Pacers in the ECF?! What can the Miami Heat learn? | Five on the Floor

Pacers in the ECF?! What can the Miami Heat learn? | Five on the Floor

welcome latest episode of five on the floor in the five re Sports Network thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app you can find us on Apple podcast also on Spotify and the Five Reasons YouTube channel make sure you check out off the floor that’s our Discord server $22.99 per month I can tell you that thing is never inactive people are always talking heat on there even during the offseason even more than a month away from the draft so check out everything that’s offered there link is right here in the description on the YouTube channel and on the podcast feeds also check out the great sponsors of the five Reon Sports Network I’m telling you to download the autograph app first thing it’s free it’s easy use the code five FIV that’ll guarantee it use the code five again jump on there and you can get all of your REM me heat content in one place you can actually find episodes of five on the floor there I was not aware of that so check it out autograph. or just go to the Apple App 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on the floor here’s today’s floor plan I’m Ethan skullnick you can follow me Ethan J skullnick and at five reason Sports we got Alex too you can follow him at Tropical blanket today’s floor plan it’s actually about another team but what the heat might be able to draw from it the Indiana Pacers the Indiana Pacers to a lot of people were barely a playing team that’s what it looks like prior to this season are now going to the Eastern Conference Finals against the rested Boston Celtics and in my view a lot of this does apply to the Heat and we’ll get into some of the things that we’ve learned here or we think we could learn going forward and that Miami can learn but let’s start with this okay Miami fell behind by about 20 points in Indiana late in the season in a game that we talked about targeting for about three weeks they played no defense at the beginning of that game yes they were banged up and all the rest of it they made a furious comeback they got a couple of bad calls at the end of the game which the NBA actually admitted remember the Tyler hero play uh at the very end of that game the heat heat officials are still talking about that one but the reality was okay if you simply won that game a lot of stuff might have looked different this season because you probably wouldn’t have been in the plan the plan is where Jimmy Butler got hurt Jimmy Butler got getting hurt sunk the whole thing and we’ve talked the whole year we talked the whole year about taking the regular season more seriously and obviously that’s something Pat Riley believes in because this entire press conference was in some way or another about availability they had some guys available in that game it was not enough uh they had a healthy roster actually if you remember mostly healthy roster by that point and so we’re going to be looking at that game for a while because if so the seating is different you never know how other things are going to play out of course the Knicks uh you know look the Bucks fell apart with injuries the Knicks fell apart with injuries that’s something else to take from this it’s not just the heat you got to have a deep roster these days because guys are no matter how much they’re resting during the regular season they’re all getting the playoffs and in the Knicks case Alex uh Tom Tibido maybe that plays into it a little bit although there are some freak things uh with the Knicks as well but there were also some wear injuries that appeared but that’s one of the things I’m taking is that this again as Rocky as the season was as many guys as were out as inconsistent as some of the Heat’s play was and even as they dropped to about a net rating of zero for the season they still had a chance to get to the Eastern Conference Finals if if a couple of things have broken right during the regular season so I I’m just regretting that Pacer game right now during the regular season because we might still be covering basketball yep I mean that game it’s it’s great that you start this off with that because I honestly I wasn’t even thinking about that you know congratulations to them right but it does kind of I feel like fall fall into that line of thinking that the heat like to talk about themselves with when it comes to like you know if things break your way you can be in the Conference Finals you have to feel the competitive team you always got to be about winning and all and that type of message and I think it kind of got confirmed right because it’s like if you would have won a couple of more games if you would have executed better you’re in the same position and now the problem is right it’s like usually when when things break right for one team one or two teams it’s breaking very much the complete other way for you know the other teams involved and unfortunately for the heat like they were one of those teams I mean he even after all of this with all these banged up teams heat were probably just more injured than anybody right like I don’t know if that’s changed just with at the scale that it was where it’s like you weren’t only missing your best player you’re missing a lot of your offense too like it was just you know it’s unfortunate so it you can look at it in the sense of like you know win a couple more games and this could be you back in the Conference Finals versus Boston instead of having to play them in round one the problem is they were just as hurt if not more than other teams but I mean that game is definitely like that’s where it all that’s where it all changed and I think we knew it at the time but now it’s it’s just to a whole other level now that the Pacers are in the freaking Conference Finals like they’re a good team