Myles Turner dislocated finger | Obi Toppin’s consistency | Can Indiana Pacers start a win streak?

Myles Turner dislocated finger | Obi Toppin’s consistency | Can Indiana Pacers start a win streak?

Officially a sprained finger for Miles Turner if he doesn’t play tonight and going forward who needs to step up and how for the players plus Orby toppen remarkably consistent what does that mean for the Pacers and we’ll look at Pacers Neds with Alex golden tonight on the lock Dawn Pacers podcast you are

Locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what up y’all happy Wednesday and welcome into another edition of the lockon Pacers podcast where are we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name is Tony East I cover the

Team for Forbes and Si and today it’s a podcast crossover Alex golden from setting the PAC is gonna join us to talk about all things Pacers going on right now six games to go big story Miles Turner finger bent the other way uh on Monday sprain right finger questionable

For tonight’s game against Pacers Nets if he can’t go what do the Pacers need to do to still win to survive in his absence and what could it mean if he’s out beyond that game what could he look like playing with set injury plus we talk about Obie toppen don’t talk about

Obby toppen enough remarkably consistent what that has meant for the Pacers this season and we close talking Pacers Nets can the Pacers finally win three games in a row and help themselves continue climbing in the standings what will it take Alex gold going to join us for all

That let’s just get right to it playoffs are close the The Heavy Hitters have been coming on here on lockon Pacers it’s time for another one you know him over at setting the pace he’s covering every game in person now it’s Alex scen play talk about Miles Turner hurts his

Finger OB topping not getting enough discussion Pacers can they actually get a win streak we’ll get to it all today Alex first though how are you are you enjoying being at every single game now I will say it’s a lot of fun it’s it’s totally different um being there in

Person for the games being able to ask questions and you know what I feel like I’m getting more comfortable with my surroundings and where to go and what to do what to say but I still I I still really get nervous to asking questions sometimes so I I’ve got to break through

Sometimes I feel fine and then sometimes I just like drop the ball in my head and I’m like what am I doing why am I even asking a question but uh I will say it’s good practice it’s a lot of fun and uh a lot of great people over there just a

Lot of nice people in the in the in the Fieldhouse to to chat with throughout throughout the game too because I don’t I don’t always just sit there the whole game I guess I shouldn’t always say that but I have to walk around I get a little

Bit add there with just sitting down for the entirety of the game if I don’t procrastinate during the day and I actually get on my work done in time I am a halftime Walker also I can’t I can’t do it um yeah I I had a fumbled

Question after the next game and I like I was watching it back today to transcribe and I was like oh God what what was that what was I doing with you I get them all right I was going to say I can always tell when you don’t like your question because you

Like start beating yourself up in the moment you right there in front of them you were like what a dumb question he didn’t like that one and then I I made it even worse I mean I I felt like I was speeding up when I listen back I’m like

I don’t sound as nervous as I feel in the moment but like my heart starts racing I’m like why am I afraid to ask these guys a question like these are some of the nicest players in the league so uh but yeah anyway I digress I just

It’s just it’s a different Dynamic for sure and it’s not as easy as people make it seem to be like it’s a lot easier to think of questions when you’re at home on your couch than when you’re there in person and trying to word them the right

Way and not upset anybody my bad ones are like I looked at the stat sheet right then or like I just thought of it and I have it you know put together in my head like what I want to know about I just am like oh you had rebounds talk

Like so I don’t and then it just comes out like like that basically nonsense let’s actually talk about the basketball the Pacers are playing and need to play for their last six games six games it’s so funny I was thinking about this like six games I’m like that feels like six

Games but after their gam tomorrow I’ll go oh my gosh have five games left like that feels like such a big difference uh the big story to be maybe not as big as it could have been was Miles Turner’s finger injury uh from Monday’s game they

Ended up dominating and they were up so big when it happened that it didn’t matter that game specifically but he they were up partially so big because he was having a wonderfully good game especially on defense um in the five blocks 14 minutes nine points he’s playing great and he jammed his finger

On the rim and it was gross and Tyrus Halbert couldn’t look and jarus Walker looked like he just saw somebody like bleeding all over the place it was very funny see their reactions to it uh he is officially listed as questionable for the next round of Pacers Nets Oscar

