Pascal as a #2 = back to ECF

[ATLTimekeeper]

Pacers did their job. People are acting like it wasn't just a year ago that a play-in team made it to the Finals. This is the new normal in the NBA. Yes, the East is weak and the Knicks weren't that good. They had one legit player and a bunch of 3rd guards going off to keep them afloat. If Randle was healthy then it's a different story.

So Kyle makes deep runs the past two seasons with Miami and now it's Pascal's turn.

[Los_29]

Pacers did their job. People are acting like it wasn't just a year ago that a play-in team made it to the Finals. This is the new normal in the NBA. Yes, the East is weak and the Knicks weren't that good. They had one legit player and a bunch of 3rd guards going off to keep them afloat. If Randle was healthy then it's a different story.

So Kyle makes deep runs the past two seasons with Miami and now it's Pascal's turn.

And people also forget that it wasn’t Butler that beat the Celtics last year. It was Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and Max Strus. Carlisle isn’t Spo though and the Celtics are better than last year. Celtics have had a cake walk so far. I expect Indiana to give them a bit more resistance.

[ash_k]

Where exactly was management going to find a number 1 scorer for Siakam? They weren’t blind to it imo. They held on because they knew how good he was and other teams didn’t. That being said, facing undermanned teams so far. I will be very impressed if he can play well against the Celtics.

It is like some of you were on the moon when the team almost got Lillard (Shams certainly did think we had him) and the summer prior discussing KD for OG+Junior+Picks

[ash_k]

Isn’t Pascal leading the team in scoring in the playoffs?

Yup,
Pascal =>21.1ppg
Hali ==> 18.8ppg
Myles => 17.5ppg

It is really unfortunate, we could not quite pull that Myles Turner trade..I still cant believe so many were arguing for Jakob over Myles during that time. Jak is great in what he does, but the better fit was always Myles..not even close

[2019nbachamps]

Isn’t Pascal leading the team in scoring in the playoffs?

Yup,
Pascal =>21.1ppg
Hali ==> 18.8ppg
Myles => 17.5ppg

It is really unfortunate, we could not quite pull that Myles Turner trade..I still cant believe so many were arguing for Jakob over Myles during that time. Jak is great in what he does, but the better fit was always Myles..not even close

What people continue to miss is we couldn’t afford to keep the team together due to the tax. Even if we kept Siakam and had Turner instead we’d be deep into the tax beginning next season due to Siakam and OG (now Quickley) extensions. Fred and Siakam leaving for just Bruce Brown + expiring contracts allows us to remain under the tax.

Keeping the band together was never an option since we wouldn’t go into the tax unless we were on the verge of contending.

[ash_k]

Isn’t Pascal leading the team in scoring in the playoffs?

Yup,
Pascal =>21.1ppg
Hali ==> 18.8ppg
Myles => 17.5ppg

It is really unfortunate, we could not quite pull that Myles Turner trade..I still cant believe so many were arguing for Jakob over Myles during that time. Jak is great in what he does, but the better fit was always Myles..not even close

What people continue to miss is we couldn’t afford to keep the team together due to the tax. Even if we kept Siakam and had Turner instead we’d be deep into the tax beginning next season due to Siakam and OG (now Quickley) extensions. Fred and Siakam leaving for just Bruce Brown + expiring contracts allows us to remain under the tax.

Keeping the band together was never an option since we wouldn’t go into the tax unless we were on the verge of contending.

Maybe, but we would have gotten at least 1.5 seasons of FVV|OG|Barnes|Pascal|Turner looking pretty darn good on paper under a real coach like Nurse.

[NinjaBro]

Isn’t there a former raptor thread for this kind of stuff?

NBA champion and superstar Siakam going back to the ECF, give the man his flowers man.

We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffen before it's too late! - PhilBlackson

[NinjaBro]

when did fans become groupies of players? I didnt see this behaviour when Bosh had his success in Miami. He's gone and i'd do that trade again.

Bosh was never loved as much as Siakam, stop it. Not too mention Siakam brought us a championship.

We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffen before it's too late! - PhilBlackson

[God Squad]

when did fans become groupies of players? I didnt see this behaviour when Bosh had his success in Miami. He's gone and i'd do that trade again.

Bosh was never loved as much as Siakam, stop it. Not too mention Siakam brought us a championship.

We need to trade Siakam for AJ Griffen before it's too late! - PhilBlackson

No. Kawhi brought us a Championship.

You're just glazing.

[CPT]

All this talk about the Pacers' fake ECF run... I'm sure it's real to their fans.

**** wake me up when we go into MSG and win a game 7 as underdogs to go to the ECF. It legitimately might be another 5 to 10 years before we have another moment like that, but we have fans here looking down on them as if we're not a lotto team without a **** lotto pick. It's ridiculous.

[ciueli]

I'm sick of all the Siakim threads as well. As stated in the other Siakim thread, he is no longer on our team. We have more Siakim threads right now than our own players, combined!

That said, I don't agree with the remarks about the Pacers not beating legit competition due to injury. The Pacers play the opponents in front of them, whether fully healthy or injury-riddled. It's up to teams to ensure they have enough depth to withstand a long post season.

If you still aren't convinced, let me leave you with this thought-- remember all the peeps who downplayed our championship (asterisk) because we beat an injury-riddled GS? Do you remember our reaction? It wasn't, "you are right. We didn't deserve the championship. Put an asterisk beside our championship".

