PACERS THREAD FROM A LOCAL

do you like your pacers at home over Miami?

trade bait, danny granger is possibly returning friday against charlotte? 

maybe indy will be extra motivated to play well against miami to prove they dont need farley granger around

Indy big tonight!!!!!

Indy -3 tonight seems like a good bet. Miami been struggling on the road as of late. My only concern would be Miami knows this game as a potential playoff matchup and they will be up for the challenge and play hard from start to finish. Think the over may be the play here. I tailed your OKC TT over play. Seems like you have a great outlook on your team from a local standpoint. Great thread and GL today

I'll post my thoughts on the game in a bit...thought I'd share this bit of information and some rumors from my buddy in Cleveland.  I love rumors...they have no basis of fact, but they are fun to debate with no harm done.

According to him, the Dion Waiters, Kyrie Irving situation is way worse than the national media is giving attention to it.  These guys hate playing with each other more than any 2 guys have ever hated playing with each other.  He says they can't co-exist no matter what they do, so one of them is on their way out.  The thinking is that Waiters will go, but there is rumblings about that there will be no interest in teams trading for Waiters...so the Cavs will/are taking offers for Kyrie.  If a team offers up enough, the Cavs may get rid of Kyrie...keep Waiters...tank the season and see if they can get one of the top 4-5 picks. 

Like I said...it's totally A RUMOR!!!  But that's what makes rumors fun.

As a Pacers fan, if Granger can come out and play well, I'd love it if we can package Granger and a pick for Kyrie.  And if you think about it from a Cavs position, Granger is an expiring contract.  They can re-sign him if they want, they have Waiters...and if they tank and get a top 4 pick they get a top tier rookie...and maybe they can take a run at Lebron.  That would be a pretty sick. 

Anyway, those are some random thoughts...I'll post thoughts about the game.

This game is tough to handicap.  The Heat, and Clippers are the two toughest teams to figure out night to night IMO.  I've gone over lots of stats, and there are some numbers that are pretty amazing.

Lebron is shooting almost 60% from the field, which is amazing.  The team as a whole is shooting over 50% which is amazing...and it's amazing because they are only shooting an average of 75 shots a game...5 shots less a game than the Pacers.  Looking at the stats, what's the weakness of the Heat?  They rank 30th in rebounding.  That's going to be tough to overcome against the Pacers.  The big thing that rebounding does is that it takes away some of the fast breaks that the Heat get where they throw alley-oops and get momentum.  The other thing the Heat does is create turnovers...that can be a problem for the Pacers.  They can be a little careless at times with the ball, and the Heat will pounce.

The Pacers know what it takes to beat the Heat...rebounding, defense, and offensive efficiency.  If you fail in any of those categories, you may lose...if you fail in 2 of those categories you will lose.

I don't pay much attention to point totals from the Heat because they are all over the place...they've played bad teams recently, etc.  So here's what I'm going to predict for tonight.  I think the Pacers want to pound the ball inside to start the game, and they are going to try and slow down the Heat.  Lebron will guard Paul George, and that will be a battle all night.  I think this leads to a slow start so first play is 1q under 48.

I said before the year that I thought the Pacers matched up better against the Heat than the Bulls (with DRose), so I'm going to stick with it.

I laugh sometimes when I hear people talk about how to stop the Heat.  Lebron is going to score...he's unstoppable.  When Wade is healthy, he's going to score.  The key to beating the Heat has been and always will be to not let the role players score.  Don't let Bosh score 17 pts...don't let Ray Allen, Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers shoot wide open jump shots.  If I'm guarding the Heat, I man up on them and I make Lebron have to score 45, Wade have to score 30 and let everyone else have to fight for every shot they have.  The role players on the Heat let Lebron do everything and they take advantage of a collapsing defense to hit wide open shots.  That's why they shoot such a high %.  I think the inside game of the Pacers can clog the lane enough to not let the perimeter defenders collapse, and Stephenson, George, Hill are solid enough to not let the Heat rain 3s on them.

