You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by trekfan

Will be coming up this weekend. Didn't have time to do any offseason previews during my vacation and, when I got back, I got bit by the football bug (and thusly started a little side project over there, so there's the link for a totally shameless plug ). Work is crazy this week with all I have to catch up on, but I'll be doing the playoffs over the weekend. Thanks for the inquiry.

All right, time for some PLAYOFF BASKETBALL. Random number generator has assigned me Game 1 and 5, so we'll see how I do ... I'm pretty rusty, but I've been going through practices to get my feel back. We'll see if John Wall and the Wizards can take advantage of me.

[trekfan]

Ch. 40

The days leading up to the Game 1 seemed to drag on forever. I thought, hard and often, about how I was going to approach the game … I had to beat Wall. I had to beat the Wizards and I had to do it in a way where we could win the series. I was taking nothing for granted and I practiced like a man possessed — I was intense, more intense than I had ever been during the regular season practices.

McHale noticed and told me to keep it under control during practice, but he was impressed with the effort. I didn’t go KOBE on guys and chew people out, but I lead by example: this was the series. I know everyone else had their eyes on “better matchups” and everyone else expected us to get through the series (well, everyone but the DC homers of course). But I sure as hell wasn’t taking anything for granted.

I was mad. Wall had been chosen over me to be an All-NBAer. WHy? Because he had experience, he had clout, and he had (somehow) gotten his team all the way to the Finals before being demolished by the Rockets the year before. I couldn’t let him get back there again — I couldn’t let our season slip away from us.

Game 1 arrived, finally, and before we went out onto the court for the game, I told the guys what I thought about it all. “We’re the *ucking first seed. We’re at home. We’re here to do one thing and one thing only — WIN. Let’s get out there and kick some *ss!”

We exited the tunnel to a roar from the crowd, a roar that got only louder as starting lineups were announced. It reached a crescendo at tipoff.

And then the game was on.

Immediately, we went on a run, starting the game off going 9-1. The Wizards? Were being smothered like the *itches they were. I was mixing it up, so was Myles, and neither of us were going to let things be easy in the beginning.

I scored the first six points for us before beginning to dish it out — first to Myles for a corner triple, then to Jabari for a running dunk, and then to Harrison for a wicked up-and-under in the post. We were offensively dominant, flowing like the sickest rap you’d ever heard. With every basket we scored, our confidence grew — the Wizards were clanking shots left and right, Wall looked lost, and Washington was sinking.

After one, we were up 32-17. In the second, the Wizards would find their footing — the break helped settled them down and they remembered how they got there in the first place: by riding Wall. They fed him and Wall demolished our second unit single-handedly, scoring 15 of his 19 first half points in the second alone. But while he scored, we took it right back on him — led by Myles and Jabari, our offense continued to him.

Toss in a few Lance shots that left the Wizards confused as to how the hell they went in, and were leading comfortably at halftime.

McHale was impressed with our efforts in the locker room and told us, bluntly, that this was the edge we needed for the rest of the series. He told us to go out there and keep to the gameplan.

We got a little cocky in the third — our lead was big and so was our heads. The Wizards started to find their shot and beat our defense … but Jabari erupted. Matched up against either one of the Morris twins or Porter, he was doing WORK in the post and getting some sweet shots.

He wasn’t alone with clutch scoring. Barnes came alive in the third, scoring 11 points in the quarter and helping us survive the Wizards attempts at clawing the lead back down to something manageable. At the end of three, we were up 103-83.

But I had only 8 points to 8 assists. I had gone cold in the third. McHale sent me in to start the fourth and told me to close it out.

And that’s what I did. Wall had a big lead on me in terms of points, but he couldn’t beat my passes, and those passes lead to extra passes, which lead back to me.

Doing this.

I dunked, shot, and dished all over the Wizards in the final frame, scoring 27 points and ending all hope of their comeback. With 3:01 left in the game, we were up plenty, so McHale subbed in the deep bench, gave us some rest, and congratulated us on the win.

“That was a hell of a performance. Do it three more times,” he told us.

Three more times and then they would be eliminated from the playoffs.

Revenge would be ours … if we could do it.

[trekfan]

Ch. 41

We lost Game 2, 99-95, after a late Wizards run, blitz them in Game 3 127-103, and escaped — barely — in a Game 4 OT win, 135-133.

Game 5 was back at home, back at the Fieldhouse, and we were all still feeling that OT game. But we were up in the series, 3-1, and the day — the series — was ours for the taking. I won’t lie … we were feeling the pressure. More pressure than the year before. The Pistons had already punched their ticket to second round, sweeping the Raptors (so much for firing Dwayne Casey, hmm?) and we were looking ahead a bit. Detroit had taken us to 7 games the year before in the first round … and that was with Reggie Jackson. Now they had Mike Conley.

