You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

[milldaddy35]

I like the Barnes fit, but I can not play with him this year for the life of me. He can't shoot, and I can no longer get to the rim with him. Also, his defense is underwhelming.

[trekfan]

Ch. 27

The team was coming together. Through December 19th of 2018, we were well, having gone 8-2 in our last ten. Barnes was integrating, our defense wasn’t abysmal, and we were pulling ahead in the conference. That was due to a few injuries as much as anything, but I wasn’t complaining.

In the East, we were leading the pack — an injury to LeBron had knocked him out of the starting lineup for nearly ten days and the Cavs kinda fell apart without him, as one would expect. Toronto and us were leading the pack, but it was a mess after the top three — Orlando, Washington, Milwaukee, Detroit, Philly, and Brooklyn were all fighting for playoff position. By the time the trade deadline came around, someone in that mix would have to call it quits for the year … the Hornets were just on the outside looking in at 10th place and Kemba Walker looked about ready to leave. The Dwight Effect maybe.

At the bottom of the conference, you had the Hawks — no shock there — but just before them was the Celtics. That was a shock. The whole league couldn’t believe what was happening in Boston, as the magic mix they achieved the year before had seemingly been upset. Was it bringing in Javelle McGee that did it? Re-signing Marcus Smart instead of letting Brown take his spot? Something was off in Boston, for sure, and Stevens had resorted to moving Horford to the four and letting McGee start at the five in order to help. Boston had responded by winning two straight, but that meant nothing in the long-run; they had a hole to climb out of.

Out West, the Pelicans were taking the West by the balls and crushing them; that’s the only way to describe the experience of Boogie and the Brow. Both were averaging over 22 PPG, had good help from the bench (with both Ian Clark and Al Jefferson pitching in over 11 PPG) and finally looked to be putting it all together. Thad Young and Jrue Holiday were perfect complimentary pieces and the team was, without a doubt, on its way up.

The defending champs were in third, and right ahead of Houston in second were the Warriors — who seemed to be lying in wait. Golden State had a bit of drama around it, as Klay Thompson had yet to agree to a contract extension and was making noise that he might be moving on. The end of the dynasty was in sight if he left. The rest of the West was a jumbled mess, like the East — surprisingly, the Kings (yes, those Kings!) were over .500 and possibly in the playoffs … it was something no one believed would last, but it was the first legitimate ray of hope those poor Kings fans had seen in years.

At the bottom of the West sat two teams we’d knew would suck: the Suns and Grizzlies. But the T’Wolves were right there with them in a shock of shocks … it appeared there was locker-room drama between the camps of Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler, as Butler was less than pleased with Wigggins defensive commitment and Wiggins wasn’t having it. It was possible something might transpire before the deadline, but no one was sure what would happen; Butler was likely to test free agency in the summer and, with his first taste of freedom, would he come back to the T’Wolves if Wigggins was still there? Would Thibs trade Wiggins to keep Butler? Would he let Butler walk to keep Wiggins? There were lots of questions being asked in Minnesota.

But we weren’t really paying attention to anyone in the West … except the Warriors. Because we had them in our house December 20th and, with Barnes on our roster, we had a bit of a score to settle.

[trekfan]

Ch. 28

The Warriors. A team that put a fear into the NBA not seen since the days of the Jordan era Bulls. Golden State was the pinnacle of the pace and space era, the blueprint every other team wanted to emulate in their constructions. We were no different — every move we made was made with the idea that we had to take on the best in the league and the best in the league (the Warriors, Thunder, Rockets, Pelicans, Cavs, and Celtics) played a variation of the pace and space.

We went out and signed Jabari Parker, despite potential health issues. We traded for Barnes despite knowing he would never be a 20 PPG guy. We stocked up on wings who could defend bigger than their size and bigs who could shoot like they were wings. The Indiana Pacers were being built to fight against the best in the NBA, and the Warriors were the mark, the bar that you had to clear if you wanted a chance at a title.

December 20th, 2018, they came to our place and the tickets were sold out. The stands were packed. The night felt like we were in a do-or-die playoff game.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” McHale told us before the game. “They know they have a target on their back every night. They have some of the best guys in our game playing for them and their bench, it ain’t a joke. We have to play our game; don’t let them dictate the pace, don’t get sucked into chucking threes because I guarantee you, they will make more than us — play inside out. Make the extra pass. Don’t be afraid to take it into the paint and hammer away at them. They cannot protect the paint and the arc, so you make them choose and when they do, you do the opposite.”

It wasn’t exactly a rousing speech, but McHale was right — no team could protect both the paint and the arc. They could protect both for most of the shot clock, but a crack would appear and that’s when the pass needed to be made. You make the pass, you make the shot, and you make a lead.

The Warriors were the best at making you work for every possession. We needed to do that to them if we had a chance to win.