Sheway is with the matad ants I don’t think that means anything because the Pacers have been willing to go small and it’s a playoff game but either way that is the situation where Miles Turner is at questionable as good it’s his shooting hand and pointer finger that’s

Bad um if he is not able to play Alex what to you is the key to make the impact of his loss as small as possible if you’re the Pacers yeah it’s a good question I mean because obviously he is going to be a big loss I think Jaylen

Smith had a really good game last night before he got ejected 17 and 10 on like seven of 11 shooting so like obviously he can kind of do some things similarly two miles on the offensive End by spreading the floor but it’s going to be a great opportunity for Isaiah Jackson

To get some backup minutes and I feel like this season when we’ve seen ixs get those minutes like maybe there’s a game or two where he’s not played well but even when Smith was out for a while like I Jax’s did a really good job as a

Backup five so I think it’s a really nice luxury the Pacers have there having such a very talented third string Center that’s stayed ready and I know R Carl talked about it today on the radio just like how he how he has done such a great

Job and like this probably his best year in terms of just staying ready at all times and not letting the the the no playing time really affect him so good opportunity for him but you know really the Pacers I think they’re going to have to just be a little bit better

Defensively on the perimeter because miles had five blocks in the first half and if these guys don’t lock in defensively out there as a team you know I I like Jaylen Smith and I know he can block shot same with ixs but you know there’s a reason why miles is the

Franchise leader in blocks is what he does well so I think they’re just gonna have to sh up their perimeter defense and be a little bit more disciplined and not have as much slippage as coach Carlile alluded to after the game yeah you know that like Rick talked about it

Uh pretty heavily like I was pretty surprised after that Nets game not that they had a good second half but he was pretty tonally like down in a way that I was I mean they smoked him they were up by 30 points at times in in the almost

The first half and he was really disappointed with their second half defense and even partially their first half defense because yeah Turner had five blocks with that means he had to block five shots and rotate over be involved in a play that he shouldn’t have had to be involved in so the best

Way to mitigate not having Miles Turner there to get the block is don’t let the player get to the shot that Miles Turner can block and that’s an everybody thing right that’s an Engaged defense which they’ve had more uh especially in March that was April so maybe it’s a different

Team now but and more seriously like if they can do better at that like play defense like they did against the Lakers then that would go a long way into not requiring Jaylen Smith to be a stud on defense but I I think they are rotationally okay right like Jaylen

Smith’s been good this season he’s made his shots every time Isaiah Jackson plays I’m like I can’t just tweet that he’s playing well because that’s all I do he plays just like oh look Isaiah Jackson’s doing good again uh I like I have confidence and I think the pat do

Too that they’ll be good enough it’s it’s more about can they be good enough to offset the loss of Turner right he’s clearly better than both of them and so like sticks was killing it against the Nets because he was crushing the glass six offensive rebounds in that game for

Jayen Smith right he had almost half of all of the Pacers offensive rebounds that’s going to be really important get them extra possessions give them because he’s not as versatile of an offensive player Turner and he is shooting well from three on the season but since the

Allstar break I think he’s below 30% from Deep like he’s just not the same level of Versatility but if he can match production by being a beast on the glass or you know not being needed as much on defense that would go a long way because I we know that their defense with

Jackson can hum it’s can the starters work with Smith and can Canen jayen Smith and Pascal seak replicate some of what Turner yakam have that’s where I think the biggest questions will be no and I think it’s a great point I mean we know like Jaylen Smith has shot the ball

Well this year but like you said not shooting it as well since the allstar break and and really I think ever since he got injured that’s when it’s kind of been downhill for him definitely so some ups and downs there and then if he gets in foul trouble you know Isaiah Jackson

Is also prone to get in foul trouble too so that could cause them to be a little bit smaller Nick Claxton thankfully is not the biggest Center so I think you can kind of figure it out there if you do get in some foul trouble but uh I

Have always kind of wondered how the fit with I Jax and Pascal would be to together more just because we know I think Pascal’s better with a guy that can spread the floor where IX kind of roams the middle and I think that does kind of make things a little bit more

Interesting and I think honestly like that might be part of the reason why you’re not seeing Jackson as much compared to Smith just because Smith has been at least a threat from outside this year and you know they’re different players for sure like totally different

