Larry Legend screwed up

[D.o.s.]

[soap07]

However, chemistry is a delicate thing, and replacing Granger in the locker room with Bynum and Turner messed things up.

If you say so. Shouldn't be that delicate. And has there been any evidence that Bynum hasn't been behaving well with Indy? It just seems like a lazy excuse to pin this on two guys that barely play. As said before, if adding two back of the rotation guys causes you to go from NBA Finals contender to not being able to beat a terrible Hawks team, then you were never a contender to begin with.

[Roy H.]

However, chemistry is a delicate thing, and replacing Granger in the locker room with Bynum and Turner messed things up.

If you say so. Shouldn't be that delicate. And has there been any evidence that Bynum hasn't been behaving well with Indy? It just seems like a lazy excuse to pin this on two guys that barely play. As said before, if adding two back of the rotation guys causes you to go from NBA Finals contender to not being able to beat a terrible Hawks team, then you were never a contender to begin with.

I might not be so confident in my opinion if we hadn't seen the exact same thing happen in Boston in 2012.

[BballTim]

However, chemistry is a delicate thing, and replacing Granger in the locker room with Bynum and Turner messed things up.

If you say so. Shouldn't be that delicate. And has there been any evidence that Bynum hasn't been behaving well with Indy? It just seems like a lazy excuse to pin this on two guys that barely play. As said before, if adding two back of the rotation guys causes you to go from NBA Finals contender to not being able to beat a terrible Hawks team, then you were never a contender to begin with.

I might not be so confident in my opinion if we hadn't seen the exact same thing happen in Boston in 2012.

  I think you mean 2011. In any case, I don't think that the problem was bringing in bad people but too many new faces/lineup changes.

[Fred Roberts]

first off --- I'd be starting Bynum right now. see what's he's got to offer. . .the dude is more dominant than Roy Hibbert when he's on and the adrenaline might get him going.

hibbert has been god awful and he needs a real mental shake up. sit him down!! !!

Also, Bird has compiled enough good to great players to nab the #1 seed in the East. If Vogel can't get a 1st round win over an 8th seed with a losing record, it's not on Bird. I'm sorry.

Bird basically built a 1 seed out of mid round picks methodically over time, which is the hard (and non-tanking / right way) to go about it. He gets nothing but kudos. The Scola trade was suspect but Scola is playing better than any other Pacer in this series.

If Hibbert gets p---ed off that he's benched, that will be a GREAT thing. the dude needs to lose the butter fingers and get assertive / p---ed off. nice missed dunk the other night. C'mon.

[fairweatherfan]

However, chemistry is a delicate thing, and replacing Granger in the locker room with Bynum and Turner messed things up.

If you say so. Shouldn't be that delicate. And has there been any evidence that Bynum hasn't been behaving well with Indy? It just seems like a lazy excuse to pin this on two guys that barely play. As said before, if adding two back of the rotation guys causes you to go from NBA Finals contender to not being able to beat a terrible Hawks team, then you were never a contender to begin with.

Completely agree - all this "chemistry" stuff just seems like a just-so narrative for a slide that started before the Turner trade piggybacking on a desire to yet again indulge in the "Perk trade cost us a ring!" line of wishful thinking. 

If Indiana crumbles that easily then they were too fragile to win to begin with.  Just like we weren't magically going to win 11 more playoff games with an ineffective Perkins and no Shaq or backup wings.

[Lucky17]

Larry could shoot with a hand in his face, but GMing is another story, apparently.

[JSD]

This series is not over. In fact, when Indiana wins the next game they will again have home court advantage.

Indiana in 7 games.

[D.o.s.]

However, chemistry is a delicate thing, and replacing Granger in the locker room with Bynum and Turner messed things up.

If you say so. Shouldn't be that delicate. And has there been any evidence that Bynum hasn't been behaving well with Indy? It just seems like a lazy excuse to pin this on two guys that barely play. As said before, if adding two back of the rotation guys causes you to go from NBA Finals contender to not being able to beat a terrible Hawks team, then you were never a contender to begin with.

I might not be so confident in my opinion if we hadn't seen the exact same thing happen in Boston in 2012.

The Boston situation is only applicable because they lost Shaq and JO for the year.

The Pacers problem isn't Bynum and Turner. The Pacer's problem is that they bought into their own hype, fell apart from playing too many minutes, and (If you want a better Boston Corrolary,) basically turned into a teamwide representation of discouraged Kelly Olynyk.

[footey]

The trades definitely upset chemistry.  I've never been a fan of trading team leaders, especially in the middle of the season, and you're seeing the effects of that in Indiana.

Bynum is just a cancer, and Turner has apparently upset the volatile Stephenson.  Hibbert and George can't lead, and there's no great calming voice in the locker room right now.

Team leader as in Danny Granger?

[Celtics4ever]

He is still twice the GM that Jordan is folks.

[Roy H.]

The trades definitely upset chemistry.  I've never been a fan of trading team leaders, especially in the middle of the season, and you're seeing the effects of that in Indiana.

Bynum is just a cancer, and Turner has apparently upset the volatile Stephenson.  Hibbert and George can't lead, and there's no great calming voice in the locker room right now.

Team leader as in Danny Granger?

Yes. 

[Fafnir]

Hibbert and George both shot well above their career averages for the first half of the season.

They just fell back to earth and the team imploded as their offense became a grind. The Scola trade was the real disaster he's been. Really bad.

[Roy H.]

Completely agree - all this "chemistry" stuff just seems like a just-so narrative for a slide that started before the Turner trade piggybacking on a desire to yet again indulge in the "Perk trade cost us a ring!" line of wishful thinking. 

You've hit two of my pet peeves:

1.  Psychoanalyzing other posters and assigning them motivations.  Unless you're a mind-reader, this seems inappropriate.

2.  Posting "facts" that aren't really true.  The Pacers were 7-3 in their 10 games prior to the Turner trade, with a margin of victory of +6.7.  They were 7-3 in the 10 games before that, as well.  I think it's hard to call that a slide; a .700 win percentage projects to 57 wins.  It's certainly a far cry from the 12-13 record they had post-trade.  Of those 12 wins, 10 were against the Bucks, Lakers, Celtics, Jazz, 76ers, and Pistons.

So, yes, they were a completely different team post-trade.

[SHAQATTACK]

I ll take him back in any capacity .....I'd send whoever packing if Larry walks though the door.

Larry is god.