Dressed in our mid-2000s throwbacks (us in our pinstripe blues, they in their bright oranges), the first quarter was about one man and one man only: Klay Thompson. He was fire from anywhere on the court, he got VO into early foul trouble (two fouls within four minutes — what bull*hit) and he took advantage of the space to just shoot. And shoot. And shoot.

Thompson was a man on fire on offense and he wasn’t allowing much on defense — we couldn’t slow him down, so we had to keep up and we did that by attacking the Warriors weakest link, Adrian Payne. Payne was signed to be their starting center, a guy who could stretch the floor for them like Mo Speights used to. He was athletic, stretchy, and could score, but he was also foul prone.

So we went right at him inside. He got into foul trouble, had to be pulled, and they shifted Green to the inside. We kept attacking him and VO was leading the charge towards the end of the first, making sure to not back down.

We ended the first up 31-30, in a close *ss match. In the second, we began to scratch out a little lead … the Warriors defense was getting pulled more and more into the paint. We battled there, got physical, made them tired — Thompson was still shooting, but his shot was getting cooler. On our end, we fed one man — Jabari Parker.

Jabari went right at Draymond off the bounce, he didn’t shy from contact, and he scored 12 points in the second after having none in the first. His shooting touch from inside, in the post, as the roll man, and from mid-range helped our lead grow. At the half, we were winning, to the surprise of many I expect.

We expected the Warriors to adjust — they did. They started feeding Durant and letting Green shoot from outside. But we shut down Thompson in that quarter, sticking Lance on him and forcing Klay into tough shots. Lance played like a man on a mission — he got into Klay’s face, jostled him, pushed him, boxed him out, grabbed boards and dished assists. His defense inspired the rest of us, especially when Myles checking in mid-way through the third.

Turner had been unable to get going in the first half, but in the second he came out ready to fight. He grabbed boards but more than that, he blocked shots — and blocked them emphatically.

Curry wasn’t able to get easy shots inside and his shot from outside wasn’t falling either. We barely extended our lead to 8 points entering the final frame.

It was there where, finally, we were able to get some shots from outside to fall. Our first guy to make it? Harrison Barnes. HB had played good defense on Durant and Thompson when switched onto them and he was being efficient — not a lot of bad shots taken at all. In the fourth, his outside shot started to go in and it caused the Warriors defense to stretch back to the arc.

But, after being pounded inside all game, the Warriors legs were tired. Their closeout speed wasn’t as good in the fourth and that allowed Myles Turner to get AFTER IT. He made Payne his little *itch in the fourth, sucking in boards and hitting triples.

He followed that shot above with a block on the other end and a transition triple from a beautiful feed from Jabari. In the span of 30 seconds our lead, which had been precariously only two points after Durant got hot, was back up to 8 points. The Warriors kept playing hard all the way till the end of the game and so did we — Myles wouldn’t let us lose, pulling off shots to keep our lead.

It was a big win on our home turf, and we walked out of there feeling like we had cracked the code — if we could beat the Warriors, we could beat anyone and that was something you couldn’t buy … something you couldn’t train for. It was earned.

[milldaddy35]

Wow, fantastic win.

[TimmsSports]

Great win vs. GSW, although perhaps its too easy for you? I can't remember seeing you lose a game you have played, what sliders do you use?

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by milldaddy35

Wow, fantastic win.

Thanks, it was a close one -- if GS gets one or two more triples to hit, this game looks radically different. They were playing hard all the way to the final buzzer.

Quote: Originally Posted by TimmsSports

Great win vs. GSW, although perhaps its too easy for you? I can't remember seeing you lose a game you have played, what sliders do you use?

I lost the third game I played in this season to the Cavs in brutal fashion. My sliders are custom, but basically Superstar with some tweaks. I tend to win more games than I lose when I play -- even on HOF (which feels like too much of an advantage for the CPU, so I stay off it).

That's part of the reason why I only play 20-24 regular season games and am only allowed 2 games per playoff series -- this isn't just about my skill as a guy with a controller in his hand, but also my skill in building a team and letting them win without my direct input. Last season, that cost me the 2nd round series against the Wizards as my team lost in 7 to them after I had used my two chances to play them. The sim engine wasn't kind, but that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

[georgiafan]

Just catching up good win anxious to see how the trades shake out as we approach the deadline

[trekfan]

Ch. 29

Following the big win at the Warriors, we went 2-2 before heading down to LA to play the Lakers on New Year's Eve. It was a big game for us, just as it was for them — both of our squads were outperforming expectations. For the Lakers, they were over .500 despite missing Marc Gasol with yet another injury. League injuries were beginning to pile up as the calendar prepared to flip to 2019, but even without Gasol the Lakers were sitting pretty — and so were we.

