PG Pacers Game 3: Loss

[ShootingtheJ]

Burned the barn down? Not being stuck with Allen in the playoffs is addition by subtraction. I don't think that future 1st we gave was going to help us this year.

It's an asinine take. Dame has proven to be the guy we traded for in the postseason. *Injured* Dame is classic goalpost moving. Imagine being saddled with Jrue/Grayson's new contracts and being down 0-3 in the series without Giannis.

we shuffled deck chairs and got a marginally higher upside with a much greater likelihood of being rat **** if we weren't healthy

so now with dame and giannis getting injured year after year after year banking on khris to be the healthy one whats an asinine take is making some other point beyond that. while you guys all wonder what could have been ill remind you its as silly an exercise as debating the outcome of lottery scratch offs

If you're saying we should have traded Jrue and Allen for some young up and comers, sure, if you identify the perfect guys. If you're saying we should have kept Jrue and Allen, you're so absolutely 110% wrong. Jrue is now the worst contract in basketball if your goal is to win in the playoffs.

[JimmyTheKid]

If anything, I feel better about next season. I'm still cool rolling with Giannis/Dame/Khris as the foundational trio, getting AJ/Dre firmly in the rotation as 25+ mpg guys, and just doing a shakeup of the vets around them.

Yeah I’m cool with that too. Just incredibly frustrating they haven’t done it this year. I dont even care if AJax fouls out of every game or AJ occasionally can’t hit the broad side of a barn. They’re both superior options, right this second, to Malik, Jae, and possibly Pat.

[JimmyTheKid]

Doc liked what he got from AJax (postgame presser, re: bringing the ball up). Sounds like he'll get more burn Sunday. Should.

Great, Doc. Way to stumble into that realization.

[BigO]

It's easy to nitpick about the age of the roster and whatnot but I'm not sure what was expected with Giannis out. They've fought hard this series and a couple bounces go our way we're 2-1 even without him, old injury prone roster and all. And would be up 3-0 if he was available. It literally just comes down to Giannis. I'm proud of how the team has played all things considered, they were a team built around an all-time great big man and they're performing valiantly without him, but losing games because of they're missing the things said all-time great big usually does (rebounding, rim pressure on O, help D, etc). It is what it is.

If anything, I feel better about next season. I'm still cool rolling with Giannis/Dame/Khris as the foundational trio, getting AJ/Dre firmly in the rotation as 25+ mpg guys, and just doing a shakeup of the vets around them.

A voice of reason in a cruel world.

[Debit One]

There isn't any anti-BP bias here. I watched the game. The dude couldn't find a board to save his life when it mattered. The box score is irrelevant.

I'm not saying that because I hate Bobby. I love his energy out there. I'm saying that because Brook and Bobby were getting outhustled for rebounds by Pacer guards.

100% in agreement on this.

Watching Bobby stand motionless, waiting for a rebound to fall into his arms only to see Andrew Nembhard run in from the side to grab it, was infuriating.

[msiris]

We lost. No moral victories. Here we go again. People willing to use the injury excuses and roll it back. Mids was great last night, but the game before he was bluh.

[kanyon]

There isn't any anti-BP bias here. I watched the game. The dude couldn't find a board to save his life when it mattered. The box score is irrelevant.

I'm not saying that because I hate Bobby. I love his energy out there. I'm saying that because Brook and Bobby were getting outhustled for rebounds by Pacer guards.

100% in agreement on this.

Watching Bobby stand motionless, waiting for a rebound to fall into his arms only to see Andrew Nembhard run in from the side to grab it, was infuriating.

You can box out but if you don't actually go after the rebound it's meaningless. We watched that happen again and again.

[Mtsportsfan]

The last three years.

You greatly increase your odds of being "Cursed" when you rely on a bunch of old guys.

You almost forget what I feels like to have a team full of guys under 30 who aren't constantly aggravating an injury.

Giannis is under 30. By far our most important player. He was injured and missed playoff games in '21, '23 and '24. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Your just nit picking , pretty sure most people understand what he was saying! The team is old by NBA standards.

[MickeyDavis]

You greatly increase your odds of being "Cursed" when you rely on a bunch of old guys.

You almost forget what I feels like to have a team full of guys under 30 who aren't constantly aggravating an injury.

Giannis is under 30. By far our most important player. He was injured and missed playoff games in '21, '23 and '24. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Your just nit picking , pretty sure most people understand what he was saying! The team is old by NBA standards.

No one is saying we're not an old team. But our most injured PLAYOFF player has been 26, 28 and 29 years old.