like I know everybody’s G to talk about how they weren’t supposed to be here and all that that’s a good team who traded for an All-Star at the deadline and it worked for them it added you know another half court player who who they can get offense from they’re getting you know pretty good play out of their role players you know Carlile has done it for years they deserve some credit but yeah things BR right for them yeah and look again before the season started um most were not projecting them to be even a second round team and and I think that’s the other thing to be taken even after the seak trade same thing right and if you look at both conferences both teams in uh surprise teams in the Conference Finals made significant moves at the deadline now the heat did too they picked up Terry Rosier their guy was not available okay once you got to the postseason but it wasn’t just cakam on one side it was also uh you know picking up Gafford and PJ Washington for Dallas because without them Dallas is not in the conference final and I would argue their achievement is more significant because they’ve come out of that conference to get to the conference final which again to beat OKC and to beat the Clippers two teams that at various points of the Season you’re talking about a one seed and another team that was kind of a Dark Horse to get to the finals so I think for a lot of Heat fans this is going to confirm the fact that you have to keep changing the roster no matter when um and and I feel like again the Heats counter to that will be what we did we added Terry Rosier we had a position of need we had a Mal content on the roster we needed to upgrade our ability to get to the basket uh make plays offensively when things broke down we got a guy he started to develop into that for us and then he had this I don’t know weird neck injury that nobody can really explain and so he was not available at that time it may not have mattered with Jimmy going out anyway but it’s just it do think for a lot of Heat fans will’ll be like okay you make moves but again it doesn’t necessarily have to be a superstar move in the Indiana case SE yakum is borderline he’s a star he’s not a superstar now he did make his first five shots today um and obviously was a big factor in everything that they’ve done because without him Halle Burton’s decline which was significant after the All-Star game they would not have been able to make up for that but also Alex to look at the rest of the roster though you can see some things and again we can talk about they caught breaks were hurt and all that they are in the Conference Finals there are 13 teams in the Eastern Conference that are done playing the Pacers are one of the two teams still playing that is an achievement okay I judge teams by conference finals okay like to me if you’re in a Conference Finals you are a you’re contending I mean you’re you’re on the doorstep and even if they get blown out for nothing they still okay sign achieve something this year but I mean if you look at their roster like nard was huge for them second round pick 31st overall I believe um you know was like he was playing behind halberton he’s playing with halberton we’ve talked about T.J McConnell what he’s contributed to them Obi toppen who played a big role for them at times this season that was a small trade with the Knicks of all teams um it doesn’t always have to be they made one major room they basically gave up a couple of first round picks right for and a second uh for cakam essentially and and that’s look that’s a major move and people didn’t think necessarily they were ready to make that kind of move they did credit to them for that but this also does show you that The Fringe moves matter um the second round picks matter hitting on some of those guys and then also fit matters and and I think that’s a big thing here as we talk about the Heat going into the off season is that Indiana found a style okay like carile you know came up with a style that was completely different than what he used in Dallas what he’s used for other Indiana teams other Detroit teams he’s coached he rides his guys hard okay not the same way as tibs does but he does and and he came up with a style that was more free flowing more to Burton’s uh you know pacing and all the rest of that and and they improved just enough defensively to to be able to still effective so I think the heat they have to decide what their style is this offseason like what are we playing like are we gonna play slow down with Jimmy are we gonna try to open it up more offensively I think that’s another thing that can be picked up from Indiana I’m not saying that look again they’re a great basketball team I don’t think they are but I do think they’ve maximized what they have uh by at least knowing what their ident identity is yeah I think that’s a that’s a fair point and I think there was you know there was some Growing Pains along the way after the seak thing um where it’s like it wasn’t all just okay perfect you know they’re winning a ton of games and everything looks amazing you know and just looking at some stats I was looking at like their their pre seak and post cakam trade stats and funny enough like they had one of the best transition offensive ratings before the SE yakum trade and it was um much closer to the bottom afterwards so I think like having you know it kind of relates to what we’re talking about here the conflict of styles cuz cakam is very much like a half court type of player who can play kind of slow you know when he has the ball in his hands not very like he it’s not a fast-paced offense when he is um playing his his game out there and I I think it shows that like you know it’s it’s kind of worth it trying to figure some of those things out where like it’s not not everything has to be a perfect fit you know there is upside for things and you