Comments on: In Game 1 Loss to the Heat, Pacers Can’t Overcome Foul Disparity, Adversity

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:12:48 +0000

I thought the refs did a reasonable job. The Pacers fouled on defense in game 1, no doubt about it. It seemed like part of their game plan from the get go- no easy baskets, clog the paint. I liked it. I was excited by some of the fouls (ie. Hill running down Wade on the breakaway). However, it’s not a sustainable strategy if you get into foul trouble early, as Game 1 showed. The players have a different mentality defensively knowing they have 3, 4, 5 fouls under their belt, and Pacer’s weren’t able to exploit Bosh’s injury with Hibbert in foul trouble.

I want to see more Dahntay Jones on Wade. Wade is crafty. Call him a flopper, an actor, whatever, but the guy knows how to get to the line. He drew fouls from everyone, and the majority of them were shooting fouls (he went to the line 14 times). Dahntay is a good lateral defender, and I think he can force Wade to take more jumpshots and possible take some charges on him. Hopefully, when Wade lifts his knee up on a drive and sticks it into the defender a la Chauncey Billups, the refs will make the right call.

By: little B

little B — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:50:48 +0000

List of big calls that were missed or went the “wrong” way, please add to it if you like

1. Charge call on Barbosa to end first half. Mike Miller clearly doesn’t take the charge, he pussies out and turns his shoulder into Barbosa. May have been a charge if he stood his ground but he didnt. Took away a 3 point play.
2. Charge call on George Hill to get his 5th foul. So when can a player just jump in front of someone and get a charge call(plus flop).
3. Shooting foul on David West in 4th in believe. Wade drives sticks knee is David Wests chest and gets foul.
Side Bar-I have lost all respect for Dwayne Wade after this game. Guy cries more than a girl on sweet sixteen. Amazing how he never gets a technical. One play he even cried so much he got a cherry pick dunk for it. Also hate how media paints every players picture. They pan away everytime he is whining, but then highlight him and tell the world and kids this is how you play ball when he blocks PG’s layup (it was a good play, but PG get some balls and dunk over someone).
4. Shooting foul on Hibbert, I believe his 5th. Hibbert goes straight up, Chalmers sticks arm out and hibbert even turns to avoid contact but chalmers swings arm and gets the foul. No call should have been the case.
5. George Hill’s 3 point play that Joe mentions above. Dwayne Wade comes across both of GH’s arms on the follow through, knocks him to the ground awkwardkly, didnt look like flop, then DW gets a 3 on 1 on other end to ice the game. I believe GH didnt get that call because PG flopped on the other side about 2 plays before that on the same thing except Wade missed him completely.

All these calls were pivotal, but Pacers could have over came them besides GH’s 3 point shot he didnt get called.
The foul the Pacers got:
1. PG getting Hibbert’s 6th foul. Game was pretty much decided then I believe.

By: little B

little B — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:37:36 +0000

Everyone knew coming into this game the Pacers wouldn’t get the calls to go their way. If you watched this game and didn’t see that you were blind or had the game on mute because during halftime even the analyst and commentators where even talking about it. List at bottom of the big calls Miami got to go their way.
That being said the “Joe” above is right. Pacers had this game, but got outrebounded, and missed free throws and had a few too many turnovers. Thats why they lost this game.
No one one this blog has bashed Danny or Paul, which I commend. Pacers dont need them to be the “go to guys” in this series. This is how I see it. Lebron Guards Danny on the wing. Wade guards Paul on the wing. Pacers have Hill, West, Hibbert versus who? Bosh(well not now), Chalmers, Anthony…Pacers should destroy that matchup, we dont even need to go to the bench to win this matchup. DG and PG just need to hit a few shots to keep Wade and James honest. This can be a series if the Pacers dont get wrapped up in the officiating and just play their game. I remember at one point the Pacers had around 20 games in a row where the team with the most rebounds had won, they need to get back to that.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:18:16 +0000

That was a great explanation poot. I did not fall for that Stern saying the Oscar for MVP awards, because that’s what people want to hear, and it would get him off the hot seat a bit.