Let's not be hypocrites. The Pacers are contenders and they got to the ECF fairly and legitimately. I wish we were in their spot atm.

There's a massive difference between having injury luck in the Finals after beating a stacked 76ers team and a Giannis led Bucks team in rounds 2 and 3, that team still needed to beat the Warriors with the Steph/Klay/Dray All-Star trio to win a title.

The Pacers, by contrast, just beat a Bucks team with zero game appearances from Giannis and Damian Lillard missing 2 out of the 6 games. Then they beat a Knicks team that was missing Randle (2nd best player on the team) for all 7 games, OG (3rd best player) for 5 out of 7 games, and a smattering of other guys out with injuries (Mitchell Robinson, Bojan Bogdonavic). Even Jalen Brunson started hobbling around once the series went past about game 5, this is one of the most beaten up teams I've ever seen, they were so desperate for players they started Miles McBride in game 6 who had a whopping 14 starts for the Knicks this season. They were also playing Precious Achiuwa and Alec Burks significant minutes.

[refshateRaps]

We had a trade chip to acquire someone to play with prime Pascal.

The FO blew it. FFS we were giving away 1st round picks for mid players and vets during this time.

[Indeed]

Pacers aren't real contenders....they're the odd man out amongst the Celtics, Mavs, Nuggets, Wolves.

We know what it takes to win a championship, and the Pacers aren't it.

I disagree against Dallas and Minnesota, Indiana is a matchup nightmare for them.

Dallas has no one who can handle Siakam, so it is pretty much who scores more, and even more towards the pace (Dallas plays slow, Indiana plays fast).
Similar against Minnesota, Turner and Siakam will stretch Towns and Gobert to neutralize the shot blockers, so it is pretty much towards the pace (Minnesota plays slow, Indiana plays fast).

All 3 teams left in the playoffs would obliterate the Pacers.

No one even thought they would be in the conference final as well, so it is hard to say all 3 teams left would obliterate the Pacers. In fact, some stronger teams were not able to make it, so I don't think the level is that far in between.

[God Squad]

All this talk about the Pacers' fake ECF run... I'm sure it's real to their fans.

**** wake me up when we go into MSG and win a game 7 as underdogs to go to the ECF. It legitimately might be another 5 to 10 years before we have another moment like that, but we have fans here looking down on them as if we're not a lotto team without a **** lotto pick. It's ridiculous.

I agree. I'm not taking anything away from Indiana or their fans. I knew Pascal fit like a glove on this team pre trade, and many did. But lets not ignore New York had maybe 5-6 injured players, many of whom are starters. Honestly this New York team was arguably my favourite team to watch in these playoffs.

[DatHomieYouHaTe]

They got lucky to get to the ECF(other teams with injuries). The will be slapped by the Celtics and Pascal will be locked down by Brown as per usual.

[SFour]

Pacers did their job. People are acting like it wasn't just a year ago that a play-in team made it to the Finals. This is the new normal in the NBA. Yes, the East is weak and the Knicks weren't that good. They had one legit player and a bunch of 3rd guards going off to keep them afloat. If Randle was healthy then it's a different story.

So Kyle makes deep runs the past two seasons with Miami and now it's Pascal's turn.

Just because they did their job doesn't mean we have to respect them as some sort of championship caliber team

Siakam didn't have to deal with Giannis on defense....he didn't have to deal with Robinson and Randle. We can't just ignore these things.

[wegotthabeet]

Why was our FO so blind to this?

We all knew he had no business being a #1 but is probably the best complimentary player in the NBA

Not trying to cry over spilt milk but here we are sitting with no lottery pick over this

we were in on kd and lillard. didn't happen. but they did try to get a #1.

Durant isn't a true number 1 anymore and Dame never was.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

They got lucky to get to the ECF(other teams with injuries). The will be slapped by the Celtics and Pascal will be locked down by Brown as per usual.

The needle moves as always for TWO. First it was the Pacers won't get past the second round and Pascal is garbage. Then they make it past the second round, and Pascal is still garbage.

Then the luck card is pulled out, lol. The Knicks were never as good as the pacers, thibs just over played their stars to get wins and they eventually broke down. Pacers were always the more talented team.

[Mattatron]

Isn’t Pascal leading the team in scoring in the playoffs?

Sure, slightly averaging more than Haliburton, but Haliburton is the 1st Option as the primary playmaker. His OBPM is way better than Pascal's. + he was still injured when the playoffs started.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Pacers did their job. People are acting like it wasn't just a year ago that a play-in team made it to the Finals. This is the new normal in the NBA. Yes, the East is weak and the Knicks weren't that good. They had one legit player and a bunch of 3rd guards going off to keep them afloat. If Randle was healthy then it's a different story.

So Kyle makes deep runs the past two seasons with Miami and now it's Pascal's turn.

Just because they did their job doesn't mean we have to respect them as some sort of championship caliber team

Siakam didn't have to deal with Giannis on defense....he didn't have to deal with Robinson and Randle. We can't just ignore these things.

Okay, even with Giannis the Bucks were a 49 win team. Pacers won 47. Knicks won 50. These teams were pretty similar throughout the year, and the Celtics lost to the Heat last year despite being heavy favourites, so I don't know which team is supposed to be respected by you in the East. Maybe just enjoy the show?