know it’s it goes back to just the fundamental like okay we want to build around this thing we want to make this work right and it’s not just giving up on it you know when things get tough and just being like Oh well we’ve seen it right like have you have you gone through all the paths necessary to maximize what you have and you know I think we can have a conversation as far as like whether the heat Hab or haven’t in these past years we didn’t really get to see it this past season like the the theory of the team when after you know all the Acquisitions and so it’s a little bit tough to have the conversation but it’s also tough to just say you know pick a style because you have different types of players and then like SPO mentioned when he accidentally or maybe not so accidentally let out there that they were juggling three offensive philosophies that that’s like you know that that was I know I’ve already mentioned it a bunch of times but that was to me because he he had a hard time balancing it and I think it’s just like you know you these those are The Growing Pains of trying to add like trying to diversify your offense and doing new things and I think like he went through it like a lot of the times in the last couple of Seasons when it’s bam slow down face up like that is not really how the offense looked in the beginning of the Jimmy era you know what I mean like they’ve tried to add these new things they haven’t really you know found a perfect balance but I think like he would tell you this is part of like the process to getting to the other side because if not it would have just kind of been where it was before what was like kind of what what the Sacramento Kings do a lot of like that dribble handoff uh split split action offense and you know playing off of that which is fine too and I think we all like that part of their offense but like they’ve clearly tried to add more layers and I think it sounds nice on paper but when you don’t balance it perfectly you kind of have what the heat had this season especially with all the availability stuff and so that’s like something I’m definitely looking forward to next season to just see like how they you know um approach that well and I think the other thing that will come out of this I mean you mentioned offense specifically is I think that Indiana getting here does speak to the need to lean into offense more I I you know you know Boston was historically good offensively for good portions of the season now they’re playing another good offensive team uh in in the Eastern Conference Finals and and you know look Riley harped on the 21st rank offense he said it several times during his press conference it has to be a focus this off season to just be a more pleasing style of ball I mean Indiana came out today look you’re not going to shoot the ball like that anytime okay particularly in a game seven on the road but they were shooting 80% from the field like through the first like quarter and a half of that game um Miami had like one game like that the whole year that was that game two in Boston which was you know it which again is going to look back as somewhat fluky if in in retrospect it was kind of a great achievement that they got that one game but they have to lean into offense a little bit more I think it’s clear at this point we know the way that the Nuggets can play offensively and we’re doing this episode prior to Minnesota and Nuggets playing Minnesota is better defensively than Denver so it’s a little bit of a different style but I just it’s so hard the Pacers are so built towards offense and like you know they they they are they are but they’re not complete cones on defense in the playoffs like it’s not like you know everybody is just doing whatever they want they’re still not an elite defense but like I think it lends to the idea where like if you have this great fantastic offense where you have so many levers you can pull and it’s mostly reliable and mostly potent you know then the defense just needs to be good enough and I feel like that’s kind of like what happened with the Nuggets too except I think their defense last year and this year even is better than that Pacers defense for sure but I think that is the style that you’re talking about and I don’t think the heat fit into that style with the way the team is built you know so like it’s just so much easier said than done you know like it’s he he’s trying all these different things but like none of them are you know like that great options well and the reality is it honestly are like number one in in offensive rating number one or number two in half court offensive rating like that’s an elite offensive team but as long as in my view as long as Jimmy and Bam are your top two offensive options you’re not going to be a top 12 offense I I just don’t think at this stage and we’ve talked about it many times you probably will be a top 12 defense uh but you’re probably not going to be a top 12 offense and the question is who do you add as the other pieces to get you there and what is where does the usage go for the two of them and what is the style that you’re going to play and I know that Heat fans are going to say it’s simple just go get Donovan Mitchell maybe maybe so maybe so okay but I’m saying like it’s as currently constructed it is going to be a damn challenge available or not to create that kind of offense um but they have to be better I think we all agree about that all right speaking of things uh that can be better my prize picks today but that’s okay there’s always another game uh go to priz picks.com use the code 5 FIV get that initial deposit matched up to $100 is legal again in the State of Florida that’s right it’s legal again their new Arena game set your lineup anywhere between two and four players it’s like a power play you get them all right you win big that’s how this works now