Pacers (15-16) at Celtics (22-8) Game #31 12/27/24

[tenn_smoothie]

Good time to rest Tatum the rest of the way.

[tenn_smoothie]

Hali is a cookie on defense, lol.  Can't guard anything.  He'll jump a passing lane off ball once in a while but anything that targets him is too much for him.

The more I watch guys around the league, the more I am thankful that we have two superstar players who ALSO can play defense, and at an elite level.

Doncic, Haliburton, even a few others like Kyrie/SGA/Brunson/Mitchell, etc. they are MVP-caliber and hyped up but typically they are poor defenders. I mean SGA is solid but not great defensively. But still...

Agree 100%

[Atzar]

Pritchard has to get the artillery recalibrated, lol.  Some pretty wild misses today. 

[Phantom255x]

We're up 30. Why are JT and JB still in this game???

[Phantom255x]

Pritchard has to get the artillery recalibrated, lol.  Some pretty wild misses today.

He heard you!

[jpotter33]

JT settling with a lot of these threes.

[Atzar]

Good to see Walsh hit a few shots.

[tenn_smoothie]

Hali is a cookie on defense, lol.  Can't guard anything.  He'll jump a passing lane off ball once in a while but anything that targets him is too much for him.

The more I watch guys around the league, the more I am thankful that we have two superstar players who ALSO can play defense, and at an elite level.

Doncic, Haliburton, even a few others like Kyrie/SGA/Brunson/Mitchell, etc. they are MVP-caliber and hyped up but typically they are poor defenders. I mean SGA is solid but not great defensively. But still...

Eh, I think there's a few different groupings there.

Doncic and Haliburton are in a league of their own. Not only are they poor defenders, but they clearly give little to no effort on that side of the ball regularly.

I think players like Kyrie, Brunson, Mitchell, etc. are poor defenders, but they generally give good effort and actually try defensively.

I think SGA's defense is greatly overrated to inflate his overall MVP candidacy, but he's at least an average defender who generally tries on defense.

That's fair. It's just a luxury that our superstar players can also play elite defense. Not many like that in the league. Lebron, Kawhi, prime PG13, Giannis, there are a few others but not many.

Lebron ?  His defensive effort is VERY inconsistent depending on his mood.
I have a friend who is a Laker fan who hates Lebron for several reasons, one being his insistence on a max contract when he could easily take a discount to help them add rotational players to the roster. He talks big about being all about the championships, but clearly his bottom line is more important. Kobe did the same thing to his team his last few seasons.

[Phantom255x]

Walsh has some work to do but I see potential in him as that 3-and-D guard. I love his hustle and he's also good at getting boards

[Indocelts]

PP needs to get his triple-double.

[Phantom255x]

Hali is a cookie on defense, lol.  Can't guard anything.  He'll jump a passing lane off ball once in a while but anything that targets him is too much for him.

The more I watch guys around the league, the more I am thankful that we have two superstar players who ALSO can play defense, and at an elite level.

Doncic, Haliburton, even a few others like Kyrie/SGA/Brunson/Mitchell, etc. they are MVP-caliber and hyped up but typically they are poor defenders. I mean SGA is solid but not great defensively. But still...

Eh, I think there's a few different groupings there.

Doncic and Haliburton are in a league of their own. Not only are they poor defenders, but they clearly give little to no effort on that side of the ball regularly.

I think players like Kyrie, Brunson, Mitchell, etc. are poor defenders, but they generally give good effort and actually try defensively.

I think SGA's defense is greatly overrated to inflate his overall MVP candidacy, but he's at least an average defender who generally tries on defense.

That's fair. It's just a luxury that our superstar players can also play elite defense. Not many like that in the league. Lebron, Kawhi, prime PG13, Giannis, there are a few others but not many.

Lebron ?  His defensive effort is VERY inconsistent depending on his mood.
I have a friend who is a Laker fan who hates Lebron for several reasons, one being his insistence on a max contract when he could easily take a discount to help them add rotational players to the roster. He talks big about being all about the championships, but clearly his bottom line is more important. Kobe did the same thing to his team his last few seasons.

That's hilarious, I literally have a Lakers friend who says the same thing 

He also vows that Lebron will never be bigger than Kobe in the LA market.

The defense part is true, but I can't deny that in his peak days with the Cavaliers and Heat he could be an elite defender, and yeah it wasn't always consistent as you say but the skillset was there. He did obviously have some huge defensive plays in his career like the block on Iggy in the Finals Game 7. And I mean... he's Lebron. Not many like him in the entire NBA history.

[Surferdad]

Walsh has some work to do but I see potential in him as that 3-and-D guard. I love his hustle and he's also good at getting boards

Walsh is gaining confidence in that shot. Good hustle

[tenn_smoothie]

We're up 30. Why are JT and JB still in this game???

Why indeed ? Makes no sense, those two need less minutes as often as we can get them.

[Neurotic Guy]

Hali is a cookie on defense, lol.  Can't guard anything.  He'll jump a passing lane off ball once in a while but anything that targets him is too much for him.

The more I watch guys around the league, the more I am thankful that we have two superstar players who ALSO can play defense, and at an elite level.

Doncic, Haliburton, even a few others like Kyrie/SGA/Brunson/Mitchell, etc. they are MVP-caliber and hyped up but typically they are poor defenders. I mean SGA is solid but not great defensively. But still...

Eh, I think there's a few different groupings there.

Doncic and Haliburton are in a league of their own. Not only are they poor defenders, but they clearly give little to no effort on that side of the ball regularly.

I think players like Kyrie, Brunson, Mitchell, etc. are poor defenders, but they generally give good effort and actually try defensively.

I think SGA's defense is greatly overrated to inflate his overall MVP candidacy, but he's at least an average defender who generally tries on defense.

That's fair. It's just a luxury that our superstar players can also play elite defense. Not many like that in the league. Lebron, Kawhi, prime PG13, Giannis, there are a few others but not many.

Lebron ?  His defensive effort is VERY inconsistent depending on his mood.
I have a friend who is a Laker fan who hates Lebron for several reasons, one being his insistence on a max contract when he could easily take a discount to help them add rotational players to the roster. He talks big about being all about the championships, but clearly his bottom line is more important. Kobe did the same thing to his team his last few seasons.

Doesn?t seem to happen in the NBA. Obviously we had the Brady discount for all those years, but do elite NBA players ever take a discount to create space for others? Does that even work with the NBA cap rules?  I don?t think it happens.  

[Atzar]

Great game JB.