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Toronto Raptors

Pacers Talk Live: Raptors Postgame Reactions

by Jared Wade on December 28, 2011 at 11:00 pm · 9 comments

Join me and Tim tonight right here after the game for some discussion of what is hopefully once again a good Indiana team beating up on another NBA weakling. The plan is to go live at 9:00 pm, (you can join the conversation here) presuming no overtime or major technical difficulties. If there are recurring tech issues, apologies in advance. We’re learning this new system on the job and doing our best to get some instant reactions for ya. So, embarrassing snafus and all, we prefer to just throw ourselves in the fire rather than wait until, say, game five when all the logistics are 100%.

Please let us know what you think about Pacers Talk Live in the comments.

Related Topics: Pacers Talk Live, Toronto Raptors

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Jeff Foster Still Sidelined With Back Injury

by Jared Wade on December 28, 2011 at 1:44 pm · 0 comments

Courtesy of Mike Wells, the Indianapolis Star’s beat writer for the Pacers, Jeff Foster didn’t travel with the team for its game tonight in Toronto.

Veteran Jeff Foster (back) did not travel to Toronto so he could meet with Dan Dyrek, the team’s physical therapist consultant. Foster, who has a history of back problems, re-injured it during the Dec. 20 preseason game at Chicago. He hopes to return to the lineup next week when the Pacers are on a four-game trip.

Big man Jeff Pendergraph also remains on the shelf so we may see the Pacers debut of Lou Amundson.

Related Topics: Jeff Foster, Jeff Pendergraph, Toronto Raptors

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Game #65 Recap: Headlines Take Too Much Effort

by Jared Wade on March 12, 2011 at 12:43 am · 2 comments

Would you like me to pretend this is a normal team and break down this game in a traditional way? Do you want to hear about the 62 points the Pacers surrendered in the first half or the 53.1% they allowed the Raptors to shoot for the game (which includes a lackluster 4-for-16 from behind the arc)? Shall we talk about the effortless, season-high 29 points that Leandro Barbosa scored? How about the 11-for-12 combined shooting display by relative unknowns James Johnson and Ed Davis? Or what about the 13 boards grabbed by that same Davis or the 16 (including 6 on the offensive end) hauled in by Reggie Evans? Maybe we should talk about the worst sin of all: the whole Pacers team, down only 6 with less than a minute to play, allowing Jose Calderon drive … nay … walk right to the rim for an uncontested layup?

Well, sorry.

I’m not going to go into any more detail about the particulars of this one.

Because this is a team in crisis, and the only thing that is really important to the narrative of this season anymore is whether or not this an still actually a basketball team or just a collection of 15 co-workers who are now just counting down the days until school’s out for summer.

I’m not the type of basketball viewer to walk around harping on Mighty Ducks-style platitudes. In fact, I’m a guy whose actual senior year book quote in high school was Homer Simpson’s “Well, boy, you failed. The lesson here is: Never try.” Rudy Ruettiger I am not.

But there simply wasn’t a ton of effort out there again tonight — particularly on the defensive end of the floor. The Raptors aren’t the worst team in the league — that’s the Cavs. But they might be the easiest team to push around physically. With Evans now back from a major ankle injury that had sidelined him since November, the Raptors have toughened up. But it’s not like going into Toronto, a team that recently lost back-to-back games to New Jersey in London, and winning is a difficult proposition.

Yet the Pacers only led for 43 seconds in this contest that was never close. Again, worse than the outcome was the way the team looked.

Really, all you need to know about this one is that the most tenacity the team showed can after the game was already decided. Leandro Barbosa took a shot rather than just dribble out the clock like a good little boy scout would. Most likely, he remembered when Darren Collison popped a jumper with the clock dwindling and the Pacers up big in a Raptors loss to the Pacers a few weeks ago. (It was Frank Vogel’s first game coaching if I’m not mistaken.) Well, Danny Granger, in particular was highly upset by what he perceived as Barbosa’s disrespectful shot attempt. There is an unwritten rule that you don’t try to score if the other team has already surrendered and there is less than 24 seconds left in the game. You just dribble it out, shake hands and head to the locker room. So it’s understandable that Granger would take offense.

But when you loaf around the court and get embarrassed, for the sixth straight outing, mind you, I would think that there are bigger things to be frustrated about. Perhaps Danny deserves the benefit of the doubt here and this was just his larger frustration about his team’s futility boiling over in a mis-directed manner … but it sure made him look silly. As a captain, you can’t motivate your team to come out here and give enough of an effort to even hang with a terrible, terrible team, but you’re ready to get all fired up about an impolite act by a Raptors reserve? After the game, Danny said the following about the incident: “If I was on him I would have took his neck off him. That’s unsportsmanlike. I would have taken his head off and busted his lip.” Nice priorities. (In Danny’s defense, he did shoot OK and got to the line 8 times on his way to 25 point so he was at least paying attention on the offensive end.)

Getting back to the team-wide malaise, I watched on TV with Toronto broadcast feed and even their announcers repeatedly seemed shocked at how nonchalant Indiana looked. At one point, fairly early in the game, one announcer mentioned that it’s “hard to believe that’s a Pacer team battling for a Playoff spot.” After half time, their play-by-play guy tried to re-set the stage for viewers, stating that the playoff-hopeful Pacers were “a team desperate for a W.” His partner quipped that “they don’t seem [desperate].” They also took several shots at Danny Granger, criticizing his lackluster effort getting up off the ground to get back on defense at one point and generally mentioning his disinterest on that end of the floor altogether.

