What the Indiana Pacers learned in their playoff run and what they can improve on in the future

What the Indiana Pacers learned in their playoff run and what they can improve on in the future

what did we learn about the Pacers in this playoff run what went well what went poorly what players proved they can shine in this setting which ones didn’t what do the Pacers need to be better at is their identity good plus some little stuff Jay rigdon’s gonna join us to break it all down today on the lock on 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 lock on Pacers podcast where 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 we move into offseason mode kind of we gotta finish talking about the playoffs and what the Pacers learned from their first experience there with this era of Team how Tyrese Halbert and his style his abilities fit into this setting the Pacers Pace Contin to be a weapon what do they need to tweak if anything on the offensive end where they really need to grow especially defensively and what players really showed that their style does or does not fit in a postseason setting Jay Rigden and I team up to break down all of that we run through lots of the series lots of the little nuances that Define this PLS what the Pacers learned from it and how they can apply it going forward what it’s all about lots of fun discussion here tomorrow we finally dig into the off season we got to talk to GM Chad Buchanan EG interviews uh Tuesday I was part part of that interview so I can give you some insights from that tomorrow and then run that into an offseason preview the most important things you need to know about the Pacers in the offseason so it’s all coming here unlocked on Pacers this week but for now let’s just get right to it with Jay R the playoffs are done the killer guests talking about the playoffs are not done Jay Rigden is here to break down more Pacers playoff Hoops it’s over but something Jay that I said before the postseason that I thought was valuable even just under the Crux and when I said this it was Giannis Miss games with the Cav inury of they get more playoff games if he misses more games and that was important because the Pacers could then evaluate more of what their team is in a playoff setting and then they beat the Bucks and then they also beat the Knicks and they got four games against the Celtics so that leads to 17 games of playoff evaluation nearly a fourth of an entire NBA season that’s a lot that’s very valuable big picture before we get into any like nitty-gritty lessons learned all sorts of that kind of stuff which is is as it gets for young Pacers team how valuable do you think it is just to have that information for a team because you know it’s always talked about how the playoffs reveal all in terms of a team building plan like you know the old Pacers teams look great in the regular season and then then never win a series it was clear that that group didn’t have it like how much does that mean to you to get 17 games of oh this team might be better in this setting yeah I mean if you think about it like obviously I I would probably equate it to almost getting like a half of another regular season just because it’s 17 games but it’s 17 games against the best other teams possible and it’s 17 games of your team going all out doing everything possible trying to win every single game and it’s heightened pressure it’s heightened everything I kind of like think that counts for more and so I think that’s another that’s a that’s a huge data point I think to have for the front office and the team going forward and you’re playing Stars every night right so it’s like the heightened version of like what defense requires and what you have to do to score against these kind of teams and like oh the Knicks have a great defense and rebounding scheme let’s do this instead like that all matters a great deal to learn how your players even respond to those kind of adjustments and that was a Pacer superpower during the regular season even in the middle of one game but to see it over a series how Carlile and halberton and COA can adjust to what a team is throwing at them I think gives me at least confidence that that tandem point guard and Coach combo can work well together in that setting and they have a base to build off of there were obviously a lot of not great stuff uh end of games did not go well but in general I think a positive was where I would start and so to get this conversation going when I was thinking about how I would T do playoff takeaways when the season ended the place that I wanted to start and the question a lot of people have is and this was how people talked about the thunder all season right oh the Thunder the one seed in the west but they’re young what are they gonna look like when the playoffs start what players you’re gonna be good in playoff basketball what ones are well that also applies to the Pacers because they have a lot of young guys who this was their first playoffs Isaiah Jackson Tyrese halberton why did I start with Isaiah Jackson Isaiah Jackson tyres halberton Andrew nard um I’m definitely missing on Ben Shepard um jarus Walker obviously although he didn’t play that much this our first postseason right so you’re learning a lot of them who to you I mean we could talk about a lot of guys in general but the question of who isn’t isn’t a playoff performer did anyone make you walk from the postseason and go no the way they play makes them totally not as viable in the playoffs as they are in the regular season or did you feel like everybody kind of passed that limus test yeah I think so maybe