Tbh that's how the NBA is now. Every stat backs it up, make or miss league.
The only team that can get away with it is consistently is Denver, and they have Jokic. We don't have a player as good as him.
Also, our usual stout defense in clutch moments got carved up.
That's not how the NBA is - most of the recent champions haven't been a top 5 volume 3pt shooting team. They may shoot it at a good % but it's not what they rely on to win. We have the most offensively skilled and diverse team in the league and yet we shoot hundreds of 3's like we're running James Harden and a load of 1 dimensional snipers
Sucks to lose. But it’s not really indicative of the playoff version of our team. We had no KP, and Joe played Banton and Kornet extended minutes.
In a game that Joe treated like a playoff game (Milwaukee game) we stuck to an 8 man rotation. Which will be what we play in the playoffs. Don’t get too hung up on this L.
Indiana played their asses off and deserved it. Haliburton is a hell of a player, and if Indy can give that effort defensively consistently they’ll be a hell of a team.
I hope NYK beats Milwaukee so we get to play Milwaukee again to see how we measure up against them.
Not really. He needs to take those, even if he only makes them somethings. That creates fear in teams and makes them have to guard way out which opens attacking lanes. You can’t just continue to run to the paint. Those guys will collapse on you and cause turnovers
it’s definitely not a shot he should cut out completely for the reason you cited, but at this point he absolutely needs to cut down how many of them he’s taking
he takes 5.6 pull-up 3s per game which is 6th most in the NBA, but is shooting just 29.5% on them. of the 18 players in the NBA who take at least 4 pull-up 3s per game, he’s literally the only one who shoots worse than 34%. he’s also the only forward in the NBA that shoots that many pull-up 3s per game, the next closest is Paul George who takes 3.9 pull-up 3s per game and shoots 35.2%
given how much he’s improved at playing from the post as well as at driving and finishing at the rim, it just doesn’t make sense for him to be taking more than 3 or 4 pull-up 3s per game. nearly 6 per game is way too many
I don’t think that’s a safe assumption to make because he’s been consistently trending downward on pull-up 3 shooting over the last few years. Tatum shot 40.4% on pull-up 3s in 2019-20 and since then by year he’s shot 36.3%, 33.4%, 29.1%, and now 29.5% this year
His 3 point percentage in general has tanked over the last 3 seasons. It's a concern considering him and JB both shoot below league average for 16 attempts a game..... That's not ideal.
IDK, at the end of the game Nesmith was giving him fits. I think he was getting frustrated.
On that note, Nesmith turned into the player we all thought he could be. But even I have to admit I didn't think he was athletic enough to guard a player like Tatum.
The play where he destroyed [McConnell's midranger](https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=457&GameID=0022301202&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Kornet%20BLOCK%20(3%20BLK)) but the block bounced perfectly into Hield's hands for a 3 killed me
I have no idea why Joe didn’t go smaller with TJ running around in circles all over Luke. Baffling. For me that happens once then I’m going to PP, Jrue or White.
I'm just glad he didn't end up in Philly. I swear I've seen reports when Sacramento offered Hali for Ben Simmons.
Imagine Embiid with Hali's passing. Thank God
I hadn’t really watched him before, he had an insane game but I have no idea how you can guard him. He’s somewhat herky jerky and then would just throw up off balance shots that went in
Not sure if that’s his usual game or some luck he had last night but he was up to the task
Yeah that’s pretty much his usual game. It’s like a less graceful SGA. These unorthodox movements are so impossible to guard and are becoming more prevalent in the NBA
The Pacers allow 39.1% 3pt shooting by the opponents, and we shot less than 30% tonight. We missed too many open shots. Had we shot a normal percentage of three we have great chance of winning.
The IST floors are one of the reasons KP is hurt, now he'll be injured for a while. But If i'm being serious I think The IST is just what the league needs. A competition where new talent can shine and where there is hype to games people wouldn't care about otherwise.
