In all fairness, I knew it was going to be bad. The Pelicans were virtually playing 2 or 3 vs. 5 on offense in Utah and Indiana’s defense is much better than Utah’s. Davis and Ryno were out. But the makeshift lineup failed to execute on either end of the floor and the result was an absolute shellacking. The Pelicans were never in this game and it was brutal to watch. But it was expected, as you can hear below (this was taped a couple days ago).
Skip to 18 minutes, 30 seconds for the Pacers preview from me and Scott.
[youtube id=”0GeRbtGvznY?t=14m15s” width=”620″ height=”360″]
The Pacers are smart – if you watched them defend our starters, they simply formed a shell defense and lived with the results. Barring another scintillating shooting performance by Gordon, the Pelicans were never really going to score a lot tonight. The issue, of course, is that they also didn’t stop the Pacers, who had no trouble scoring on the shorthanded Pelicans.
- David West absolutely torched the Pelicans on his jumper tonight, finishing 8 of 9 from the field and chipping in 7 assists. That midrange J is just fluffy.
- In all fairness to the Pelicans, the Pacers were drilling seemingly every long-range shot they took. Being outclassed AND facing a team who is feeling it is a difficult proposition. 9-19 from 3 for Indy.
- Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. But that’s what you get when you have to force penetration and passes into seams that barely exist. Again, the Pacers knew who they were defending and decided to take away everything for our drivers and live with the results. And they were paid handsomely for their strategy.
- Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon, the only 2 major threats, were held under 10 points apiece (though both barely exceeded the 20 min mark, as the game was out of hand early). This is a horrible matchup for Tyreke and Gordon couldn’t make the Pacers pay from outside. Really simple.
Continuing to analyze the game seems somewhat fruitless, as today’s players were inserted into roles that they will never be asked to fill on a normal night. There was a huge talent differential and it showed on the scoreboard. Get well soon, AD/Jrue/Ryno!!!!
7 responses to “Pacers Destroy Pelicans, Unnamed Writer Collapses In Tears”
Stink, stank, stunk!
Just as you stated that you knew it was a foregone conclusion about tonight’s outcome, it was painfully obvious that our starters came in with the same mentality. I suppose the grind of an 82 game season can produce a mental lapse whereby the subconscious saps away the desire and drive when one likewise feels said effort will be for naught. The only problem with that is they are paid professionals who must rise above that thinking and fight for what they are trying to achieve. These teams we are facing are full of fight regardless of their record. We are fighting when we feel we are the underdog, but carry no emotional drive in these games we are supposed to win. They can be no other explanation, regardless of whether good players are out with injury. Why did the bench play better? Because their purpose is more self-centered thereby fighting for their NBA existence. I have seen Pop pull his starters when their heads were not in the game. These guys have got to wake up and Monty is right when he says that they apparently do not realize the moment, and yet he apparently cannot wake them to it adequately.
Our only hope is to have all or our starters back for the entire rest of the season following the all star break, but it makes me think we will have to stay on the outside looking in for them to mentally fight their way in. If they get on a good roll, I cannot imagine them moving up into even higher seeds (not enough games left withstanding) because their mindset will likely revert to “they have made it” and find themselves bounced out at the end anyway because they relaxed..
Man, I don’t know. I understand we are short-handed but these games are a joke. I’ve seen plenty of teams hold the fort while down a few key players. I think a fair metric would be to hold your own against sub .500 road teams at home. Instead, we are getting shellacked. I think it’s fair to hold the organization and coaching staff to account for these let downs. Either our bench is way below par or our coaching leaves a lot to be desired.
I would have to agree that the game was pretty predictable to a student of the Pelicans. A loss was more likely than not even though Vegas had us as -1 underdogs (lol)
I am not going to jump on the “fire Monty” bandwagon. It’s easy to do that and maybe he is partially to blame but the fact is that we are missing integral parts to our core plan. I mean aren’t reserves supposed to just “sustain” a lead or keep the game in hand? Clearly these guys are being asked too much of them and EG is only getting use to the role of being given the burden of a/an “acting franchise player” he has had some decent efforts, but clearly his feet get in the way. The positive here is we know his clear strengths. 1) catch and shoot with no dribble or hesitation 2) drive and pass out but only behind him. His weaknesses are: 1) dribbling 2) shooting after dribbling 3) passing into traffic 4) thinking about interior passing away from the play on penetration 5)dribbling without looking at the basket 6) between the legs euro style dribbling oh and did I mention dribbling? I don’t have any problems with Tyreke he’s doing more than expected and at a higher rate than his paycheck is for. Penetrate Penetrate protects the ball for the most part and has improved his shooting.
I can take the losses, it’s just the manor of which we lose. I can’t help but feel Monty is more than partially at fault here. Not because he’s the coach, but because it’s semi hypocritical for him to be such a firm advocate and student of Pop and yet when we think of a Spurs team, can you imagine backups or reserves playing with as much freedom and lack of pride? There’s no competition if our starters come off for the most part. Although Cunningham and Pondexter have given us energy and a big lift, I feel the coaches don’t emphasise player development beyond the starting 5, and that’s where I feel the need for improvement is.
I would like to see more set plays aside from the three pass top of the key hand off penetrate predictable free run we use 30 times a game. All, and I mean all players need to be held accountable for a successful team. Let’s not overlook the last player on the bench… People laugh about Salmons but honestly I have seen better set ups for Ryno from Salmons than about half of our players and lead guards.. That comes from being a vet and not from our coaches. In closing, this All star break comes at a good time and I hope things turn around.
New City I think you are underselling it a bit. I want to see these teams who are missing 100 combined minutes and a combined PER of 65 who won games against decent teams. I doubt it happens that often.
Michael McNamara New City You’re good with data so maybe you’re right, I haven’t run numbers across the league. But I still say at home against sub .500 road teams you’ve got to show better than this. We were missing Jrue and AD when we beat the Clips at full strength. Outlier? Perhaps, but we’ve still got Tyreke & Gordon, with Asik down low. I saw Tyreke win some games at the end of last year with a bucket of spare parts and a glue gun. And that was with nothing on the line. Now we are in the thick of a playoff run and we can’t show better than this, especially on defense? Either we need a better bench 7-9 or the team is playing flat with the post-season in reach. Either of those are bothersome.
David West mid range J is one of the pure joys of basketball.