the possible exception of Jaylen Smith who started early in the bucks then but those also yeah I he also just didn’t have a place to play too so like I mean I’m not saying Jaylen Smith is an ineffective player I think it just kind of worked out against him there how circumstances went but I no I think other than that I think everyone who played kind of showed up and I mean you know a guy like d MC German has limitations but we already knew that anyway so like I don’t think we really learned it like I don’t think anybody can be written off based on this run at all for sure I agree the thing with MC durit I don’t know if you this is where you are with him but like he’s bar the rotation the regular season like I’m not expecting him to be better you know in the yeah this is we’re talking Fringe here it’s guy on a roster like yeah absolutely so and so in general the guys that I would classify as specialists in the NBA right and mcder I would put in that category of like they have one thing that they’re incredibly good at and then a lot of stuff that they’re okay at or not very good at those are the kind of guys in the playoffs typically level down because it’s easier to cut off that one thing and so that’s why in game like I hate to use mcder as my example for all this stuff but in game in game four two nights ago he had three assists and like made some defensive stops like okay all of a sudden this guy that’s providing spacing is giving you something and that happened earlier in the series room too and like when Obi toppen is making mid-range shots or doing a little more than just being this highflying athletic finisher or he’s hitting the glass or he has some nice defensive moments like he’s not a specialist like evolving from that I think is where this starts for me and so sticks you know he was good at a lot of stuff and a lot of those kind of faded away where he couldn’t have any sort of Poston impact he I would agree with you that he was the guy that I thought man he didn’t have it in this playoffs and Isaiah Jackson in part by hitting shots in the paint better but also being more focused on defense did that was the only one to me that really was like he kind of shrunk in the moment because everyone else really like their game translated I think that matters a great deal for the Pacers in terms of their confidence in building this team or building out from a halberton core going forward yeah I agree I think um some players too should like mcconell was more effective in this postseason too I think has been yeah and so I think that’s the kind of thing where there were still kind of like some lingering well all right but is this really going to translate as well as it and I think it just showed that his game right now is just at a place that hasn’t been before like and he can kind of he can be counted on to provide minutes like that in ways that he wasn’t in past postseasons so yeah I think it all kind of worked out that way well I’ll get to hurn in a second because I think he’s the most important one of this but he kind of sets their style right and the fact that Miles Turner and Turner was good against the Heat in that 2020 series but bam was better so it kind of gets clouded but Turner didn’t have like a rich playoff history at all but the fact that on this team where he fits better better than he’s fit on any team he’s played on before and he he went out bad in the playoffs he would even admit that he got hurt he did not play well in the last couple games of the postseason but had a good playoffs and clearly was very like they probably don’t beat the bucks without him and like was clearly very impactful in the nick series at times like to have his best postseason shows that he can be a valuable playoff player now that his offensive games are fine and same with T.J McConnell who peaked at 32 somehow and like continued to do that in the postseason what’s an anti-p specialist like this guy’s not athletic he can’t make threes and he’s like oh he’s the play on the floor half the time and it works right like every player made sense and and had a role that they expected to or needed to so it wasn’t just limited to young players and I think halberton setting a style and that’s less true for McConnell because they don’t play together as much but that’s a big part of it is that that style was so effective and getting open shots for everybody yeah absolutely that’s it carried a lot over from what they were able to do in the regular season in ways that I think people were either not necessarily suspicious though but you know you have to see it until it happens you can’t really know that it’s gonna work and I think that was a big for how they did what they actually managed to do and that’s why I think Tai is the the one right let’s like he had a pretty good postseason me I’d give him like a B I don’t know what where i’ not an A but not you know it wasn’t average um he is their identity right they play fast and play this dazzling transition pass heavy style because he can do all those things and set a Tempo and get everyone involved to make everyone have fun and touch the ball and it’s just great and that style is awesome and the common Trope forever is the game slows down in the playoffs and the Pacers all playoffs said like well we don’t want to play like that we don’t care what what the common Trope is which is funny they say that and I don’t mean this to like get him with a gotcha but I remember at the 2023 Lottery we’re talking to tyres halberton about hey what what you know what is next for this team and he talked about making the playoffs and I said