“This is the closeout. They have nothing to lose. They will fight, claw, and make you work every cell in your body for this. If you outlast them, we win,” McHale told us simply.

He was absolutely right. From the tip, the Wizards weren’t playing conservative or trying to outscheme us. The best version of the Wizards — the take no prisoners, ride or die with Wall and Beal version — was out and in force. We went down to them early as they went on a 13-4 run. We answered back with an 11-2 run, but they clawed back ahead.

We didn’t lead once in the first quarter. Not a singe time, on our own floor, did we lead in the first frame … it was embarrassing, especially considering I was pouring in points. But, thankfully, the second unit came in and fought our way back from a 10-point deficit. It was man, the myth, the legend — VO, Victor Oladipo — who hit a running triple just as the quarter ended.

We went into the second tied 35-35. The pressure was increasing with every play. You could see how tense we all were … locked in, but clearly too locked in. We weren’t playing freely and, once again, we let the Wizards get a lead — this time seven points. We chipped away at it all through the second, but it did little good. Washington hung onto it and took a 66-62 lead into the half.

Wall and I were locked in a duel to the death. The whole series was like that — he knew I was coming for him and he welcomed the fight. We didn’t shy away from each other, we guarded each other up and down the floor … but our battle was being overshadowed by the simple fact that Wall’s squad was getting big boosts off the bench. Marcus Morris and Jordan Crawford were doing just enough. Gortat was eating us alive on the boards and in the paint.

McHale didn’t yell at us, or chew us out. He just pointed at our whiteboard with the rebound difference circled. “You know what that is? A loss. If that stays like that, we’re done tonight.”

His message was straight-forward. Work the boards. We’ll get ours.

The third started off with us recommitted to defense. We needed the first half to work *hit out … we were tense, pressing and not playing our game. In the second, we relaxed some and we got after it on the boards and on defense.

Our biggest contributor in that third quarter — and off the bench — one Glenn Robinson. GROB came out and hustled his *ss off better than I had seen him all year long.

He deflected passes, got steals, and took it into the teeth of the defense for monster slams. His 12 points in the third energized us and the crowd. The sense of dread — that we were going to choke, that we were going to lose — was gone and replaced with joy.

We mashed the gas pedal to the floor and everyone contributed. Jabari took advantage of the slower defenders put on him.

We ended the third up by 96-92, our first lead of the night. The crowd rocked and the Fieldhouse cheered “BEAT THE WIZARDS!” over and over.

I entered into the fourth with one thing on my mind: close it out. I took the ball and went right at Washington, giving them no quarter. I deployed every shot in my bag … fadeaways, floaters, corner triples, post layups, anything and everything I had. The Wizards started doubling, and I passed out — my teammates scored. HB, in particular, was clutch at the end … Harrison didn’t have a great stat line, but he was key in the final minutes.

We won. We vanquished the Wizards.

The crowd celebrated and we took a moment to do it, too — but we didn’t stay on the court and jump around. We weren’t done yet. We shook hands and walked off the court, with one thing on our mind: beating the Pistons.

[trekfan]

Ch. 42

The 1st round was closer for some teams than others and there was plenty of disappointment to go around.







Out West, Golden State beat the Nuggets — unsurprising considering the talent disparity, but the Nuggets had done well taking two games from the former champs. The play of their team was impressive, at least as it applied to Thomas, Murray, and Jokic. Millsap looked like a shell of himself — his season had all seen career lows (13.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG) and the Nuggets looked content to move on from him. Lyles or Hermangomez would be there to take his place.



The Lakers lost to the Jazz in epic fashion — up 2-1, all the momentum in the world was on the Lakers side, but the Lakers got cocky, losing the next three straight by 10 points or more. Paul George? He scored 20+ in the wins. Only scored an average of 15 in the losses. He was nowhere to be found when the lights got the brightest. Seeing him choke was at once fun and a bit painful.



In the Thunder/Rockets matchup, OKC similarly held a 2-1 lead. Their problem came down to their bench, which virtually vanished in their losses. The reason why? A key injury to Alex Len.







Len’s production off the bench was unable to be replaced. The Rockets were close in every game after that, and — down 3-2 going into Game 6 — they unleashed their barrage of triples and buried the Thunder. They repeated it again in Game 7 and OKC, once more, was denied a chance at a Finals berth.



In NOLA, the Pelicans had lost Jrue Holiday after Game 2, but Rondo — yes Playoff Rondo — reappeared and dished the Pelicans past the Timberwolves. Even without Holiday, the T’Wolves had no answer. Jeff Teague was useless at the point, scoring just 10 points a game on 41% shooting. The T’Wolves were going to have to make some moves in the offseason to get over the hump and everyone was wondering what that entailed … Wiggins name was being floated about.