so priz picks.com Google Play Store the Apple App Store use the code five we also recommend better Edge we know that some of you may bet with another partner here in the State of Florida we recommend this one why there’s no Vig that means you’re not just giving away money to somebody for nothing and also it’s a Marketplace you can find the line that you want so go to better edge.com that’s with an ow in in it better edge.com use the code 5 RS that’s the number five RSN and you’ll get $20 to play and again we’re going to have a Conference Finals uh which all four of us are going to enter this time a Conference Finals uh basically prop attorney there uh various things that could go on there in terms of uh uh you know how many games one of the team’s going to win and etc etc we’ll have a contest and we’re going to do a giveaway Rel to that so look for that over the next 24 hours I’ll put it up on the five reasons Twitter page so I’ll just ask this question uh before we close Indiana um you know we talked before the season okay what are the teams that are kind of T you know in that upper class right so in the East not that it’s a big one right so Boston we knew Milwaukee we figured although I had some reservations about their defense that proved true even before the injuries New York we thought would be competitive but probably Philadelphia might be better embiid’s injury played into that they obviously had some turmoil moving off of hardan things changed there uh I I think we thought Orlando would be better I don’t think we thought they’d be in a 4 five game and then Cleveland uh was one of those teams again depending on fit which it seems to have a lot to do with them uh you know might be in the mix there but that Miami was kind of in that tier with Cleveland maybe even ahead of Orlando maybe a little ahead of Indiana uh maybe sort of you know right behind Boston Milwaukee Philly kind of On The Fringe of that I think that’s where and with New York that’s kind of where most people had them has something significantly changed before we go the offseason because there’s going to be player movement but now you’ve got a team that was not considered to be in the first tier or even the second tier that’s in the Conference Finals right embiid’s Health going forward always G to be an issue magic com Randall the magic are coming Cleveland might lose Mitchell or they might move off of Mitchell um if if he if that’s his inclination you want to talk about might what Cleveland might do there’s I know we haven’t really talked about this possibility and I don’t want to like you know be the buzz kill be the Debbie Downer raw heat Fest but there is a scenario with all this Garland smoke where they like flip him for a different star you know and and instead it’s just Cleveland with a different look coming in which would of course you know kill all of our spirits but I think you know that’s possible too since you asked about like what can change like got if they flip like Garland for Ingram maybe I don’t know if that would make sense for both teams but like something like that right like right teams willing like certain stars that rebalance the roster a little bit because Mitchell and Garland are both so ball dominant no that makes sense I mean I think even Jared is they want to move him I don’t know I I mean here’s the thing if Indiana somehow upsets Boston to go to the finals and they are going to be a historic Conference Finals Underdog like they are going to be I mean we we talked about what the heat were an underdog against them even when L healthier I think Indiana may be equal to that in terms of Underdog against the rested Boston team now particularly at the level they’re at in the playoffs now where everybody’s going to expect I mean every look 18 different including our friends uh George and Izzy 18 different ESPN employees picked the Knicks to beat the Pacers nobody picked the Pacers so this is gonna be another eight I know that no at least Izzy went P nickon seven this is gonna be a clean sweep okay everybody is g to pick Boston so I don’t think anybody’s really taking the Pacers all that seriously but with that said if they got two or three games in this series then you would start to talk about them okay this is a team on the rise has has gotten some playoff grits some playoff experience they’ve been really good at home okay and now they just went into game seven and I know bought I know the Knicks are beat up but they won a game seven in New York that’s not easy regardless I I you know we’re gonna start talking about them in that tier and they may add I mean I know they’ve given up picks but they now that they sort of have a build here they’ve got some interesting young players uh n Smith was a pretty good pickup for them I mentioned toppen uh nart you know has some ability there that they played off of him so and they had they never traded Miles Turner all these years it was oh they’re trade miles Turner they still have Miles Turner there so I I just think if you’re Miami okay if you don’t make a major move uh I don’t know that they’re going to be considered in that second tier necessarily behind let’s say Boston they may be considered to be again we’ll see what happens with Dame and Milwaukee but and the Bucks have limited flexibility but we see what they do I I I think we have to at least put this in the context like this is not a great conference that’s one of the reasons Indiana could make the conference final um but there are a lot of competitive teams there and if Miami does nothing then Heat fans are going to be like okay we’re falling behind even further Indiana as you said is the youngest they’re the youngest team in the league right now that or Greg said that on playback the youngest team in the league wow and and yeah I mean the it really speaks to the parody in the league now and I know it’s