if if the playoffs are next and you’re watching this right now what do you seeing that this team needs to get better at to succeed if you make it there and he said well these teams have offense is great right and it’s like that’s it’s it’s not different from playing fast you can play fast in the half court but it was kind of like to me sounded like the antithesis of what they were at the time and then they hit the postseason and halberton and their style of playing fast and playing with depth worked just fine like they could play their bench unit and succeed halberton could set a Tempo that was like so fast and random that even if you scouted it you weren’t ready for some stuff or like guys were getting open and the Pacers are willing to let anyone who on the floor shoot the fact that that style can succeed really does help give you a base of like what you can need going forward as anyone who can fit in that style it doesn’t have to be a certain type of player they need and you know Halburn specifically great we don’t have to tweak how he plays if we the Pacers because we have to slow things down like he can just run this show he specifically was the one that mattered the most that that style and Tempo could translate and I don’t know if you agree with my letter grade for his postseason but I think that would be to me if I’m looking at who did and who didn’t of the Pacers postseason the most important one that they walk away with yeah absolutely I think the fact that I I probably would maybe be a little higher on the letter grade scale but that’s just factoring in factoring in health and what I assume he was probably playing through at different points I know it’s it’s it’s it’s a trap to kind of get into like well every bad game he’s hurt and every good game he’s just good so you don’t want you don’t want to fall into that that TR perfect player yeah exactly um but I do think I don’t I think when you look at what he was able to accomplish and like you know uh hitting the gamewinner in Milwaukee or against Milwaukee and then kind of just like propelling them through that Nick series the game seven he put up in the garden and I think obviously how it ended against the Celtics is tough like that game one ending and then getting hurt like I can’t imagine it’s as freshing as this for fans I can’t imagine that he is feeling great about how that went that’s to end his season um yeah and his the the reason I went with B is cuz he had three games where he was like yeah I sucked like I didn’t play the way I wanted and he had two games that were bad enough on defense that I asked him about his defense were like most of the time his bad defensive games are like that was the level I expected bad and those two were a little worse than that but you you are right that he was in general very good yeah and I think he he did like they don’t they they made the Conference Finals and I think because of him in large part and I think you can see also when he went out against Boston nard played amazing basketball but the offense as a whole like the open shot quantities like the shot quality they were getting like it’s still not the same without him like you really got a good sense of what he does even when he’s not you know when he’s being keyed on and what he’s able to do there uh but regardless yeah I think just that he got in there and what he does works and I think early just kind of the culture and environment that he Fosters on the court too kind of transcends him at this point almost like you know he goes out and nard they’re still like M durman’s making touch passes Miles Turner is making touch passes and like not always great but it’s still they’re still trying and I do think his absence as well was felt at the end of both those last the games where nard kind of pushes a little more maybe in they should have like final possessions game four the last one in game three um halberton he wants to play fast but I I don’t think he would typically push faster than is necessary in those moments I think he would you know if he doesn’t see an advantage he’s not going to try to force something hopefully um I think he would be more willing to slow that down and so I think yeah for him like getting into the postseason getting a first run and having it be as deep as it was like I mean if it had been like you know five or six games and out against Milwaukee like I don’t think we really have as good of a picture of what he can do in a post especially if he played poorly but like he rebounded from that first game of the postseason he got a lot of good data points and we saw him succeed in two big moments and we also got a sense of I think what he needs to work on going forward and where I think it could translate but I think as a whole like it’s hard to look in terms of like how the Pacers play and whether that translates and what they’re trying to do in their identity which is probably going to be the same next year given the roster is probably not GNA change very much yes um like I think that’s I think it’s hard to come away as anything other than like happy with how that went if I’m going to nitpick the Pacers postseason a little bit I will say that things that I found the Pacers I walk away like very much at least talking about having a meeting about but not changing my plans about Obie’s defense especially in the Boston series where they just have no holes ever on the floor offensively I mean in the in down the stretch of game four they were just like yep we’re going at that guy every time like it doesn’t matter if we have a six inch height negative Advantage disadvantage