So I I just I kind of wonder how that all all fit in there together but yeah just Turner’s absence is going to be huge because of what he’s done in terms of spreading the floor he’s really been playing a lot better I feel like and scoring in different ways like his hands

Have gotten better this year I feel like to uh taking people off the drive a little bit more too so you know Turner’s just clearly the the better center of the three so just losing a starter like that and someone that Rick Carla always puts in now with the Pacers big three

When he talks about their big three uh when you lose one third of your big three like that’s that’s a significant loss yes he did call them that two games ago I can’t remember now he said it like four or five times now I feel like I’ve

Heard yeah I don’t know why the last one hit me different I just was like oh again um the other factor and I guess the final Factor if there is one is if Turner does play it’s still like you know it’s your second most important finger for shooting on your shooting

Hand like it’s not going to be easy to just whip him up as often as he does in a typical game so uh it’s reasonable to assume I have to shift a lot everybody I’m sorry I’m sitting on the floor it’s reasonable to assume that he could be

Passing it more or just in general look a little different with the way he’s playing on offense if that’s the case I think that having not 85% Miles Turner is better than him not playing at all like that’s the number and you heard the radio this morning where car said

Something the effect of like pain tolerance will be a factor in him actually playing or not going forward but if he does play I think that it it don’t be be surprised if he plays and looks a little different and I think that’s okay they can get enough shots up

With the rest of their starters we’ve seen that all season but that would not stun me I just don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like for Miles Turner is that hiding somewhere else is that screening and always rolling so he’s not a jump shooter maybe that ends

Up working fine and maybe the Net’s Rim defense is just so bad that that’s what they would have done anyway but uh that’s the other Factor here before I get to the other point I want to make about this but what do you think about

That yeah no I think that’s a good point I mean I I kind of feel like he almost needs to sit this game came out just to continue to allow himself to have rest with that finger because you don’t want him to reinjured or anything like that

And maybe push it too much because it didn’t look pretty nasty if you if you saw the picture um reaction says it all if you could find a video of it yeah and honestly like it’s the worst case scenario when you’re up big against

A team that in a game like this like you know it’s like a are you kidding me like the worst things always happen I feel like to the Pacers like injury-wise like just it’s an unnecessary injury like just so Random like that’s not something Turner usually has anything happened to

Him like a finger injury I think this might be like one of the first ones I can recall from Turner’s career where he’s had like a finger injury maybe a wrist injury before but nothing like a dislocated finger so and with it being on a shooting hand like that really does

Impact what he can do and how effective he can be so if he’s playing through the pain like how effective will he be I think that’s something you have to to away heavily but at the same time I you got to win these games and you can’t

Afford to lose games to teams that you’re supposed to beat so I understand why you want him to play but to me it’s like if it’s too much of a risk where it might like reinjured or something like that I would rather him just hold off

And and try to be as healthy as possible for postseason play where it matters more but they’re already going to make the postseason just depends on where they’re going to make it I think that’s obviously a huge Factor too but uh I would rather see him healthy than

Playing you know injured and not being his full self you know full effective self you mentioned the playoffs and ironically that’s like the final stage of what I wanted to get to with this if he can’t play not saying let me be clear I have to be very careful with how I

Phrase this they have to win every game they can’t experiment so I’m not trying to say they should experiment but getting more reps with either Obie at the five or Pascal at the five might not be so bad with the postseason right around the corner because I’m I don’t

Think that will be the first thing like big adjustment the Pacers make like for some teams it’s really obvious the Thunder will bench Josh giddy you know the Bucks will get Patrick more minutes because they need defensive Tennesse like some of this stuff’s obvious I don’t know what the baser like very

Obvious first big lineup adjustment would be in a postseason series or they’re getting their butt kicked but I’ve wondered for a while if it would be SE yakum at the five more or Obie at the five even some and so getting a chance to see that more this late in the season

Could be of value for the Pacers I think yeah no that’s interesting I mean we’ve seen a little bit of seaka and Obi together the Suns game really sticks out to me from when they play they in the first Nets game because they had to but yeah

So I mean yeah that that is something that could be interesting it’s just how much are they going to trust in that lineup and I just I kind of feel like the margin for error is so slim right now that there really isn’t a whole lot