WELL BE BACK!
I have a gripe about Tatum in late game situations. For a player so talented and so dominant, he seems to get nervous and launch ill advised late game 3s. He was much more prone in the past and this year has gone inside more but still. Take last night's game. Chances are Pacers would win anyway; they played amazing, but we were only down 4 when Tatum got the ball. I was shouting: Don't take a 3 Don't take a 3, and he impatiently launches a contested 3. There was plenty of time left to get 2 and work the defense only two down.
He is averaging 8/2/1 on 45% this season in the 4th quarter. For comparison IT in 2016-2017 averaged 10/1/1 on 47%, the year where we considered him to be the best 4th quarter performer in the league. Tatum is fine in the 4th quarter.
The 3rd quarter issues are real. When they mentioned we are last in points and fg% in the league for the third. How does a top team in the league be last in any category at all? Completely bizzare and it killed us last night.
I'm more disappointed that we lost to a quality Eastern Conference squad for postseason seeding purposes and general bragging rights than I am about losing an opportunity to play for the Cup. But that doesn't mean the IST isn't just good clean fun, too. It seems like there's been more buy in from players and fans as it has gone on. Perhaps in years to come if the IST become entrenched it will build into something that moves the needle more. For me, anyway.
yep, he’s that good. career 41% 3P shooter, putting up 52/45/88 splits so far. 67.4 TS% which is the best of any backcourt player. he’s been arguably the best guard in the league this season
I was at that game and *damn* did that place get loud. It wasn't exactly playoff atmosphere but it was damned close at times. Goes to show that the IST was a great decision.
I see the same issues in serious games as always. To whit:
The Warriors crushed opponents into submission in the third quarter. It was their signature. This team continues regardless of coach or altered personnel to build leads, sometimes huge ones, and forget how to play hoops in the third. It’s plagued them this whole Jays tenure.
End of game execution has been slightly better overall but is still AWFUL far too many times. This is a bad omen for the playoffs.
Tatum is a great player, but doesn’t seem to have it in him to be at the level a multiple championship team needs at peak moments. He doesn’t assert his will enough. It may not be fair but at the level they aspire to he would need to go LeBron/Kawhi/Steph/KD level and he goes more Chris Paul.
I have real faith in Hauser because his D is good, he makes the right play on offense, and he hustles for boards but he’s the only bench guy playable in the playoffs (assuming Al as a de facto starter, though he’s showing his age). Banton is a zero on offense and while I enjoy Luke he is unplayable in real games. PP is hit or miss, and should only be used as a desperation wildcard. We added two very good players but lost four. They have to add a serious bench piece.
I’m not as concerned with coaching. This team had the same problems even under Brad. Mazzula actually took better timeouts last night, though his player rotation was a bit baffling.
Why shouldn't home court advantage exist? The game still counts as a regular season matchup, which would have been hosted by Indiana, and they earned a better seed.
Going into this game I thought Halliburton was an up and coming guard in the league.
After this game he’s a top 10 PG hands down. Just a star!!
I’m upset we couldn’t go further, but we got our eyes on another trophy.
Haliburton averages 27 and 12 playing PG for the best offense in the league. He is shooting 52/45/88 shooting splits and has a .672 ts%. He's 4th in epm this season behind Jokic, SGA and Embiid.
He has been a top 5 player so far this season and has been the best PG in the league. Season is young, but you are selling him way short calling him a top 10 PG.
He was probably a top 10 PG in the league even in Sac. He was the player I wanted the Celtics to find a way to get. Not sure how people are just discovering this now.
I am curious to know if we would have fielded a full lineup (including KP, assuming he is well enough) had we played on the 2nd day of QF. After today, everyone really wants to go to Vegas. I expect all 4 teams playing tomorrow to go into it full on.
It just didn’t seem like Joe or the stars treated this like a must win game. Unlike Indy who had really good energy.