Despite everyone calling us a fluke the year before, we were well on our way to putting those doubts to rest. The Lakers game was important to us — it was our chance to beat former franchise star Paul George, now PG11 since he couldn’t have the number 13. George was having a good year, scoring 24.4 PPG on efficient shooting, and looked to be exactly the leader as advertised to the Lakers.

But we wanted him to lose — we had issues with the Lakers (they beat us in our Finals trip way back in 2000).

The first quarter was a battle between both squads. We traded baskets and blows across all areas of the court — mid-range, behind the arc, and in the paint. Watching the Lakers play was like watching us play … they were unafraid to take advantage of our weaknesses and to challenge us. The game quickly became foul-heavy as dunks were traded, fouls were traded, and trash talk was traded. We played them like we had a grudge and they played us exactly the same.

It wasn’t until the end of the first when our subs were in that we began to pull away — largely in part to Lance Stephenson. Lance, bless him, was just the type of player who thrived in a game like this. Shots were hard, fouls were hard, and Lance was showing off — he went into the post and dished out rocket passes to the corners for easy triples. He even nailed a turnaround towards the end of the quarter to put the cherry on top.

The Lakers didn’t take kindly that. Lance showing off pissed them off and in the second they got WAY more physical, particularly Jordan Clarkson. Clarkson — former backup, now a starter and doing well — was absolutely not having any *hit. He dished out not one, not two, but three fouls in the second and his last one laid out GROB on the Staples Center floor.

The Lakers got a big emotional lift from Clarkson and wiped out our lead because of him. It was only because of a late triple from me that we went into the half up at all.

In the third, Paul George tried to end the game. He came alive in that quarter, tried to bury us, but we flustered him just enough. The Lakers deployed their secret weapon, Brandon Ingram, and expected that the duo of Ingram and George would end any threat we presented. Not so fast — Ingram came in and got some nice shots in, but once we stuck Barnes back out there his effectiveness was severely curtailed. We got a big boost from HB when he came in the second half — he wasn’t shy.

We were leading 87-85 heading into the fourth and I figured this was going to be a down-to-the-wire type of game. George wasn’t fooling around and neither was Lonzo Ball. We needed to get Victor and Myles involved more, otherwise the Lakers were going to shut down our offense — Myles was freezing from beyond the arc, so McHale told us to get him the ball inside. Zubac was killing us on cuts and put-backs, so we needed to tire him out on the other end.

We did just that early on and Myles found some confidence — defensively, he came alive, notching a few altered shots and blocks (one really pretty one on George) and with about 7:32 to go he caused a miss from Nance, grabbed the board, and launched it to me on the fast break. I blitzed past Ball, had a wide-open layup, and went up for the points.

But in the air, I got knocked around by Clarkson — no foul — missed the shot and, unbalanced, came down hard on my knee. I instantly felt something was off, I tried hustling back on defense, but Clarkson had already taken the ball and nailed a triple on the other end, giving the Lakers a two-point lead. McHale called a timeout.

The trainers pulled me off the floor and to the locker room to get evaluated. We went down by two, then we were down by six, then eight with under 4:21 to go. It looked like the game would get away from us … and I was trapped in the locker room. The trainers told me I could go back out on the bench but that I couldn’t play, so I limped my *ss out there.

The guys were down. But I could still move and my leg hurt, but not so bad that I was going to hide in the locker room. I implored them to play for the win — I didn’t want to be the reason we lost, I needed them to kick *ss. McHale subbed in Lance, replacing Joseph, and the switch-up helped defensively; Lance did what he did best, which was annoy the *hit out of people.

He hustled on defense, went right at George, Ball, and Clarkson, and was a terror — Barnes took note and did what Lance was doing and I watched as the Lakers fed George on four straight possessions. George missed every shot — two in the paint, one from deep, another mid-range bunny.

George was flustered. We scored on each of the possessions we got, including two and-1s, which gave us a two-point lead with under 1:23 to go. The Lakers turned from George to Clarkson, hoping their foul-prone two-guard would lead them to victory; no dice. VO harassed Clarkson anytime he got the ball. It got to the point where the Lakers fouled us on back-to-back possessions, sending Victor to the line for four shots.

He made every one of them, giving us the close win.

After the game, the trainers informed me that my knee was sprained and that I needed 1-2 weeks off, minimum, in order to heal it up. I wasn’t pleased — I felt like I could play on it, but McHale shut me down. “You see my limp? You see how I walk? That’s because I played through an injury I shouldn’t have. I get it, you want to win, but you’re too damn young to risk the rest of your career on this. You’re riding the bench, period.”

I listened to him, how could I not? He was a living, breathing legend. Had rings. Had stories. Had scars. The man knew his *hit. At least, being injured, I was in good company … certainly plenty of other guys throughout the league who were suffering.