still kind of unbalance because everybody knows the West is still stronger because both conferences when you look at it are deep with competitive teams like you said but like most of the the real best teams are in the west the thing is there still plenty of good teams in the East just not like amazing and so Boston looks like fantastic and racks up this nice regular season standings I mean record because of this but no uh not to take shots at Boston uh go Pacers but I do think just like looking at the way this all turned out it it it’s a shame man it’s a shame it could have been the heat right back and it could have been us you know watching the Heat lose to Boston at home and watching them win in Boston another year and instead you know we they they got the short end of the stick this time I I think I I think people are still going to throw them into that category of like the the second tier East team next season because of the benefit of the doubt and I guess because we never really got to see how they were supposed to look right and I think that that you know with Terry and and with hakz and yic involved you know Tyler in the mix is like a third or fourth option we just didn’t get to see that and I know like a lot of people are going to roll their eyes when they hear me say that it’s just true like I’m not saying that that team wins a title but like it’s it’s true but they are going to roll their eyes I mean I and and I and I and I if the heat are going to try to sell that again they can’t do nothing doing nothing mean you likely let like a couple guys walk replace some better minimum guys you know you draft somebody right that’s the do nothing scenario for for Heat fans um there has to be there has to be an in between between giving up everything from the Star which again you may not get him anyway uh particularly because there’s not really that many available and they all seem to have extenda circumstances involved with them or doing nothing like and and so it’s it’s this striking this balance of not doing too much for the wrong guy but but something has to be done like they they can’t come back like you said with just okay Caleb’s gone maybe Haywood’s gone we don’t even I don’t even know we’re going to bring major passing on I don’t feel like they have as many guys in the pipeline as they’ve had um particularly up front it seems a little bit thin doesn’t mean they can’t locate a guy or they haven’t targeted A Guy Ales Williams is really the only one that kind of intrigues me honestly I don’t know if Sider can fill a Duncan Robinson role I don’t know if he’s ever going to be a good enough Defender seems like the Kane thing is sailed the Orlando Robinson thing is kind of sailed like I I don’t know you know where they’re at with it like who’s next in that like we we’ve gone into previous offseasons like just AES Williams is the one and I’m curious to see how some of some of it seems to be out athleticism and all this and bounce that he’s got and uh I want to see how that translates at the next level uh which when he gets consistent minutes which he hasn’t gotten yet so I I I think that again they have to do something more than just it doesn’t mean they have to overpay these guys like KB Etc but it just means they have to do something more than like you said just replace them with minimums or they got to really hit on the minimums and and it’s funny because the one of the biggest minimum success stories of this entire postseason is DJJ is Derrick Jones Jr and I’m not arguing that the heat should have kept him he was 9 million a year at the time they let him go to Portland we can we we’ll do another pot on that and maybe during the next series but I’m just say like you’ve got a hit on one or two of those probably like Philly hit on friend athletic Wing who who plays defense you know I know you like him Greg does too I defense he was good at that he good in the zone I know well he’s only 27 too so maybe you’ll have another chance in him someday but it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna get paid this offseason he could be he could be um on the on the B retirement T not this year no not this year not on not on the money he’s going to make that that is that is gone but I just say they have to hit on some minimums um nobody was really AR well you might have been I was not arguing for them to keep DJJ at that price at that time I’m not gonna say like I really wanted him I like him though I liked him too but then my whole thing was was he going to hit Corner threes because that that was a necessity and like he he and now the last three games all of a sudden you know he’s a sniper and I and they have guys that generate like that are just you know they generate more gravity on the court and I know it’s another word that people are going to roll their eyes at but like just guys who demand a lot of attention if you want to put it a different way he don’t have a Luca on offense okay basically or a Lua go get go find yourself go find the Luca Andy ellisburg Pat Riley Adam Simon that’s it simple as that go find theca um they got a yich we’ll see how that goes all right that’s it for us for today check out our sponsors download the autograph app use the code five use the code five for prize picks all again spelled out and then better Edge use the code five RSN and look for our next contest have a good one everybody thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the fire reing Sports Network after all someone needs to listen to my dad

Few saw this coming, even last week. The Indiana Pacers, deemed a third tier team in the East prior to the NBA season, are in the conference finals after beating the beat-up Knicks. Does this mean the Heat are close? Or far? And what about that late season loss? Ethan and Alex lament, and project.

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