Of adjustments they can really do in my opinion with the lineup they have currently I just if you think about changing anything up I just don’t really know what that would be yeah they they can’t get to just like let’s try something new like that’s too that’s too

Precarious at this stage of the season but uh if they can iron out or or get more reps of they’ve already tried or gone to that maybe will work I I see some value in that to answer the exact question of the lineup we just talked

About with both shakum and top and on uh my Internet isn’t working quick enough here in gamer field house so I can’t tell you the exact minutes but it’s loading so I will tell you the exact number in a second this next segment is brought To Us by our sponsor betterhelp sometimes

We only the opportunity to get something off of our chest big or small certain things can really start to get to you it’s important to let that out especially to someone who is unbiased on your life so today I want to say how I really feel about something you might

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Betterhelp.com lockon MBA foret therapy and you can get 10% off your first month that’s better help hp.com lockon MBA I do want to talk about Obi toppins this was a fitting and intentional transition 40 minutes for the Pacers with those two on the floor together plus 10 awesome offense crummy defense

Shocking the Pacers um okay so Obi toppen I was going back and thinking about segments have done about players recently or the Pacers changes they’ve made or guys who have had you know wavy results and and why I’ve talked about them for that I have not talked about

Obi toppen like at all as a basketball player in the last month and a half and there’s a couple reasons for that I think but that the thing that I want to start with I think one thing they did with him that I probably should have

Talked about more is when they were kind of figuring out their rotation and how they wanted to do sakam with the bench versus Halburn with the bench versus both Stars versus the rare zero Stars how they wanted to do it one of the first things they did was they’d bring

Obi toffen in earlier he he was their first sub often but he was coming in like seven six and a half minutes too in the first quarter sometimes for shakum so they could make the decisions from there whether it was SE yakum with the bench with small guys hurn with the

Bench shakam coming back in for topin right you can see his minutes kind of start fluctuating if you look at his game log in mid March where sometimes it would go down to 14 and then up to 19 and then 24 and then 11 like it just

Would bounce all over the place and so I think it’s been interesting that he’s kind of ping-ponged around in different lineups and still just been like so at this this sounds like a negative but it’s not he’s just met expectations so often that I’m like there’s not a lot to

Talk about here he his splits are exactly what they should be he’s reliable in all these lineups but he was like the first little change I noticed when they’re trying to figure out their groups as a team he just continues to be Rock Solid I think that consistency is

Important for the Pacers and I thought that he could be a guy that as the season went along his minutes could go away granted I thought they that when I thought that originally I thought it’d be jarus playing more and that hasn’t been the case but he’s been so rock Sol

That they can’t afford to not play him he’s been really good for them even since the break very consistent and that’s one thing that’s that’s changed a lot and I think this and one thing that I think too is big is just obviously I think it’s a team

Philosophy type thing because if you look at his numbers like offensive rating defensive rating net rating pre pre poost or pre-all-star break he was a net 0.0 he was 11 18.9 on offense and defense but if you look at his numbers now he’s a 121.9 on offense and then a

18 or 11.8 on defense which makes him a a 10.2 positive net rating when he’s on the floor which is the second highest net rating of any Pacers so so you can kind of feel that when he’s out there like he’s been very impactful and he’s not putting up as many points not

Playing as many minutes as he was previously obviously in a different role but making the most seak took his minutes that’s that’s crazy yeah but I mean even Jaylen Smith did for a little bit there at the end so you know it’s one of those things where he’s really

Adjusted and he’s just fit in well and I you know I talked about this a couple episodes ago on our podcast like is he is he gonna be that guy come the playoffs that has like a a maybe one of those big games obviously you would think Benedict Maan could be of those

Guys that could maybe have a Breakout game had he been healthy you know you always have like your stars get you a game or two maybe but like there’s always that third guy that random guy that kind of goes off and it’s like is that Obi toppen for the Pacers like who

Else is it gonna be him or McConnell something like that so uh he’s shooting the ball well I think that that’s one thing that’s been great as his three-point shooting and how much that’s improved all season long I think it’s maybe dipped a little bit percentage wise since the uh pre-all-star but

They’re also shooting less threes probably too based on how how they’re playing a different style so I I’ve just been really impressed with him probably more so than than I had been previously because there were some times defensively I’m like man Obie’s getting kind of lost here but uh I think that