Fortunately, I was unable to watch the first first half, so that saved my voice. However, there were some ripoffs in the second half. Such as, when West was called for a foul on Princess Wade when he didn’t even touch him; also, when it was 90-85, Hill was knocked over after shooting a 3 with no call and after that lebron bumps into George and gets the call. Wade is so used to flopping, I notice him falling to the ground on uncontested layups.

I’ll admit, it was also the Pacers to blame. They were outrebounded, and they missed way too many free throws late in the game while the Heat were hitting ALL of theirs… or should I say, wade and lebron.

By: poot

poot — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:44:41 +0000

heat “fans” only repeat what they are told. basically its all propaganda from the commissioner that they are spreading. Stern needs people to think the NBA is fair, that “your favorite team can win,” that there is a level of excitement that cannot be achieved from a “scripted” performance. so they give the message to ESPN, NBA.com, etc, and they spin that message as “analysis” and use it to back up their core message, “buy NBA products.” consumers of the Heat brand, desperate to maintain their investment’s value, cite these articles, opinions, as facts, mostly out of contest. (9 FTs is not even a big difference, Heat were just more aggressive, etc)

what did we think was going to happen? Stern says “Actually I have a hand in the outcome of games, it’s not all up to the teams and the refs get paid well to carry out our plans.” ESPN can post an article “Heat stay close, seal win, with assist to officiating crew, Stern.” Fans of 29 other teams stop buying NBA gear, just like little kids stop buying WWF gear when they learned it was fake. Fans of the Heat will remain happy- a win is a win, doesnt matter how you get it.

It was very well orchestrated in game 1. The officiating was horrible in Q1/Q2. Really bad in Q3. The “even” from a statistical view in Q4, but so many of those fouls were momentum changers just when the Pacers would start to get it going again. So Stern can say, “Look at the fourth quarter, Pacers were in the penalty with 9 min to go.” ESPN can reiterate “Officiating dead even down the stretch, Heat talent/aggressiveness finishes off Pacers.” and Heat fans can cite articles as support for why their team actually deserves to win and is not being assisted by the NBA which is completely fair and without corruption, not realizing they are merely propagating the message from on high

sorry for the rant, but googer’s rant just got me thinking!

By: Derek U

Derek U — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:07:15 +0000

agreed googer! the first half officiating was a joke. the amount of charges awarded was atrocious considering they were still sliding and feet not set. I like what I saw tho, just needs to play harder

By: dwain

dwain — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:55:20 +0000

@googergieger welcome man :) hope u guys get that Howard thing hashed out. Orlando is a great city, lived there for years in the 70′s. Indy was lucky to get past u guys, the team played exceptional ball in that series…that is something to build on.

By: googergieger

googergieger — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:47:53 +0000

It’s funny how a lot of people write it off as Indiana letting the game get away from them at the end. How towards the end the refs were finally calling a more fair game so it discounts everything before that. Though you do allude to the fact that the first half was clearly a tough one for Indiana. However they should have been up at least fifteen going into the half. The refs did keep Miami in this game during the first half. Much more Heat “fans” like to point out the fact Miami attacked the paint more. When really, why wouldn’t they? They were getting all the fouls called their way when they attacked and Indiana was getting nothing called when they did attack unless it was an offensive foul. Until the fourth quarter when I will admit the refs did call a pretty even game. However as much as people say it the games don’t always come down to the fourth quarter. The Pacers could have had a comfortable cushion going into that fourth and they didn’t. They were the better team through three quarters and yes at the end they were out played. However it doesn’t change the fact they were clearly screwed through the first three quarters and Miami had a much easier fourth quarter to deal with than they would have if the game was called fairly since the beginning. Oh and I have no dog in this fight. I’m an Orlando fan that didn’t think they had a chance against Indy. Was routing for Denver but now that is done. So I’m just watching to watch now, more or less.

By: dwain

dwain — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:27:48 +0000

gee maybe the new offense should be, pass it at the flopper’s man……he is open for a sec anyway

By: dwain

dwain — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:20:58 +0000

because this is a Pacers board? there is no good and evil here, that’s a red herring, this is about athletes competing to win a game. it’s about my team against yer team…in this case yer team went out and tried to buy a ring, and ours has been slowly building with drafted talent, we see slowly building as better than insta ring…. star ball vs team ball not good vs evil