I'm going to play the Pacers -3...I just don't see how the Heat can defend the inside game of the Pacers, and George is that pure scorer the Pacers have been lacking in years past.

No opinion on the total.  Nothing would surprise me on the total points scored, but I'll be watching the 1h very carefully to see if there's a good 2h play.  Gl tonight gents...big game for both teams!!! 

Love your write ups. Keep up the great work man. I'm with you. BOL

Damn the line up to 3.5 in my book. GL

GL tonight brother..will be rolling Indy as well

GL Bro I love Indy as well

Thanks guys...lots of guys seem to be on Indy...hopefully there will be a lot of us cashing tickets tonight.

Pacers were looking forward to coming home and playing the heat. Not sure why I didn't see it when capping the Okc game. That game was ugly, Okc couldnt miss.

Super frustrated about losing that 1q.  First off, it was on a layup with .4 sec left.  And second, I almost played the 1h under instead of the 1q, but thought the 2q would be when the teams would open it up.  Oh well, onto the 2h...

The Heat on the perimeter are just faster than the Pacers.  Pacers are just bigger and stronger inside.  Pacers with waaaay too many unforced turnovers early, but they seem to be settling down.  I'll definitely take the Pacers -3.5 for 2h.  Also going to take the over 95.  Both teams had their reserves in for most of the 2q, and part of the 1q.  That's really when the scoring slowed down.  I'm guessing both teams are going to use their horses for most of the 2h (especially Miami), and the offenses are definitely better when the starters are in.  Pace will probably pick up, and the Heat with their ball movement will continue to get good shots...Pacers should continue to pound the ball inside and get good shot. 

Pound that flashy #heat

15 more points for the over

Did not expect to see Miami lay that kind of egg in the 2h.  They looked completely uninterested, and to be honest completely overwhelmed.  Once the Pacers settled down and kept going inside, the Heat didn't have an answer.  Couple things about his matchup going forward especially for playoffs.

1.  Pacers bench played big time minutes.  Scola and Watson played great and when the Pacers needed production from someone besides one their starters they got it.  The Heat have absolutely nobody coming off the bench to score in these big games.  I mentioned above take away their role players and the Heat struggle.  Between Chalmers, Battier, Cole, Allen, and Lewis they combined for 29 pts.  That's not going to get it done in the playoffs.  The Heat are built to hit open shots after Lebron and Wade drive and pass.

2.  The Heat literally couldn't guard Hibbert.  I mean they don't have anyone tall enough.  Hibbert did what he wanted on the block.  Bosh and Anderson on the front line is a physical joke compared to West and Hibbert.  With most teams the Heat can get away with it, but not on this front line.  Similar to a healthy Memphis front line.  Too physical for this team.

3.  Pacers had over 20 TO and won.  No clue how that happened, but if they get that number below 13 it's going to be tough for the Heat.

4.  Lebron got no help tonight, and he was noticeably frustrated.  Not getting back on D, letting calls/non-calls get to him, and I don't blame him.  He had 14 rebounds.  Bosh, Anderson, and Wade combined had 12.  Big problem.

5.  In the 1q the Heat's aggression and speed dominated the Pacers.  No idea why it stopped after that.

6.  The Heat's next game is Saturday at home against Cleveland.  I'm not sure what the spread is going to be, but if I was a betting man I'd bet the Heat -whatever it is.

Went 2-2 tonight, so not a great night betting wise, but a great win for the Pacers.

Thanks for posting! 

Took pacers 2nd half with you bro. Didnt know you were on them until just now tho. Great win for your Pacers. Keep the posts coming man great insight in this thread. BOL going forward. Vogel got this team playing some great ball this yr!!

Thanks Trey...no doubt Vogel has this team on top of their game. No weaknesses on this team I can see right now. You don't hear talk about it, but Vogel has to be runaway coach of the year right now.

Alan, your Pacers were solid tonight !!   Nice game for them against Heat