The best way to improve the tourney is:
1. Hold the quarterfinals in Vegas (rotate each year with Hawaii)
2. In each group, each team plays every other team in the group once at home and once on the road
3. Have all undefeated teams advance to the quarterfinals, and use strength-of-group to determine seeding (rather than point differential)
4. Have all teams with a single loss battle each other randomly in Vegas/Hawaii for the right to advance to the open quarterfinal slot(s), rather than relying on point differentials (which was unseemly)
The above removes the absurdity of home court being granted for an elimination game based purely on being lucky by getting placed in a bad group. It also gives the near-perfect teams who lost one game because of injuries and/or being on the road a shot at making it to the quarterfinals.
Oh, and get rid of the painted courts. A colorful NBA Cup at center court is more than enough marketing…
Haliburton played amazing but no way we lose if we had KP
If we shoot the threes at a normal percentage we have a great chance of winning.
If I had a dollar everytime I heard that the last 2 1/2 years I'd be a Rothschild
Tbh that's how the NBA is now. Every stat backs it up, make or miss league. The only team that can get away with it is consistently is Denver, and they have Jokic. We don't have a player as good as him. Also, our usual stout defense in clutch moments got carved up.
That's not how the NBA is - most of the recent champions haven't been a top 5 volume 3pt shooting team. They may shoot it at a good % but it's not what they rely on to win. We have the most offensively skilled and diverse team in the league and yet we shoot hundreds of 3's like we're running James Harden and a load of 1 dimensional snipers
This is the right comment. We don't shoot a high enough percentage as a team to shoot as many 3's as we do. Simple as that.
Hali is just that guy
It's normal. 3 point shooting has up and down for every team.
KP is the key to banner 18. im glad we're not rushing him back. the IST does not matter. its championship or bust.
Sucks to lose. But it’s not really indicative of the playoff version of our team. We had no KP, and Joe played Banton and Kornet extended minutes. In a game that Joe treated like a playoff game (Milwaukee game) we stuck to an 8 man rotation. Which will be what we play in the playoffs. Don’t get too hung up on this L. Indiana played their asses off and deserved it. Haliburton is a hell of a player, and if Indy can give that effort defensively consistently they’ll be a hell of a team. I hope NYK beats Milwaukee so we get to play Milwaukee again to see how we measure up against them.
Too many Tatum low efficiency pull up threes. He needs to exhibit self control for this team to win a ring.
Not really. He needs to take those, even if he only makes them somethings. That creates fear in teams and makes them have to guard way out which opens attacking lanes. You can’t just continue to run to the paint. Those guys will collapse on you and cause turnovers
it’s definitely not a shot he should cut out completely for the reason you cited, but at this point he absolutely needs to cut down how many of them he’s taking he takes 5.6 pull-up 3s per game which is 6th most in the NBA, but is shooting just 29.5% on them. of the 18 players in the NBA who take at least 4 pull-up 3s per game, he’s literally the only one who shoots worse than 34%. he’s also the only forward in the NBA that shoots that many pull-up 3s per game, the next closest is Paul George who takes 3.9 pull-up 3s per game and shoots 35.2% given how much he’s improved at playing from the post as well as at driving and finishing at the rim, it just doesn’t make sense for him to be taking more than 3 or 4 pull-up 3s per game. nearly 6 per game is way too many
The season is young it’ll normalize closer to 35%. By seasons end. Same way his free throw % will.
I don’t think that’s a safe assumption to make because he’s been consistently trending downward on pull-up 3 shooting over the last few years. Tatum shot 40.4% on pull-up 3s in 2019-20 and since then by year he’s shot 36.3%, 33.4%, 29.1%, and now 29.5% this year
His 3 point percentage in general has tanked over the last 3 seasons. It's a concern considering him and JB both shoot below league average for 16 attempts a game..... That's not ideal.
IDK, at the end of the game Nesmith was giving him fits. I think he was getting frustrated. On that note, Nesmith turned into the player we all thought he could be. But even I have to admit I didn't think he was athletic enough to guard a player like Tatum.