The second unit has worked well and even when he’s not playing with Ty like because mines with McConnell been pretty good so it’s like he’s just he’s just finding ways to be impactful and not trying to step out of his role with the team and just kind of playing the right

Role and I think that he’s honestly just been a great teammate yeah how far he’s come since that first preseason game where we all like oh man jiren Jackson just just put him in a blunder for for 15 minutes and now you don’t see that stuff kind of happening at all and some

Of that said he’s not going against those guys but you know he’s gotten better throughout this season the thing that has obviously been the most standout thing and the reason he’s exceeded what I thought before the season is right the the talk rightly given his history with him was like

Perfect stylistic fit so athletic can run the Open Floor gonna fit great with Tai he only started with ti for you know two months less than that really yeah yeah the thing that made him such a good fit and better than I thought is the right this the first story I wrote about

Him all season is they kept working with him on slowing down and setting his feet because he would rush it or not be facing the right direction all sorts of stuff and so he’s at 40% still from three this season and that has held up right that’s what I wasn’t sure is this

Gonna hold is this gonna be a weapon for him the whole season since the All-Star break 39.2% from three that sure seems like some consistency and that’s enough now that you it’s it’s been 70 whatever games and he’s also played in every game by the way which I think is something

That should be celebrated for any player but the fact that he’s like it’s a consistent thing makes me think okay my original thought right before the season of maybe he’s the guy that loses minutes and doesn’t play in the postseason that’s not the case like he might be

Important enough that you need to play him in the playoffs because he could be that like guy you said that has a big game like that hu game or Sixers game but also because he can shoot like he can play in any series and can be valuable for their bench I think that’s

Been huge that he’s kept that up since the break on the season his onoff splits are like dead even right right plus 2.55 on Plus 2.13 off like it it’s just this is a rock solid bench player and it’s weird to say that like he isn’t talked about because he’s so consistent and

Like beats expectations all the time but that’s part of it and I think that is noble and now worth discussing yeah and I think one thing too you bring up some of those old games that he had you know good offensive moments but I always go

Back to that Miami game When Ty didn’t play and Bruce Brown I think had 30 points like he was so good on Jimmy Butler yes he was in that game and it’s like okay if he’s capable of doing that can he do that for a game or two in the

Postseason or can he do that for a game or two in the regular season like we’ve obviously seen it once but can you do that again where maybe you need him to play a little bit more uh because someone’s in foul trouble or something like that seak can gets some foul

Trouble can he go in there and provide some minutes but yeah I mean honestly the three-point shooting has been so impressive to me like I I think I was telling Caitlyn like it feels like when he shoots the ball when he’s open it’s going in and I you know that’s that’s

Not something I would have thought I would say about Obby toppen just from watching him play before but like he’s he’s become such a reliable three-point shooter and his floor spacing is huge especially for that second unit and what they’re trying to do because right now you know it’s pretty much the McConnell

Show and I and I think you know you talked about how they were staggering those minutes but it feels like recently they’ve kind of gotten away from that a little bit more and it’s been like a heavy bench unit with maybe n Smith in there as the fifth guy or I mean

Sometimes they even put Andrew nimart in there as the fifth guy and it’s kind of like all right McConnell you kind of run the show and we’ll just play between you and you and Jaylen and or you kick it out to Obie or or Shep’s cutting off

Somebody so you know I I think that that second unit without mathine they’re starting to find their groove a little bit and figure out how everybody kind of fills in and and it’s been really en enjoyable to watch but Obi Topp and I I just feel like he’s such an interesting

Player because at the beginning of the year I wasn’t really sure I liked him I was like H we we got to get an upgrade at Power Forward here if the Pacers really want to be uh you know contenders in the Eastern Conference even though he

Didn’t play bad during their run to the Nason tournament had some big shots there too but I I I definitely think that he’s just kind of found his role and he’s he’s sticking in that Groove and and it’s been really fun to watch it helps not to Stager the Stars when T.J

McConnell’s the best isolation player in the NBA for a month and a half is he still leading the league in drives per minut I mean I mean probably it’s like every touch he makes I wrote about that last year it’s just like he all he does is turn around and get super

