waiting for the other shoelace to drop: 2013-2014 NBA regular season thread (part 2)

despite the whole only five guys under contract next year thing the lakers owe 5 million more in salary than the suns do next year at this point

clips looking like theyre running drills

crushing the lakers at half speed los angeles basketball 2014

lol hubie does not understand how the nba salary cap works

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Tim Reynolds ‏@ByTimReynolds -- Vogel just pulled his entire starting lineup, down 17-3. Bold. Bet it works.

hm.

33-11, end 1st
cute larry bird shot

Wait, so the Pacers do a straight swap of their starting unit for their bench after 6 minutes?

*well did

yeah. starters back in now. and hawks increased their lead to 27 points in the middle of the second period.

this pacers late season collapse is really something else quite sure ive never seen anything like it, 17 pts total half way through the second down 30 to a pretty bad hawks team

49-19 6:10 2nd quarter vs. ATL, welcome rock bottom of 2014.

AT HOME

how does this happen i dont understand is it all because paul george raw dogged a stripper

one diagnosis

@haralabob: The stuff Pacers can’t / won’t do are like the simplest basketball actions. Set screens, move the ball, move without the ball cut to basket

p sure that was also zach lowe's diagnosis in his piece from this past week

also "perimeter players all bizarrely standing inside the arch on multiple possessions"

Whole slide seemed to start before All Star break when Lance's game started to dip. He's played w/ energy the whole season, but he was much more of a distributor during the first few months. Can't really tell if the lack of ball movement is more about Lance or more about off-ball movement. Either way basically every shot they take is contested, so they're leaving on 10-15ppg on the table. Tack on a buttload of offensive turnovers, too.

i'm trying to think of another time this happened w/ a legit understood contender as opposed to some surprise team that faded in the second half

they won 50 games then were all our work here is done

They've never been great as a passing team, but there were hints that they'd figured out those 2nd -> 3rd passes that yield high%fgs in the first few months.

I have zero explanation wtf happened, though. Like you've been able to see if for a while but no idea what's causing it ;_;

@netw3rk: Darkest stat-line RT @Rami_Riad: that -150 is pretty impressive http://t.co/Jdij7JQc6H

@ZachLowe_NBA: Trying to think of a prior team w an in-season curve like Indiana's...

@Pflanns: The Hawks had lost 7 of 8. Their best player is hurt. This isn't even a mediocre team that's winning by 32 points on the Pacers home court.

1 assist vs. 9 TOs, nightmare

wow this game

Ha that is the first time I can remember where Pacers crew didn't get a quick post-2nd-quarter quote from anyone.

espn bot in denial

@ESPNNBA: It's halftime in Indiana, where the Hawks lead the Pacers 55-23. Paul Millsap leads all scorers with 11. Paul George has 6 for IND.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BkkwNP3CcAAlJCK.jpg

@JeffFogle Pacers will fall to 4-25-1 against market pointspreads their last 30 games. Just not something that happen to quality.

Rizz ‏@Rizzmigizz -- Pacers have ONE assist. Like the entire team.

maybe this is an explanation, which could speak to pacers' selfish play?

so if the bulls get the three seed that could be a legit second round series huh

the pacers aren't selfish so much as they barely run an offense you'd acknowledge as an modern nba offense, at least to my eyes.

they don't really have a point guard either.

i think the pacers would still outslug them

Uh, I'd no longer take IND > #7 seed.

the bulls are still a bottom 3 offense over the course of this season

imo the team the pacers really shouldn't want to see is toronto

Rizz ‏@Rizzmigizz -- You get to the Pacers Digest "Open Thread" and page 1 is like "OK..GO PACERS"...flip to page 7 and THERES A FIRE EVERYONE RUNNN AHHHHHH

lol

Have to say there is something weirdly hilarious about watching these guys implode.

Yeah, it's not dudes getting their shots in or anything. Just zero ball movement / zero movement off ball / slow offensive sets / starting sets like five feet from desired position. Basically like five dudes playing 5-5 who've never played together, don't know any sets, but don't even both doing a bunch of hard cutting. There's like zero cutting off-ball.

edge of my seat for bobcats v raptors eastern conference semifinals

they don't really have a point guard either.

― Clay, Sunday, April 6, 2014 7:21 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is really it, and this is why Lance creating was so important. Hill is fine in there if his #1 job is to shoot spot ups / drive and dish, but he's not a pg.

What does Chris Copeland have to do to get some play btw

Tim Reynolds ‏@ByTimReynolds --“@ScottAgness: No sign of Roy Hibbert on the bench as the second half is about to get underway.” > Plot thickens.

hm?

Cope only plays in blowout wins, not blowout losses.

Yeah but he's not a disaster on D, is athletic enough and shoots well from 3, which is something they're sorely lacking. Just surprised that after a good season coming of the bench for NY last year Vogel couldn't think of a use for him.

what's the best result the pacers could have at the end of this season that leads to vogel getting fired? if they get bounced in the first round is he gone? if they get swept in the conference finals and only stumble into it due to their first and second round opponents just being overmatched is he gone? when pti did their april fools joke last week i totally fell for it

pacers have very little ball handling/ability to get to the rim makes offense hard

srsly doubt theyd ever fire vogel

bird is too smart/steady for that nonsense

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this

true