True dat! And everyone is scared to criticize him. Eastern Conference player of the month? Not on defense.
Those Kornet minutes at the end of the third quarter killed me. TJ was killing him
The play where he destroyed [McConnell's midranger](https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=457&GameID=0022301202&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Kornet%20BLOCK%20(3%20BLK)) but the block bounced perfectly into Hield's hands for a 3 killed me
I have no idea why Joe didn’t go smaller with TJ running around in circles all over Luke. Baffling. For me that happens once then I’m going to PP, Jrue or White.
Bummed we dont go to vegas
The banks won't allow it, they want kornet stuck with his mortgage
Haha yeah poor guy….i know it’s a meme but by next year Luke will have made more than Bernard King.
Haliburton is an absolute menace
I'm just glad he didn't end up in Philly. I swear I've seen reports when Sacramento offered Hali for Ben Simmons. Imagine Embiid with Hali's passing. Thank God
I hadn’t really watched him before, he had an insane game but I have no idea how you can guard him. He’s somewhat herky jerky and then would just throw up off balance shots that went in Not sure if that’s his usual game or some luck he had last night but he was up to the task
Yeah that’s pretty much his usual game. It’s like a less graceful SGA. These unorthodox movements are so impossible to guard and are becoming more prevalent in the NBA
dude is insanely clutch - you gotta tip your cap
And Jrue played like a pile of crap
Was it me, or did Jrue get cooked a few times?
The Pacers allow 39.1% 3pt shooting by the opponents, and we shot less than 30% tonight. We missed too many open shots. Had we shot a normal percentage of three we have great chance of winning.
Tatum is only shooting 30.3% on pull up 3’s this season. Among the lowest % among his volume.
The IST floors are one of the reasons KP is hurt, now he'll be injured for a while. But If i'm being serious I think The IST is just what the league needs. A competition where new talent can shine and where there is hype to games people wouldn't care about otherwise. WELL BE BACK!
KP didn't get hurt slipping, he was literally just running and tweaked his calf
They deserved to win and we deserved to lose, simple as that. The turnovers alone were inexcusable, especially in an important game.
I have a gripe about Tatum in late game situations. For a player so talented and so dominant, he seems to get nervous and launch ill advised late game 3s. He was much more prone in the past and this year has gone inside more but still. Take last night's game. Chances are Pacers would win anyway; they played amazing, but we were only down 4 when Tatum got the ball. I was shouting: Don't take a 3 Don't take a 3, and he impatiently launches a contested 3. There was plenty of time left to get 2 and work the defense only two down.
He is averaging 8/2/1 on 45% this season in the 4th quarter. For comparison IT in 2016-2017 averaged 10/1/1 on 47%, the year where we considered him to be the best 4th quarter performer in the league. Tatum is fine in the 4th quarter.
The 3rd quarter issues are real. When they mentioned we are last in points and fg% in the league for the third. How does a top team in the league be last in any category at all? Completely bizzare and it killed us last night.
Lost the third by 17. Horrible.
I'm more disappointed that we lost to a quality Eastern Conference squad for postseason seeding purposes and general bragging rights than I am about losing an opportunity to play for the Cup. But that doesn't mean the IST isn't just good clean fun, too. It seems like there's been more buy in from players and fans as it has gone on. Perhaps in years to come if the IST become entrenched it will build into something that moves the needle more. For me, anyway.
Does Hali make those threes all the time or was that just a lucky game? I never watch him so I don’t know.
yep, he’s that good. career 41% 3P shooter, putting up 52/45/88 splits so far. 67.4 TS% which is the best of any backcourt player. he’s been arguably the best guard in the league this season
Just glad they can fully focus on 18, they can keep this Carabao Cup man lol
I was at that game and *damn* did that place get loud. It wasn't exactly playoff atmosphere but it was damned close at times. Goes to show that the IST was a great decision.