Low and like no one can get that low in the leue and they just can’t get in front of I don’t know how you guard him like it’s so fun because it’s like he’s six foot he shouldn’t be doing like what he’s doing and how he’s hitting shots

All the time but it’s just like he he just does it it’s like even the defense knows what’s happening and they just can’t stop it you kind of want to guard it like a big right where you you’re in drop and you don’t lunge at him until he

Gets like eight feet away but now he makes the 10 Foo or 60% of the time you can’t even do that um yeah last note on obi2 I don’t want to sell this short 41 40.1 excuse me percent from three is awesome way above his season average is

Absolutely massive he’s still over 70% from two this season like just everything he’s done offensively has been wonderful hasn’t dropped as his RS changed hasn’t dropped as his minutes have changed if you break out his shooting by Zone over 80% at The Rim that’s a career high 52.2% from three to

10 feet that’s a career high three-o percentage career high doesn’t take bad shots that is the kind of like valuable offensive weapon you have I don’t know what his future is with this team because they have young guys and stars at the four I don’t want to talk about

That right now because it’s in the midst of a push for postseason play but he’s been solid and I and I I need to talk about Obi top and being solid I’m doing a disservice to the team by not yeah and that’s and that’s fair and I was going

To say he is second highest I think post Allstar break in field goal percentage with only Isaiah Jackson being above him and we know that Isaiah Jackson’s 95% of his shots of fields like come at The Rim so I mean 58.6% is is pretty incredible for for Obby toppen and that’s including

His three-point percentage being mixed in there too with his field goal percentage so uh yeah just just really good efficiency for from Obi top and and his true shooting percentage is 69.0 which is second on the team too so that that’s me just like wow he’s just

He’s shooting the ball well right now uh yes five players in the NBA are shooting better than 65% on Tuesday you know who they are you don’t I’m gonna tell you them I did not expect you to know that to be it it is a vit zubach Rudy goar Mo

Vagner Obi toppen and Daniel Gafford those last two toin and Gafford being the only two over 70% it’s a good company to be in with a guy who made what was it 34 shots in a row at one point this season so that’s the level of top ends inside the arc efficiency is

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Purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the code lck Ed NBA for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed last thing I want to get to today Alex this sounds crazy to say and it’s a little let me be clear this is a

Little misleading since the All-Star break the Pacers have not won three games in a row uh technically they won their first two games coming out of the All-Star break and their last game going into the break so that is three games in a row and that is their last three- game

Win streak that’s a month and a half ago now they’re uh before the break they had that one uh at home right before halberton came back which was like a Saving Grace stretch of their season now at their best they had that stretch where they won what was it nine out of

Or 10 out of 11 I think or nine out of 10 from you know late December toly January and they’ve never found that consistency sense tonight probably opponent wise schedule wise their best chance at three in a row key time on the calendar if they win either of their

Games this week it guarantees their game Sunday against the Heat is they they’ll still control their own destiny for six entering that game like this this would be the time to do it so two questions one why don’t you think the basers have been able to stream together three wins

In a row and two is tonight the night is it gonna be is it gonna change I don’t want you to make a game prediction but that that for all the bad teams they’ve struggled with they have done well against the Nets I’ll say that I will

Answer the second part of your question first this is the one of the best opportunities for them to do that like you said the Nets are not a good team right now and if you watch their defense right now yeah just right now well what are they playing for they have

No playoffs to play for they have no draft picks to tank for so they’re kind of like just let’s just go out I predict the Nets to make the playoffs I thought they’d be so good on defense I’m embarrassed terrible yeah I didn’t really know what to think of this Nets

Team but I I will say this the only only thing that I’m a little bit worried about is my co-host will be in the building for the game and the Pacers have not game since like 20120 since he’s when he’s in the in the building so

That’s the only thing that I think is going to kind of maybe be against the Pacers and obviously Turner status I do think has somewhat of an impact but no I I think this is a great opportunity for them to just win three in a row and

Honestly why not win more than three in a row let’s keep the win streak going but uh they part of the reason why I think it’s because they’ve just been so inconsistent as a team shooting wise too that’s that’s a big thing for me like their outside shooting has been so hit