[Mtsportsfan]

Can we just make a rilamann thread already? The guy posts in his own echo chamber. Let him have at it. It’s honestly getting old reading his drivel post after post (when we lose).

Then don't read it , blow by it like I do some others!

[sidney lanier]

Not exactly the Jordan flu game, but we should remind ourselves that Middleton scored 42 in a game in which it appeared he would not be able to go because of an ankle.

[PG Graveyard]

We have never been healthy in the playoffs. It really sucks. I’m so jealous of Denver avoiding this somehow.

Their 2nd best player missed 2021 and 2022 playoffs. If he was healthy I beleive they would now fight for three peat.

Considering they were swept in incredibly uncompetitive series in both those years I’m going to guess it wouldn’t have mattered, but good point

[PG Graveyard]

There isn't any anti-BP bias here. I watched the game. The dude couldn't find a board to save his life when it mattered. The box score is irrelevant.

I'm not saying that because I hate Bobby. I love his energy out there. I'm saying that because Brook and Bobby were getting outhustled for rebounds by Pacer guards.

100% in agreement on this.

Watching Bobby stand motionless, waiting for a rebound to fall into his arms only to see Andrew Nembhard run in from the side to grab it, was infuriating.

Bobby had 18 rebounds but he just didn’t have enough on a few key ones that could have been the difference. Love Bobby but I’m not the one who called out the Pacers as frontrunners and then got beat on a few key 50/50 balls

[PG Graveyard]

Doc liked what he got from AJax (postgame presser, re: bringing the ball up). Sounds like he'll get more burn Sunday. Should.

Great, Doc. Way to stumble into that realization.

The crazy move here for Sunday assuming Giannis is out would be start Green and AJJ. Bring Bobby and Bev off the bench. I think both of those two may be more valuable off the bench. I just love a good starting lineup shakeup in the middle of a playoff series. I think it could work

[KidA24]

The no flagrant on Middleton's dunk was the worst thing ever.

I'm still freaking angry.

There is no play on the ball, he puts both hands on his back and pushes him as he goes up.

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=708&GameID=0042300123&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Turner%20S.FOUL%20(P4.T1)%20(E.Malloy)

[Wonka]

Bobby missed some key ones, but Brook is grabbing THREE rebounds a game right now. Completely useless in that regard.

[German Athens]

That siakam O-board late in the game on the baseline killed me. I though Bobby was in position to get it, or at least be able to knock it off siakam, but he stopped his pursuit and it looked like he thought it was going to go out of bounds.

That felt like a back breaker to me, because it seemed like one of the few rebounding opportunities late where we were in good position to get it and didn’t.

[fansinceforever]

Fought hard and entertaining game but it's not anything new. Their collective inability to move laterally and vertically did them in.

If we want to run it back with largely the same cast, I'll expect similar results.

[German Athens]

This game really calmed me down somehow. I’m just really proud of how the guys competed.

After such a turbulent season, I didn’t know how they’d respond to adversity. Giannis is out, Khris and Dame are both dealing with injuries, we’re down 19 early, and they found a way to battle back. Yes, we absolutely could have and probably should have won this game, but I’m encouraged with the top end talent of the roster, and their heart.

I even liked the way both Dame and Khris competed defensively, making it as hard as possible for the opponent to get by them.

As others have said, we’re missing the straw that stirs the drink. Giannis is a dominant rebounder, provides constant rim pressure, has a ton of versatility defensively, and can generate open looks for others from outside or underneath. We’re a completely different team with him in the game.

Going forward in this series, I like how we were generating more shots inside the arc in the second half. Pick n roll with Dame and Khris, or Dame and Brook was leading to good advantage situations for us. Something to build off of.

Moving into the off-season, whether that’s soon or after a championship, we’ve got a great chance to rebuild this roster around the big 3. Develop Ajax and Green, reshape the front court to get cheaper and more versatile defensively. Lean further into Giannis at the 5. Surround the big 3 with athletic defenders who can hopefully beat their man off the bounce. It may be hard to get all of that, but we’ve got 45M in salary between Brook, Bobby, and pat.

[CharityStripe34]

Superb effort and pride to rally back and force OT. I'm not complaining too much because with Giannis out my expectations were drastically lowered. Indy is the younger, faster team and better than this Bucks team without Freak and with a hobbled Khris and Dame. No shame in the loss. I don't foresee Gianni coming back for the next game, honestly, considering he's still not doing full on practices. I hope I'm wrong. Just a shame that injuries reared their ugly head in the final stretch of the season.

At this point Doc should just roll with the kids AJax and Green in crunch time.