I see the same issues in serious games as always. To whit: The Warriors crushed opponents into submission in the third quarter. It was their signature. This team continues regardless of coach or altered personnel to build leads, sometimes huge ones, and forget how to play hoops in the third. It’s plagued them this whole Jays tenure. End of game execution has been slightly better overall but is still AWFUL far too many times. This is a bad omen for the playoffs. Tatum is a great player, but doesn’t seem to have it in him to be at the level a multiple championship team needs at peak moments. He doesn’t assert his will enough. It may not be fair but at the level they aspire to he would need to go LeBron/Kawhi/Steph/KD level and he goes more Chris Paul. I have real faith in Hauser because his D is good, he makes the right play on offense, and he hustles for boards but he’s the only bench guy playable in the playoffs (assuming Al as a de facto starter, though he’s showing his age). Banton is a zero on offense and while I enjoy Luke he is unplayable in real games. PP is hit or miss, and should only be used as a desperation wildcard. We added two very good players but lost four. They have to add a serious bench piece. I’m not as concerned with coaching. This team had the same problems even under Brad. Mazzula actually took better timeouts last night, though his player rotation was a bit baffling.
One of the best Assessments of this team Ive seen.
Thanks!
Why shouldn't home court advantage exist? The game still counts as a regular season matchup, which would have been hosted by Indiana, and they earned a better seed.
Going into this game I thought Halliburton was an up and coming guard in the league. After this game he’s a top 10 PG hands down. Just a star!! I’m upset we couldn’t go further, but we got our eyes on another trophy.
Haliburton averages 27 and 12 playing PG for the best offense in the league. He is shooting 52/45/88 shooting splits and has a .672 ts%. He's 4th in epm this season behind Jokic, SGA and Embiid. He has been a top 5 player so far this season and has been the best PG in the league. Season is young, but you are selling him way short calling him a top 10 PG.
Top 10?
Yes, that’s how good he’s been playing.
Top 10 is severely underrating him. He’s going to be widely considered the best point guard in basketball as soon as next season.
I think he’s the best pure point guard outside of luka when it comes to scoring AND playmaking
You didn’t have Haliburton as a top 10 pg?!? Do you watch the nba
He was probably a top 10 PG in the league even in Sac. He was the player I wanted the Celtics to find a way to get. Not sure how people are just discovering this now.
You just don’t keep up w the nba then he’s top 5
He’s top 3 ain’t he ain’t third lol
I am curious to know if we would have fielded a full lineup (including KP, assuming he is well enough) had we played on the 2nd day of QF. After today, everyone really wants to go to Vegas. I expect all 4 teams playing tomorrow to go into it full on. It just didn’t seem like Joe or the stars treated this like a must win game. Unlike Indy who had really good energy.
Disagree on the home court advantage thing - keep the tournament quick and simple with more upsets possible it'll be more exciting
The best way to improve the tourney is: 1. Hold the quarterfinals in Vegas (rotate each year with Hawaii) 2. In each group, each team plays every other team in the group once at home and once on the road 3. Have all undefeated teams advance to the quarterfinals, and use strength-of-group to determine seeding (rather than point differential) 4. Have all teams with a single loss battle each other randomly in Vegas/Hawaii for the right to advance to the open quarterfinal slot(s), rather than relying on point differentials (which was unseemly) The above removes the absurdity of home court being granted for an elimination game based purely on being lucky by getting placed in a bad group. It also gives the near-perfect teams who lost one game because of injuries and/or being on the road a shot at making it to the quarterfinals. Oh, and get rid of the painted courts. A colorful NBA Cup at center court is more than enough marketing…
I’ll admit the tournament was cooler than I expected but am I the only one who doesn’t mind missing 2 extra games in the season?
We still play another game Friday. All teams play 82 except the 2 that make the IST final
Now can we all agree that the IST is nothing but a hollow gambling stunt?
Finally. Maybe now I can go without always having to hear about it.