that’s the word we’re going at him and it worked very well for them I think that was you know there there were places to put him in earlier series that made him more effective on the defensive end that weren’t there there and not every team’s the Celtics but nothing thing to think about and then two wings um Aaron n Smith and Ben Shepard didn’t have the offensive Shepard shot well early in the postseason so maybe I’m being too harsh there but didn’t shoot it as well and didn’t have the offensive impact they they both probably hoped to have I don’t think they like maybe I’m just over indexing on missing threes but if I’m if I’m talking about every player those are the the minuses I would put in there hey guys short little break here so we can talk about game time which makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier among many different places of tickets prices on the game time M actually go down the closer gets a tip off with killer last minut deals all in prices views from your SE and 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lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and use the code lck Ed NBA for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed I would like to transition to question two here for my postseason from the Pacers analysis Ben matheran didn’t play big bummer the biggest the one of the bigger evaluation things that they don’t get now from this postseason um finally enough the first team they played in the playoffs is a team he would have helped tremendously against uh the last team they played in the playoffs I don’t think he would have helped as much against so we didn’t get that evaluation what what do you feel like they miss without that and how much do you feel like he would have helped specifically in this playoffs yeah I think I think he would have helped a lot just in general I think that like the athleticism he brings Off the Bench and I think we also saw especially like I think I don’t know that he would have like swung the series against Boston but I think once Halburn went down just having someone else shot making threat and can can handle usage in that way would have been helpful um I think also we saw like when we saw the games that se yakum had I think this is kind of what the Pacers maybe could like what Ma what I kind of Imagine mine’s playoff uh contributions to be where like sometimes if the off like there’s four seconds left on the shot clock and the guy just has to make something happen and I think other than seak like Maan is kind of one of maybe the only guy like nimart as well I guess yeah and Halton does at that level but like I think it’s it’s still like one that’s a rare skill to have and it’s an important one and I think you know watch it’s I think that’s where he would have been big in some of those ways but a lot of their turnovers were early clock in the game they had a bunch of turnovers but also a lot of their turnovers throughout the postseason were those situations you described late in the clock and they can’t get it to one of those guys or there’s not enough of them out there then madin is very helpful like he the Bucks perimeter defense stinks like he torched that team All Season he absolutely helped in that series like no doubt in my mind the Knicks is kind of in the middle they have some flimsy perimeter Defenders and his defense I think could have helped because our guards aren’t big the Celtics it this isn’t a maing problem this is the Celtics are a matchup nightmare for everybody problem I don’t know how much he’s helping in that series but you know for like for the Pacers specifically zooming all the way out it would have been nice to evaluate him like period no matter who their opponents are I think the path they had he would have helped and they won the two two series anyway uh but it would have been nice I think to see him I don’t have a ton of like takes on this I just I really wanted to bring him up because he I mean jarus is a rookie I I don’t have as many questions about what they needed to do with him in the postseason but I think specifically like one of my biggest storylines before the season was like what’s the ma and Halbert and paing look like and obviously a lot changed for them this season but we didn’t get to see it as much as we all thought during the regular season and then again in the postseason because he didn’t play at all so I wanted I wanted to dive into it a little bit yeah absolutely I think that is that is unfortunate that we missed out on that um I think seeing his like even just having like someone else who can dribble Off the Bench like I think Ben Shepard was really important defensively he he flashed a couple different games but he wasn’t exactly he a lot of his shots I felt like were like wide open or open shots that he took and made and obviously he’s big in transition he had some good finishes around the rim too but I think just seeing seeing ma in that role or like you know games where neith is in foul trouble and you needs someone else out there who’s you know mildly long and can still not crush your offense like and do things like that I think would have been would have been great to see and he’s also just Maan also is like I would classify as a Fearless type player um he’s going to go out there like I think the Pacers didn’t actually lose a ton of close games until the Boston series like they either kind of won like they had like one game against Milwaukee or they kind of just didn’t show up and like I think his love being able to like go to like someone like Maan Off the Bench in a game where the offense is kind of