In the East, we bested the Wizards and had the Pistons — who themselves faced not a challenge from the Raptors. They lost DeRozan to a concussion midway through Game 1 and, without him, they fell apart. Toronto had no way to replace DeRozan and, viewed through that context, their loss wasn’t backbreaking. I was sure they’d be back.



The Nets gave the Hornets a fight, even without Russell. Linsanity was in full effect after Game 3 — where the Hornets had a 3-0 lead, before Kemba went down with a sprain knee early in Game 4. With Kemba down, Lin went off and the Nets rallied to win Game 4 and 5, before Malik Monk, Frank the Tank Kaminsky, and Demetrius Jackson (former 2nd round pick from Notre Dame) each scored 17+ in Game 6 to bury the Nets.



But their reward was LeBron, who easily dispatched the spunky 76ers without much issue. Philly had no way to slow LeBron down and the King was looking to get back to the Finals after a down year for the team. Without Kyrie and the Celtics in the way, LeBron’s path would have to go through a division rival … either Detroit or us.

We were hoping it was going to be us.

(Number generator has assigned me Game 1 and Game 4 ... let's see what happens)

[trekfan]

---

Ch. 43

Game 1 of the semis … we were at home and we wanted to make a statement. Obviously, that meant we needed to don our gold uniforms — we wanted to make sure Detroit knew, from the tip, that we weren’t taking them for granted. No matter what their regular season record was, they were still a rival and one we definitely had strong feelings about. (Though not as strong as the Wizards — I didn’t hate Detroit. I just really, really didn’t like them.)

In the first, the Pistons focused all their defensive attention on me — and it wasn’t surprising. It was frustrating as hell though … they funneled me inside, right to Drummond, and Drummond would treat me like a *ucking ragdoll. The refs swallowed their whistles, though, preventing me from getting to the line and helping Detroit get a 5-0 lead early.

That was all right, though — I shifted gears and used Detroit’s extra attention to get my squad involved. The first shot that went in for us was a beautiful dish from me, to Jabair, and then to Myles in the corner. You know the drill by now — he knocked it down like it was a driveway shot.

We lived and thrived on our triples and mid-range jumpers in the first quarter … it was weird for us. We weren’t regularly a team that lived like that, but in the playoffs we had discovered a gear we didn’t know we had in the regular season. After one, we were up 33-29. Detroit was fighting hard and Drummond was eating us alive inside on the boards.

In the second, defense showed up early — the first three minutes were full of blocks, steals, and hard contact. Neither team scored — a three minute drought for both sides until, mercifully, Corey Joseph nailed a three that broke things open a little.

We led 62-55 at the half and, though we were getting outrebounded by a *uckton, our assist numbers were something beautiful.

In the third, it became a do-or-die battle between both squads. Neither side could hold a double-digit lead, despite our best efforts, and the Pistons continued to ride Drummond … he was getting tired though. We knew, eventually, they’d have to sub him out and get him rest. When they did, we went inside and attacked. But Detroit got help from some unlikely places — Luke Kennard — and that allowed them to chip into the lead. We led 89-83 entering the final frame.

Detroit left Drummond on the bench at the beginning of the fourth and I kicked things into high gear. I had only 8 points in the first half, but I had been finding my teammates with the ball. In the fourth, with Drummond catching his breath still, I went at them hard and fast. They started fouling, but my shot was true … the first half was rough. The second half was much, much better and even when they subbed Drummond back in, we didn’t shy away from the paint.

We stole their next possession and the fast break bucket broke them, in my opinion.

After that, Detroit was in total catch-up mode. Sensing time was slipping away, they jacked up shots they didn’t like — got some to go in (mainly Harris) — but largely shot themselves out of contention as they tried to bury us. They failed — we buried them, thanks in large part to the continued deep range shooting of Myles and some low-post wizards from Harrison Barnes.

Game 1 was ours.

[trekfan]

Ch. 44

We won Game 2 going away, but in Game 3 we were blown out — 122-95 — and it was embarrassing. SVG changed up his starting lineup, tossing Wayne Ellington out there instead of Avery Bradley, and switching Willie Reed with Henry Ellenson. Both moves worked wonderfully — Detroit dominated the boards and got shots from outside to fall, a far cry from the previous two games.

McHale didn’t switch anything about us up — no rotation changes, nothing like that. He basically just shrugged that game away … we played too relaxed.

