Game 42: Indiana Pacers (24-18) @ Phoenix Suns (23-18) l Sunday l 6:00pm l AZFamily

[bwgood77]

Wow.

With Haliburton on the floor, the Pacers net rating is +6.4 which would rank fourth among all teams in the NBA. When Haliburton is off the floor? That net rating plummets to -4.0, which would rank 25th in the league.

ESPN

Pacers are 4-4 when Haliburton doesn't play. It's their system that makes Haliburton rather than the other way round.

That doesn't deny net rating. They won a few games, mostly against bad teams, but lost by 51 to Boston, 18 to Minnesota, 27 to Utah, 8 to Denver. They did beat teams like Washington, Atlanta, and Miami without Bam.

[enigmatics]

Good thing KD went machine mode

That's what they pay him for.

[Frank Lee]

Wow.

23ppg and 12 assists per game is pretty good.

59% from 2, 40% from 3, 63.2% TS%...last year it was 62.4%

SashaTrolliaf

[Crives]

Very good chance we rise to 5th tomorrow

[enigmatics]

ESPN

Pacers are 4-4 when Haliburton doesn't play. It's their system that makes Haliburton rather than the other way round.

That doesn't deny net rating. They won a few games, mostly against bad teams, but lost by 51 to Boston, 18 to Minnesota, 27 to Utah, 8 to Denver. They did beat teams like Washington, Atlanta, and Miami without Bam.

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Just on that alone let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team.

[bwgood77]

Pacers are 4-4 when Haliburton doesn't play. It's their system that makes Haliburton rather than the other way round.

That doesn't deny net rating. They won a few games, mostly against bad teams, but lost by 51 to Boston, 18 to Minnesota, 27 to Utah, 8 to Denver. They did beat teams like Washington, Atlanta, and Miami without Bam.

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team on that alone.

I'm not talking about Siakam, I'm talking about how important Haliburton is...and some guy said he ain't good. He elevates the team a ton, as the net rating demonstrates.

They did do well against the Heat, but they got hot and shot 50% from 3 on 32 attempts and 66% from the field...so a hot shooting night.

Anyway, I don't think our squad with this much star power should struggle with a team like the Pacers without Haliburton. Siakam is good but he's no Haliburton and doesn't necessarily elevate his teammates.

[enigmatics]

That doesn't deny net rating. They won a few games, mostly against bad teams, but lost by 51 to Boston, 18 to Minnesota, 27 to Utah, 8 to Denver. They did beat teams like Washington, Atlanta, and Miami without Bam.

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team on that alone.

I'm not talking about Siakam, I'm talking about how important Haliburton is...and some guy said he ain't good. He elevates the team a ton, as the net rating demonstrates.

They did do well against the Heat, but they got hot and shot 50% from 3 on 32 attempts and 66% from the field...so a hot shooting night.

Anyway, I don't think our squad with this much star power should struggle with a team like the Pacers without Haliburton. Siakam is good but he's no Haliburton and doesn't necessarily elevate his teammates.

With Nurk's foul trouble they were effectively playing 4 on 9 against a quality team no matter how much you worship Hali. EDIT: Actually it was 4 vs 12!

Btw since you're purposely trying to not understand me - yeah Hali was out but NOW they have Siakam to help alleviate that absence. They're deep as hell and a team that can get buckets.

[Qwigglez]

Good win. Team overcame some adversity. Book I believe was 8/15, and ended up going 1/9 in his last 9 FG attempts. Good to see KD and Beal carry the load in crunch time. Having that 3rd guy is really helpful.

This win also ties the Suns for 6th in the Western Conference standings with the Mavs, with the Kings falling to 8th. Pelicans are half a game ahead. Clippers have looked good though going 19-4 in their last 23 games. Losing to the Thunder, Celtics, Lakers, and Wolves in that span.

Suns are 10-3 in their last 13 games BTW. Losing to the Clippers twice and the Grizzlies.

[sashaturiaf]

That doesn't deny net rating. They won a few games, mostly against bad teams, but lost by 51 to Boston, 18 to Minnesota, 27 to Utah, 8 to Denver. They did beat teams like Washington, Atlanta, and Miami without Bam.

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team on that alone.

I'm not talking about Siakam, I'm talking about how important Haliburton is...and some guy said he ain't good. He elevates the team a ton, as the net rating demonstrates.