like stag like a game one against Milwaukee or like game five against the Knicks where everyone kind of seems a little rattled or shaken like he’s gonna I feel like Maan is gonna come in and do Ben Maan things um and that’s For Better or Worse sometimes but sometimes that’s what you just have to have and I think that would have been a good thing to be able to see how effective it was and I think it would have been helpful for him too to see where he needs to develop this offseason and what he needs to Target and focus on I agree uh let’s go to the Pacers style this was we already alluded to this a little bit with the Halbert discussion but the question is how much are they going to slow down if at all should they slow down can they play their style can they play their depth are they gonna have to shorten the rotation is McConnell not gonna play as topag play we already talked about that part of it but final numbers are in for them because they’re out uh as of their elimination let let me talk about the misleading numbers and then get into the real juice just so everybody can hear it you’re going to hear this number a lot they finished sixth of all the postseason teams in Pace Pace specifically as nba.com tracks it is a raw possessions per game total which is relevant because it includes your defensive possessions and they played against the Bucks who finished 11th in postseason Pace the Celtics who were 12th and the Knicks who were 13th they played three slower teams so that drags down their raw pace and they were still sixth in postseason pace I bring all that up to say the great people over at PBP stats do have seconds per possession in terms of offensive tracking and actual numbers and you will never guess this the Pacers were second in Pace if you do it that way they were able to play Fast uh off of their Pace off of made field goals was first by over half a second per possession their Pace off of missed field goals was also among the fastest in the postseason especially when those misses came at The Rim so I think that they showed that despite the conventional wisdom being you can’t play like that in the playoffs the game slows down it gets into a half court they said no no we’re gonna play fast and their points per possession off of Miss shots led the postseason by a lot and that shows a lot to me that they can still be the for sorry for the pun they can still be the Pacers and play that way in the playoffs especially if halton’s on the team I think that’s noteworthy I’m going to have to personally I think everybody is going to G to have to shift how they approach that sort of thinking because of this team yeah absolutely I think it actually was a big element in wearing down their opponents in the first two rounds too where I think that actually ended up being a competitive advantage in more than one way um and then I think they also got when they got into the Celtics series I think it was interesting watching the Celtics kind of do Pacers things to the Pacers a few times in terms of like leak outs and getting out in transition and getting easy buckets that way and it was kind of like the PAC like oh wait a like other teams can do this too like we don’t really have this isn’t something we’re used to um and so I think that also kind of demonstrates the effectiveness I think the key to what the Pacers do I think is that they push and look early but they don’t force things typically and so what that ends up doing is they kind of get like one or two more looks within a shot clock possession that other teams wouldn’t get and so I think that’s where the advantage comes in it’s like being smart about what they’re actually doing and understanding that they’re trying to push to create good shots not trying to push just for the sake of pushing and so I think all of that works together in ways and it makes sense like if you have good Shooters you have talented offensive players you’re going to get better looks different times and they don’t play selfishly no one’s really a selfish player on the team and I think all of that kind of just works together really well yeah I don’t this is obviously like a retrospect thought that doesn’t count for anything but I do Wonder specifically against the Knicks who were so thin if just running like against that kind of team that’s playing all their guys 48 minutes ended up adding to the war of attrition in any meaningful way because already that team was like oh we’re playing 48 minutes like there’s only six of us like this is already hard and now we have to Sprint like every two seconds all of a sudden like I think the style helps them in that there’s no way it hurt them right it can’t have been a negative so I wonder how much it helped and literally every scenario I have now read through every single category of pace that are lovely play-by-play stats friend offer they’re in the top seven at least and usually top four in Pace out of every scenario right so they found a way to run and do the things you said and I that you nailed why I think it’s important for them because then they can hunt for a second shot and that doesn’t mean off an offensive rebound that means literally turning down a shot and going to another one and when play like Nate McMillan who wanted to turn down good shots for great shots well your pace is slow so you only get a c few chances of that the Pacers get a bunch so I think what look it was one playoffs but it was 17 games that’s a big sample that’s enough for me to believe personally that this is a thing that can work and I know I’m I’m rehashing the same points that I just made but I think