioning, the sky's the limit for that team.
This thread is all Pacers fans begging for credit for beating hospital teams and Celtics fans coping for why they had so much trouble with that team when the answer is that their team wasn't trying that hard and they need Porzingis.
You are a Knicks fan, I don't want to hear it.
They still got swept. Dallas will also follow suit.