They did do well against the Heat, but they got hot and shot 50% from 3 on 32 attempts and 66% from the field...so a hot shooting night.

Anyway, I don't think our squad with this much star power should struggle with a team like the Pacers without Haliburton. Siakam is good but he's no Haliburton and doesn't necessarily elevate his teammates.

Not talking numbers here. But I'm just sick of the Haliburton lovefest treating him like he's some superstar. He may very well have some great reg season numbers this season.

You'd think a guy who has 4 times as many all star votes as Book would even have played 1 playoff game first.

[Qwigglez]

Got the Bulls tomorrow night. KD played over 40 minutes tonight. Beal with 38 minutes. Booker with 36. Nurkic with only 19 minutes, so he should have plenty of fuel to battle Vucevic and Drummond. Lavine might not be playing, so Suns need to take advantage before going on a 7-game road swing against the Mavs, Pacers, Magic, Heat, Nets, Hawks, and Wizards. That Mavs game will be huge.

[KLEON]

Death lineup= 2-0

[Hitachi77]

That doesn't deny net rating. They won a few games, mostly against bad teams, but lost by 51 to Boston, 18 to Minnesota, 27 to Utah, 8 to Denver. They did beat teams like Washington, Atlanta, and Miami without Bam.

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team on that alone.

I'm not talking about Siakam, I'm talking about how important Haliburton is...and some guy said he ain't good. He elevates the team a ton, as the net rating demonstrates.

They did do well against the Heat, but they got hot and shot 50% from 3 on 32 attempts and 66% from the field...so a hot shooting night.

Anyway, I don't think our squad with this much star power should struggle with a team like the Pacers without Haliburton. Siakam is good but he's no Haliburton and doesn't necessarily elevate his teammates.

Suns have been a lot better on the road for whatever reason. 3 great road wins and not really any bad losses. All the bad losses are at home.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Solid win. I was at the game and that crew was out of control with the off the ball fouls, not sure I've ever seen so many called in a game.

The NBA also really needs to get their **** together with replay, these long ass stoppages at the end of games is unacceptable.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

[lilfishi22]

It's big time when we no longer have to force feed KD creation possessions when he isn't in rhythm nor waiting 8s for Book to cross the halfway mark and then spending another 12s to initiate a play and then end up with a quick shot with less than 4s left. It's just such a blessing to have a third guy who you can just tap on the shoulder and be like, hey Book doesn't have it right now and KD needs a little push, can you carry this team for the next 2-4min.

I feel like Beal has done that and taken ownership of that role when asked. Earlier in the season he would go to score but wouldn't be in rhythm nor in the flow of our offense or he'd be tentative when he's on ball because he's thinking about not being selfish. Now he's comfortable playing that 3rd man but he also knows there's going to be multiple opportunities every game to put this team on his back and just give the opposing team a new problem to deal with when they think they've figured out how to contain Book/KD.

Super happy with Beal's recent play.

[garrick]

bailed out by superior scoring
thats poor but I guess that's what we'll get from this coaching staff

*****BREAKING NEWS*****

The team was assembled to have superior scoring from their Big 3.

I'm convinced some of you will NEVER be happy unless the Suns are taking a blow torch to every single team. They would have lost this game in Oct/Nov.

The expectations for this team are championship or bust so we have to be playing at an elite level since expectations for this team are so high.

Booker nearly cost us the game with his iso bricks and those are the kind of low IQ plays that will kill us in the playoffs. We can't just coast through the season and just suddenly turn up the intensity during the playoffs.

[sashaturiaf]

It's big time when we no longer have to force feed KD creation possessions when he isn't in rhythm nor waiting 8s for Book to cross the halfway mark and then spending another 12s to initiate a play and then end up with a quick shot with less than 4s left. It's just such a blessing to have a third guy who you can just tap on the shoulder and be like, hey Book doesn't have it right now and KD needs a little push, can you carry this team for the next 2-4min.

I feel like Beal has done that and taken ownership of that role when asked. Earlier in the season he would go to score but wouldn't be in rhythm nor in the flow of our offense or he'd be tentative when he's on ball because he's thinking about not being selfish. Now he's comfortable playing that 3rd man but he also knows there's going to be multiple opportunities every game to put this team on his back and just give the opposing team a new problem to deal with when they think they've figured out how to contain Book/KD.