the Pacers have to feel good about that because there is a world where they come in and uh they go uh oh we got to find a way to slow down and that’s going to require a mentality change a Personnel change all sorts of stuff yeah I think like I don’t want to like uh when when the Kings made the playoffs last season I think this was also brought up as a debate point and then they ended up not advancing I know they played okay and they played pretty well but they still weren’t able to get to a lot of things they got to in the regular season yes I never felt that the Pacers faced that especially when halberton was like healthy and on the floor and like playing well like when he was himself I don’t feel like I think you can see the vision of what why why they put the team together the way they did and why that’s it’s probably going to stay mostly together through this off seon and you can see that there’s like both like a pretty high floor for it just based on the offensive Talent they have and I think still some ceiling that could be unlocked either with like internal development or better health or just like more time with SE yakum in the system and just kind of getting everything that together so I think I think I came away very very pleased as a fan my final actual question about the team in the Poston was what did work and what didn’t and I mean that to said we know their style worked and that’s great uh they still got swept and and were on the brink of losing in the second round they have got to guard better like it it listen what the Pacers their defense isn’t good you know duh but they survived they were able to keep up offensively with lots of teams they’re a better defensive team now than they were five months ago they it still isn’t good enough they they could not keep up with the Celtics at all and it’s just one team but you know the the Knicks put up huge numbers when they were healthy like the Bucks had a couple games where they were lights out like they have got to that is the thing that they have to think about with their if they’re going to add to this team they have got to guard better in the postseason because they were I all CTIC series I kept saying this any adjustment they make cannot sacrifice offense because they just lose because they have to keep up and they that’s reality because they couldn’t get any stops and in game four they did and they still lost but they have to to me what did not work is their personnel and scheme combo was not enough at all in the postseason defensively and they have to be better in that way they leave the playoffs with the 13th best defensive rating the three teams below them uh the Bucks which lost to the Pacers and their amazing offense the Knicks who lost to the Pacers and their amazing offense and the Suns who had the saddest first round series ever against the Minnesota Timberwolves so of the teams that actually had a good postseason and madeit it far worst defense right like the other remaining teams Timberwolves fifth defensive rating Celtics third in the postseason and I can’t find the Dallas the eighth rated Dallas Maverick so they just have to have to have to find a way to guard better yeah it was too inconsistent throughout um and I I agree with you that it is it is the key for them like they they can’t risk hurting themselves on offense like you said because that was their only chance of competing with teams like like Boston like they’re gonna have to be able to score and it’s just going to take brilliant offensive games and like that’s what it is and they had some good defensive moments I think but there were just way too many stretches where there would just just be just layups and dunks consistently and like or like wide open Shooters because they would double at the wrong time or like guys get beat off the dribble pretty easily and then insist in rotation and they you know they play hard it’s not like the paers weren’t playing hard on defense it’s just that like they don’t just it wasn’t just quite there I don’t think and so like I don’t know if this is probably a combination of like just maybe tweaking scheme a little bit but I think also just guys just need to either just get better or just figure that that of it out um and like I think you also saw this is also part of what the playoffs exposes we saw how ruthless teams will be in terms of attacking like halberton and so I think finding ways for either to protect him more both to like ease his like workload during a game and like maybe help him hold up a little better and just like to help the defense improve I think would be good I think that’s going to be a key um and I think also like it’s yeah their their good games were good and they got like you know the the the shack line of time stops often enough in those games to win and I think there are still other times where it’s like okay what are we really doing here like this is not a playoff level defense at all like this is far too easy you have to make Boston work a little more than they’re working here to get open shots so so game three against the Knicks the the Knicks shot a billion percent and they gave up 106 like they defended very well that night right um a couple of their other low allowed games the other team just shot poorly but they like that game spefic specifically stands out the very last game they played I thought they actually defended well they just couldn’t score like they didn’t have good defensive games in the playoffs they very rarely had two in a row or even like six quarters in a row you know and like I I can’t say I expected that from them no one did