Or miss like we’ve seen a lot of like five for 30 games from this team and you know honestly Tyrese has not strung together a lot of consistent play like if he was consistently what he was before when you talked about like they won like nine out of 10 or something

Like that yeah obviously you feel a lot better about them winning games but he’s been going through these stretches where it’s like okay you had a good game here shooting wise the next game he’s like 413 or 0 of nine from three it’s like hard to win those games when you’re when

You’re best player is not performing as your best player and then Pascal seaka MJ McConnell are kind of carrying the load for this team and hoping that you can just kind of get contributions from everybody else so I think it’s just been a a level of inconsistency from this

Team overall and one thing that I’ve hated he hearing Carly I’ll say is like our level to compete like our compete level wasn’t good enough if if your compete level is not good enough at this point in the season I think that’s a bit worrisome so it’s time to lock in and no

More excuses it’s like you can’t be like oh we just overlooked this this bad team no you can’t do that you can’t Overlook bad teams you got six games left and every game is it really matters and I call this game a must-win uh honestly I

Really do think it is a must win compar looking at the rest of the schedule too I can give you that I mean they only are gonna be playing like Brook Brooklyn might be trying because technically they haven’t been eliminated from the play yet but like come on they only have one

More game against a team that’s fate is sealed for the season it’s the Raptors who actually probably want to lose because they want to finish at least six in the loty every other team’s playing for something at least as of now we’ll see what that means so this could be one

Of their last like their like I said this to Dustin right before their last Nets game like if I’m a player on the Nets we don’t have our draft pick and we’re not gonna make the playoffs like it takes it would take me so this may

Say a lot about me as a person too like it probably takes so little for you to check out in the game right like if you go down 15 the first dra you’re like whatever who cares you know I got I got my contary for next year so I agree with you in

That case but we’ve seen this a lot like exactly this come out of the break beat Detroit beat Dallas nice win over the Mavs Riding High chance to win three in a row Raptors in town yeah F flat on your face not three in a row there then they went two

Straight in Orlando beat OKC come back home playing the Bulls oh three with three seconds to go don’t wait that one either right like every time they’ve had a chance beat Detroit beat Golden State go to LA score to 45 still lose they just haven’t been able to do it and that

That they can’t afford that anymore right they’re at the like five games left after this like that that is the margins are over it’s every game is 20% of your season like they they need to string it together I here’s what I think I said this when I was talking with r b

About why our theories are that the P are such an inconsistent team was that for a while at least their peak of offense was so high and their defense was so low that that just gives you such a wide variant like other teams like that Dallas Sacramento Atlanta have been

Similar in that they have losses and high peaks right now guess what Dallas is defending great and they’ve won a gazillion games in a row when LCA donic plays the reason I think tonight’s the night I make a lot of bad predictions so maybe that’s not a good thing the reason

I think tonight’s the night is because they’re defending better they didn’t play awesome defense in the second half of that Monday’s Nets game R Carl didn’t like that but I think their level of Defense in March specifically what they’ve been getting to on that end of

The floor is enough that if they if they give the requisite level of of effort and energy and they’re ready to go on the road right after this only two more Road games then I think they’ll defend well enough that they will get that third win in a row and guarantee that

Sunday is as epic As It Gets in the NBA one thing I will say the Pacers have been playing better on the road they’ve won six of their last they on the road so hopefully that kind of lets them get a little bit more focused and I don’t

Think what Rick Carlile did was not intentional with his displeasure with their defense in the second half obviously when you’re up by 30 points against a team that you’re really not trying that hard like yeah they were trying whatever but like the Nets were not trying that hard they were pretty

Checked out like you said and you could just tell like it didn’t feel like a very like competitive game at all like even in the second half like yeah the Nets were kind of scrapping a little bit more but still it just didn’t ever feel

Like it was going to get close so I I think that you like Rick Carlile is basically just saying like you guys can’t take your foot off the gas whatsoever like you are not good enough and he kind of alluded to that I think it was against the Lakers after the game

He was like we’re not talented enough to win on Talent alone like we have to win collectively so to me like when I hear him say things like that I think he’s trying to really get across to them like you’re not the Nuggets you’re not you

Know one of these teams that can take your foot off the gas for a second and afford to lose a game like you every game matters and we have to get better every game because if we want to make an impact in the playoffs like there’s no