In Game 4, that changed but it certainly didn’t *ucking help. In the first, Detroit blew our damn doors off, opening up a huge lead that we barely managed to cut down to ten points after one. We entered the second trailing 37-27 and it was like we were playing against the damned Warriors with all the shots from outside that were falling. Drummond was inhaling rebounds and abusing us on switches … there didn’t seem to be much of a way to slow him down.

McHale was less than pleased, but he told us very simply to take advantage of mismatches — and the biggest one we had was Jabari on Ellenson. Ellenson had pulled his hamstring in the first and he wasn’t quite right, which meant that Jabari could blow by him if he got the ball. “*uck, take the ball,” I told him in the huddle between quarters.

You better damn believe we fed him. Jabari got some serious action in the second as the offense ran through him — the ball stayed out of my hands and we deployed Lance as our floor general while I acted as a decoy. Detroit didn’t press Lance too hard, but that was their mistake; Lance took it as a challenge and he surgically took the Pistons apart in the second, laying in sweet passes, playing the boards, and locking in on defense.

At the half, we had wiped away our deficit and tied the game up. The stats weren’t overly pretty — we were shooting a high percentage but struggling to slow Drummond down.

In the second half, we committed to defense. Drummond’s life had to be made harder, fouls be damned, and so we got into his space — he didn’t get easy shots and he had to go through some extra bodies to get his boards.

The third saw the Pistons wear down as we got stronger … they couldn’t keep up the intensity, they faltered, and they started fouling us. Sending us to the line only made things worse for them, as we went 18-20 there for the whole night. After three, we were up 97-86. We had a big lead.

And it just got bigger. As the fourth began, I decided it was time to get Drummond — and Detroit — out of our hair. I called for the ball and called for it often. Blood was in the water and I unleashed a thunderous tomahawk jam all over Drummond, sending the arena into a stunned silence.

I stared him down, I got a tech, but it was worth it as it fired up the rest of the team. Myles got hot, so did Victor, and we ran away with the game.

Up 3-1, it looked certain we’d be heading to the ECF.

[trekfan]

Ch. 45

We didn’t play around with our food in Game 5 — back at home, with a spot in the ECF on the line, we showed up and stomped the Pistons 101-90. No contest in the fourth and we sent Detroit home … but they had to feel better than they did the season before. They had made it to the conference semis, had showed Mike Conley that he could be part of a winning squad, and had taken advantage of their opportunities.

Both our teams assumed we’d see LeBron next …

And we were WRONG. Cleveland suffered an epic collapse for no reason at all, other than poor team chemistry — the Cavs lost every single game, getting swept — I repeat, SWEPT — by a team missing its biggest star in Kemba Walker for the first two games. At home, Cleveland lost and Kemba returned to Charlotte (to standing ovations, I might add) and helped them win the next two games.

This was the point where we all said “Whoa” and took stock of LeBron’s career — because despite how brilliant he was, it looked like his reign was coming to an end. LeBron, reportedly, was livid at the way Cleveland played in that series and specifically was hot at Eric Bledose and Tristan Thompson. Bledsoe was a free agent at the end of the year and it was widely assumed he’d re-sign in Cleveland … but the way the season ended for Cleveland put that into serious question. Thompson’s efforts had been bugging LeBron for a long while and everyone assumed he was going to be shipped out.

LeBron, of course, didn’t reprimand his buddies in D-Wade and Melo.

Out West, the Warriors handled the Jazz, like they do, and looked like the team to beat in the postseason. The Rockets had a little more trouble with the Pelicans, but they too eventually beat them back, setting up a rematch from the 2018 WCF — it was Houston and Golden State for a trip to the Finals. Whomever won would be seen as the favorite.

For us, we weren’t concerned about that side of the bracket yet. We had mentally prepared ourselves to face LeBron, to battle against the King for superiority in the East, but instead we got … the Hornets? It stunned us, threw us off a little I’ll admit.

But McHale kept us locked in — he had a history with the Hornets. They were the last team he played against in the playoffs as a player, back in the spring of ‘93, and had beaten him and his legendary Celtics squad. Of course, that was 25 years ago, but McHale told us the Celtics didn’t take the Hornets too seriously then, and they got embarrassed.

Charlotte had never been before — it was their first time in the ECF, their first time playing for a Finals berth. They had an edge in experience thanks to Dwight Howard and his previous Finals trip, but Dwight wasn’t Drummond — he could be beaten. We could get the Pacers to the Finals if respected Charlotte and kept the Hornets from getting too comfortable.

“Make them hate us,” McHale told us during the final practice before the series began.

That became our mantra from that series forward.

(Number generator has assigned me Games 2 and 3 for this series … the Hornets are underdogs of mass proportions. Can they continue it?)

[georgiafan]

Your team is on a roll should be another easy series vs the hornets should be a fun finals if warriors win

2k hates the cavs they never win the east