right they were miserable on defense for most of the season but if you’re like they made the Conference Finals we’re nitpicking but like you would hope that they would show some consistency on that end and that is certainly the next step and the other thing is of of course shocker uh their rebounding was not very good especially in key moments of games 14th and defensive rebound rate in this playoff so they did pretty good on the offensive glass uh but they that is a little bit and part of why their defensive rating was so bad but those were the two things that stood out as their playoff lacking points were defense and rebounding no fun Pat Riley hates the way the Pacers played in the playoffs even though they made it really far yeah I think there it’s tough when the Pacers would like actually string together a good defensive stand then just get outrebounded and then that’s that’s just that’s bad that’s how their season ended that’s Lally how their season ended yes and I think actually I think the defensive rebounding I anecdotally to me like the effort and intensity on that and and focus improved a little bit after a couple of those Knicks games where it was just horrible and so like it was nowhere to go but up from some of those performances um but like it’s still it’s still a lot to work on and I think some of that is Personnel based um like like Miles Turner is never going to be an elite defensive rebounder I think he could be solid I think he can do things in the playoffs I think SE yakum can help in that way um but I think also that’s just you know it’s it just has to get better these are the kinds of things where like when the margins as we saw in the Boston series like the margins are so thin between being up 21 and being you know down three 0 or up 3-1 and being swept like if you want to look at it that way um and so like it’s just those things are too important to be as wide open bad as they were at times so I had just two more random playoff takeaways that I would like to throw at you if you have any this would be a good time to throw them in one theme I’ve seen in this playoffs that’s been very interesting to me and I’ll be curious if there something that sticks is is lob threat bigs especially on these teams with Stud level passer creators have been really valuable in this playoffs like ant Edwards even with gobear has found success Luca and anyone gford Lively even kba returning last night uh tonight for you and I have been great like the uh with the Thunder whoever their Center is Chad’s getting some lob sometimes I think one Evolution I would like to see from the Pacers next year in the playoffs is finding a way to have Miles Turner do that stuff more because Halburn is that level of Creator to me and that’s not how the Pacers play that much but that has been a successful thing for a lot of the best teams in this in this playoffs and I would like the Pacers to find a way to integrate that more yeah I agree um I actually like I think they have some guys I know one of the they actually tried to throw a cool little lob play to top and and Derek White made a ridiculous play to break that up did yes he did but like and I thought that too because you have top and and ixs were playing a lot of minutes and those guys are both legit lob threats too but I don’t think either of them have like this kind of like screen gravity to like actually roll and be open in that way and so like I think finding ways like I would love for Turner to become a lot 30 has improved a lot I think he has the physical ability to do it it’s just never really been you know he’s never been a hard crashing Rim rolling type big and he’s valuable in other ways for a good reason but I think yeah finding ways to get because like if you get that unlocked like any anytime you can get almost like I don’t want to say like a free two points or a cheap two points that way but like an easy high percentage look like that it’s going to keep opening things up um I would love to have that be more of an element of what the Pacers do I’m not really sure exactly what that looks like in practice with the current roster unless like you said miles can kind of add that to his bag a little bit that’d be nice but I agree with all that um skilled size in general becoming a theme in the NBA means these lot bigs will be a thing uh my other point this has nothing to do with anyone getting better or worse this is just a thing that became how I will Define the playoffs and like the little things right when you play in the regular season every night and you can’t dive into a team and every player tendency every game you mess up or like guys beat you with their signature move all the time and people go how did they get beat by that Obi toen my favorite thing he did a lot in the regular season is he would shot fake a three and he’d get all the way up on his tiptoe somehow he wouldn’t leave the ground but the defender always would because he got up so high and then you just dribble right by him and make the defense rotate and create some no one bit on a single Obi top and pump fake in the playoffs and that is my that’s why the playoffs are different thing is those little tiny details that teams lock into and that has nothing to do with the Pacers playing good or bad but that’s just what it is different about it and for a young Pacers team to get through that kind of Gauntlet and their first thing is impressive that’s it I just I had that note in the postseason forever ago and I wanted to talk about it no it was good I when I saw your little notes list I thought you were gon to talk about how Obie’s like