The Pacers announcers were seeing the same thing. Indiana legend and should-be-Hall of Famer Slick Leonard offered these gems: “We have no interest in the defensive end of the floor” and “Time to get out the big ol’ mirror and have these guys look at themselves in it” and “We’re out there Mickey Mousing around.”

That about sums this one up.

Will probably sum up the ensuing loss to the Knicks in Madison Square on Sunday, too.

Related Topics: Apathy, Game Recaps, Slick Leonard, Toronto Raptors

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The Frank Vogel Era Is Off to a Great Start

by Jared Wade on January 31, 2011 at 10:52 pm · 3 comments

And just like that, Frank Vogel has the highest winning percentage of any coach in NBA history.

Aside from the second six minutes of the second quarter and all the turnovers and Danny Granger being unable to hit water from a boat, this victory over the Raptors was exactly what the Pacers needed. More than just winning, it was an attitude shift. I wasn’t at the game, but inside my television set, it appeared as though there was a near-palpable difference in the players’ attitudes. Roy Hibbert looked like a kid out there compared to the mopey, Eeyore-impersonating, rain-cloud carrier we have seen for much of the season. Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough played like confident veterans. Darren Collison seemed unshackled.

It was at times ugly, but the offense was free-flowing, which is rarely an adjective that I have used to describe this team over the past few seasons. 25 turnovers suggest that it was too free-flowing. And DC’s 6 turnovers suggest he could maybe use some shackles. But the team looked like they were having fun out there for the first time in a while, and they really looked to be making a concerted effort to share the ball, particularly by getting it to Roy in the deep post, a location from which he destroyed Toronto’s interior. There were a lot of cutters and a lot of interior passing. Again, there was too much and Danny, Darren and Roy all forced things, but like that paperweight your son made you for your birthday, it’s the thought that counts.

The transition defense was also notable. That’s one of those things that is all attitude and effort and the Pacers got back multiple times, breaking up at least three opportunities when they were outnumbered and back-pedaling. That’s saving 6 points. Pretty big deal.

Getting back to Roy’s low post work, look at his shot chart. You don’t get open directly under the hoop as often as he did tonight unless your are really busting your ass. He planted and backed down the Raptors’ “bigs.”

OK. Let’s not pretend this was a perfect game from Roy. He turned the ball over too much, was sloppy and awkward looking at time, and a couple of his early shots were very much of his now-patented “no-look hook” variety. But that’s just picking nits when we’re talking about a guy who had only had one double-double so far in 2011 before this evening. 24 points on 19 shots to go along with 11 boards and 2 blocks? Plus some tremendous interior defense on the same night that the opposition shot 41.3%? That will work, sir. Welcome back. I was starting to forgot why I ever thought you were good.

Speaking of someone who is good … Paul George.

This kid is just can just flat-out play basketball. I have been enjoying his play more and more of late, but the way he attacked the rim tonight and got to the line was just a joy to watch. I regularly criticize Granger when he doesn’t get into the lane, but ultimately, Danny is always going to be more of a shooter than anything else. He and I both know this. George, on the other hand, looks natural going north/south and trying to dunk on any fool silly enough to try to jump with him. His dribble moves don’t seem blinding in a Dwyane Wade sense or even spellbinding in a Paul Pierce sense, but particularly when he grabs a rebound or a loose ball and takes off up the court, it just looks right … if that makes any sense. He’s just smooth.

Between that, his rapidly improving defense and his ability to shoot from the mid-range (and hopefully further out), it is starting to seem inevitable that he will become the team’s starting two guard this. I suppose Vogel could stick with Mike Dunleavy, Jr. all year (provided he doesn’t get traded, which he very well might) and use George to buoy the second unit (something he has said he might do with Hansbrough), but considering that one of the stated reasons for getting rid of O’Brien was his unwillingness to play the young kids, I imagine Bird will put a little pressure on Vogel to make sure Paul keeps getting 25 mpg. Whether he starts or not is, I guess, academic, but I think it will happen eventually.

Speaking of guys who should start … Tyler Hansbrough, ladies and gentlemen. He played an excellent game on his first night back from pneumonia , hitting 6 of his 13 shots for 14 points in 16 minutes. He also added 6 boards. And his energy should be even more useful on a team that is no trying to re-assert itself as a squad that can beat any team in this league on any given night.

Another wrinkle added by Vogel was playing Dahntay Jones. I almost forgot he was on the team. I mean, he looked as mediocre as ever during his 10 minutes of court time, but it was interesting to see him, and not James Posey, head out there. Vogel has said that we will see less small ball going forward, so that makes you wonder whether or not we will see much Posey at all. With George deserving a lot of minutes on the wing and Lance Stephenson presumably getting a shot at the rotation at some point, there wouldn’t seem to be much time left for Posey. Similarly, AJ Price will likely remain the second point guard with TJ Ford only seeing the court due to injuries or foul trouble. I don’t think we will be seeing the TJ/AJ back court again anytime soon.

In the end, it was a very good win that the team now gets to bond over as they race to get away from the storm to get to Cleveland. And if you thought the Raptors was bad, wait until you see the Cavs. These guys are hilarious.

UPDATE: Here are two comments from John Rabjohns of the Indy Star reflecting what I expected: Vogel will probably keep a similar rotation to what we saw tonight. That’s fine by me. At one point seven minutes into the first quarter, I realized that the starters were still in. And then Vogel made a few substitutions and let those guys plays together for an extended stretch. It was so simple and so effective that I was wondering whether or not it was even allowed. It was like he was going out of his way to set a rotation and allow his players to become comfortable playing next to one another within established roles.

Odd, I know — but perhaps crazy enough that it might just work.