Super happy with Beal's recent play.

That KD centric offense we were running to start the season was painful to watch and it was only a matter of time before he got injured playing like that, glad we've put it behind us. Were finally playing with some pace, rhythm and force.

[Saberestar]

Great GREAT win.

The Pacers play with a superhigh pace and we could handle them.

KD 40, Book 26, Beal 25. That's a BIG 3.

5 wind in a row... we are already 7th and tied with 6th (Mavs).

[bwgood77]

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team on that alone.

I'm not talking about Siakam, I'm talking about how important Haliburton is...and some guy said he ain't good. He elevates the team a ton, as the net rating demonstrates.

They did do well against the Heat, but they got hot and shot 50% from 3 on 32 attempts and 66% from the field...so a hot shooting night.

Anyway, I don't think our squad with this much star power should struggle with a team like the Pacers without Haliburton. Siakam is good but he's no Haliburton and doesn't necessarily elevate his teammates.

With Nurk's foul trouble they were effectively playing 4 on 9 against a quality team no matter how much you worship Hali. EDIT: Actually it was 4 vs 12!

Btw since you're purposely trying to not understand me - yeah Hali was out but NOW they have Siakam to help alleviate that absence. They're deep as hell and a team that can get buckets.

I know they have Siakam now. Still doesn't have anything to do with my comment about Haliburton being a huge loss. My comment was that it would be like us missing KD (though maybe not as good, he may be considering elevation of teammates), and the response was he aint that good.

A later response was that the Pacers are 4-4 without Haliburton. We are 5-2 without KD. Does that mean he ain't that good or doesn't make us a lot better?

You're moving the goal posts. The post was about how much Haliburton helps them. Of course they shouldn't be as bad missing him with Siakam instead of Bruce Brown, but trades take adjustment time too...they lost their first game with Siakam to Portland, even with Haliburton.

Would we have still won without Haliburton? Maybe, but he would have brought a lot of shooting, leadership, assists, not many turnovers, etc.

He would have been an enormous upgrade from McConnell and Nembhard who were 5-17 from the field, no 3s, 9 assists and 5 turnovers. He averages 12.6 ast to 2.5 turnovers and 23.4 per game on elite shooting. So replace the PG play and they likely play a ton better and others probably get better shots too.

[bwgood77]

They didn't have Siakam for 90% of those games. Let's stop pretending it's the same Pacer team on that alone.

I'm not talking about Siakam, I'm talking about how important Haliburton is...and some guy said he ain't good. He elevates the team a ton, as the net rating demonstrates.

They did do well against the Heat, but they got hot and shot 50% from 3 on 32 attempts and 66% from the field...so a hot shooting night.

Anyway, I don't think our squad with this much star power should struggle with a team like the Pacers without Haliburton. Siakam is good but he's no Haliburton and doesn't necessarily elevate his teammates.

Not talking numbers here. But I'm just sick of the Haliburton lovefest treating him like he's some superstar. He may very well have some great reg season numbers this season.

You'd think a guy who has 4 times as many all star votes as Book would even have played 1 playoff game first.

He's putting up historical #s, and your rebuttals are weak..4-4 without him...we are 5-2 without KD...does that mean he ain't that good? All I said was it's probably a good thing he was out because of how much difference he has made to their team when he's on the floor. To argue that is just ridiculous. Using that record without him, I'd have a better argument for KD, but of course I'm not going to use that as some evidence suggesting he aint that good.

[enigmatics]

The expectations for this team are championship or bust so we have to be playing at an elite level since expectations for this team are so high.

Booker nearly cost us the game with his iso bricks and those are the kind of low IQ plays that will kill us in the playoffs. We can't just coast through the season and just suddenly turn up the intensity during the playoffs.

Oh they're "coasting" now? What exactl was their level of intensity on the Garrick Intensity Scale?

When you preach "elite" what you're really doing is closet criticizing them for not being perfect tonight. Let's be real here for a moment - you're never happy in any win with THESE GUYS because they aren't YOUR guys.

Once again this team went 4 vs 12 tonight against a quality ball club who just added another piece (Siakam) with KD not getting even a single free throw and still won by 7.

This was NOT a game to cry about. They were losing games like this left and right before the Big 3 finally started seeing the court.