the most pump fak man alive on the outside also it’s kind of really a swing there um I don’t I don’t I think he bit on every possible pump fake and I don’t exactly know why um like at a certain point maybe maybe just stay down and use your athleticism to make a second jump there once you see him actually shooting but yeah I agree with that I noticed that too like it’s little moves like that that kind of like that’s why I actually was impressed that a lot of McConnell’s stuff did translate to the post and I was kind of I was wondering if that would be something that like in the past would be taken away like his little like he has he has pet moves like he has you know what he’s gonna try to do but he was able to still get to all of that and it still worked out um the only the only other thing that I had here for you as like a possible note is like how do you think that they look like how does it look with a different kind of like I’m struggling to phrase this ton so I apologize for that we have to edit this out a little bit um like watching watching nard play with halberton like do you feel like halberton needs to have another like crater type out there with him at that point do you think that’s beneficial like do you think he could play with some bigger lineups like that like how does watching how nard was able to do things on the ball like he is like it still like how do they maximize that paing going forward like in a postseason environment like that yeah it’s a tricky question right and like the thing with n hard and even McConnell like you just said like you wonder if there’s a Peter principal like they get a promotion and they just suck and they didn’t at all and it makes you go well they should have the ball more but to have the ball more on the Pacers means Tyrese halberton doesn’t and we LED with him or we we tried to and talked about other players first because he is their identity right and so that’s why I think it’s so tricky when you get into these situations with nart and McConnell it’s like can play them with Halbert and some because you got better off the ball but it’s better for to me it’s always better for Tyrese Halbert have the ball and I’m way higher on him than everyone else so I don’t know what that means you do with them hard because that like if he’s this like if he’s a stretch next season where halbert’s out and he’s this good again there’s going to be some uncomfortable like well how do they do this conversations because he was that good in the playoffs and when he’s off the ball more he’s way less effective like he’s a great defender and I’m not saying this to like say he’s worse he’s just not asked to do as much and that right was very impactful and so some of it also is that se yakum requires lots of touches and so does Miles Turner because they a good offensive player so that my answer to your question is I don’t know I mean maybe it’s just so fresh because it was the last two games but he rose to a level he hadn’t seen from him like if that was always there and he could have gotten to the paint like that every game Pacers should have found ways to explore that even with halberton and they didn’t quite do it and they have new information about it but uh yeah It’s Tricky and certainly something they learned very late in the postseason y I agree with that okay I learned a lot in the playoffs I also learned that covering the playoffs is super fun and so I hope that this is a thing that happens again instead of talking about every draft player Under the Sun for the weeks leading up to uh the draft uh speaking of tomorrow offseason Talk starts here on lockdown Pacers if you want to hear it um ex interviews with Chad bu Canon the GM were on whatever day yesterday was for you guys listening that would be Wednesday Tuesday what day of the week is it Jay I have no idea um it’s Tuesday today Tony you can see it on YouTube we talk to him about jarus and Pascal and free agency and everything you would want to know about and that might be worth reacting to tomorrow in tandem of previewing the Pacers offseason Jay thank you for the time where can people find you and your work and your musings on the Pacers and mainly the most interesting sport on the planet for the wrong reasons recently golf yeah golf is like the king of the off it’s the it’s it’s surpassed the NBA as like the hashtag this League sport I think Point like it’s it’s insane um yeah so I’m the managing editor for fried egg golf um we cover like you know everything from the the pro game to like if you’re into like you know your like cool public golf courses to see in different cities you might want to visit like we kind of talk about everything in that way um so you can find us there I’m also on Twitter at or X whatever we’re calling it now jri and5 and uh yeah I’m excited for to see what happens this offseason and it was a great year to be a Pacers fan too so it was a lot of fun offseason will be fascinating lots of good options we’ll talk about it and Chad bu Canon’s comments about it tomorrow Jay this was great thank you for the time and thank you for helping me wrap up the playoffs it’s time to watch some fever basketball if you can see the thing behind me people watching on YouTube I’m at gridge right now hence the travel setup hope you guys enjoyed Today’s Show see you very soon

The Indiana Pacers magical 2023-24 playoff run ended on Monday night. What did the team learn in their surge to the Eastern Conference Finals? What went well and what didn’t? Host Tony East is joined by Jay Rigdon to break it all down.
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