There’s no margin for there’s no room to screw up and oh I should have been better on that play like yeah you’re G to have mess ups obviously but like you got to hold them accountable you have to hold you know Tyrese to the the last player on the roster Kendall Brown

Accountable when they’re out there on the court because I think that the accountability is going to go a long way and you’ve seen this team grow the last three years since carlile’s been here like his hard coaching style I think is uh it it’s it’s it’s a really positive

Thing to me because I think these guys respond well to it and I think he knows the right buttons to push at the right times it’s just he’s been around long enough that he knows like it’s buckle down time so I’m hoping you’re right their defense needs to continue to stay

Better as it has proven to be better over the last month or so so they’re they’re you know they’re trending in the right direction and I’m hoping that their defense can continue to help them win games because you know their offense you know we we’ve seen their offense

Before and how how Dynamic it can be but you can’t win games like Ric car I said like we’re not playing hot girl basketball all the time anymore we’re we’re playing more we’re playing more of a balanced style and I think that’s uh what what the Pacers really need to do

To to continue to have success third and four nights for the Nets uh their last they were talking about this before the last game Kevin H was which I enjoyed I think their last flight of the Seas season was to and from Indie their last two Road games are against the Knicks

Which is the same city and the Sixers which is a train so uh maybe fatigue kicks in maybe that’s just Pacers copia who knows we’ll see it all happen tonight tomorrow here on locktown Pacers we’ll be talking about that game what happened how they adjusted without

Turner if he didn’t play if he did great how’d he look what did he look any different what does that mean for the rest of their season did they win did they not win and probably the last standings watch of the Season depending on what happens

Next week next week is probably going to be every day because every game’s going to change everything so dramatically and Alex I’m assuming you will cover many similar things where you cover the Pacers why don’t you tell people about that so they can also listen to you and

Your co-host and many guests cover the Indiana Pacers yeah so my Coast will actually be at the game like I said so he will not be joining me for the postgame podcast because it’s a bit of a bit of a haul there for him to get to

The game so uh I’ll be joined by combo from combos Court to to recap the game so a lot of fun I know you guys did a live podcast in Indianapolis when he was here were you guys in Westfield was that where you guys were recording that we

Were on the north side of Indie okay so they were you guys were did a live in in studio podcast during all-star weekend so enjoyed watching that and combos just a funny guy so I’ve been on his show a few different times but he’s going to

Come over to set in the pace and recap this game with me so it’s kind of nice to get an outsider’s opinion of someone that doesn’t cover this team on the norm to kind of get what their thoughts are on this game obviously uh hopefully the

Pacers get a victory like you said but other than that we’ll have that and then I think Chris Ander will be joining us the following night so always enjoy having Chris and Mr 2000 right got 2,000 uh career broadcasting games for pacer sports and entertainment so always enjoy

Having him on the show but yeah it’s a lot a lot of fun a lot of things to talk about and a lot of playoff standings watch I mean that’s pretty much what it is every night uh Tuesday night’s a big night so I’m not sure if you’re gonna be

Able to update that in the intro before it’s too early it’s too early but yeah uh big games tonight between the Knicks and the and then Phil is that right Nick’s heat Nick’s heat Philly’s playing embiid’s back uh the heater starting a three and four nights they play the Sixers later

This week the Magic schedule is not a joke anymore finally so yeah it’s a it’s yeah Philly’s playing OKC tonight that’s right so lot a lot of important games for JB I checked out on that very quickly whatever not interesting yeah well you have Mr 2000 on I would like I

Would like to ask you to ask him about his very very very first broadcast okay because I saw him the night of the 2000 and he was telling me about it and it is a very good story okay he about it I will have to I I assume that would come

Up anyway but it was a good story Christen AR the best um yes listen to setting the pace Alex crushes it over there uh like I said fun stuff coming tomorrow after Pacers Nets one of the last games I won’t be at for the Pacers All Season it will be weird being at

Home but it is what it is thank you all for listening have a wonderful day see you soon

Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner officially has a sprained finger. How will the Pacers have to adjust to his injury? Host Tony East is joined by Alex Golden from Setting The Pace to break it down. They also discuss Obi Toppin and his consistency, a winning streak, the Brooklyn Nets, and more.

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