Basketball, She Wrote
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On Haliburton, Lillard, & potential changes for the guards
🕑 Added 2024-04-22 21:52:35 +0000 UTCCaitlin Cooper and Samson Folk look both backward and forward at the glaring contrast between Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard following Game 1 and ahead of Game 2
By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper
As was explained in our series preview, when the Pacers went 4-1 against the Bucks during the regular season, the Pacers played those games like playoff games -- at least by comparison to the game-planning from Milwaukee. Fast forward to Game 1, however, and the opposite appeared to be the case, as the Pacers opened a playoff game like a regular season game -- at least by comparison to their more seasoned, field-tested opponent.
After all, with 3:02 left to play in the first half, Damian Lillard had nearly outscored the Pacers by himself, tallying 29 points against a team that was slow to trap and, quite frankly, looked as though they were trapping themselves when they did. Meanwhile, as the Bucks led 56-29 (yes, the Pacers had the same number of points as Lillard), Tyrese Haliburton had only attempted three shots, finishing with a grand total of seven field-goal attempts for the game. Needless to say, the contrast at the guard position was glaring under the bright lights and continued to put out plenty of flashbulbs even after halftime, when Lillard's scoring explosion started to dim.
To put all of that into context, as far as what changed and what still needs to change for the Pacers with regard to both star guards, I was once again joined by Samson Folk to reflect on Game 1 and look ahead to Game 2.
Here are the relevant timestamps:
0:00 - Introductions
2:35 - How the Pacers defended Dame
11:36 - Overboard with overs?
20:47 - Potential changes for Game 2
20:53 - Samson's idea: deeper drop + more trapping
23:26 - Caitlin's idea: cross-match Nesmith + switch ball-screens
29:59 - Why did Tyrese only take seven shots?
35:02 - Pascal Siakam leading with experience
36:22 - Playing a lineup without Haliburton or Siakam in the playoffs
40:22 - How the Bucks defended Haliburton (some of this was foreseeable!)
43:22 - Potential counters for weaking + switching
45:24 - Tyrese being overly deferential
46:46 - Letting Dame off the hook on defense
50:54 - How the Pacers can help Tyrese get easier shots
57:58 - Confidence level following Game 1
1:02:02 - Samson wants to know what all of you think about Siakam
1:04:40 - Samson Folk, the T-Shirt merchant
1:07:11 - Thank you and Goodbye (mailbag coming soon!)
Comments
Thomas
To answer Samson's question at the end I am so happy about Pascal being on the team. He was fantastic this game obviously and you can't predict having that every game, but just having another player of his caliber on the roster gives them another dimension. Without him they were entirely dependent on either Tyrese generating offense or 3 point shooting against elite defense. In games where that got taken away (like against the Lakers in the IST) they just didn't have much of a counter. Pascal gives them that and it's absolutely fantastic to have.
Caitlin Cooper
This seems to be the prevailing response to his question. Some consensus!
Caitlin Cooper
Glad you enjoyed it (as much as something from Game 1 can be enjoyed)
Caitlin Cooper
He's the best
Brandon Young
Tough game but great analysis as always. It was good to hear your differing perspectives on the adjustments that need to be made. Gotta get this one tonight!
James T Sandberg
To Samson's question at the end: siakam has been a delight overall, and this game demonstrated his mettle in encouraging fashion. If you need 35 shots from ty and siakam, ty needs to get to at least 16 or so, and he didn't do that in game one. Nonetheless, siakam's performance felt like proof of concept, assuming ty remembers he is a star.
Jay Glenn
Good show on a very disappointing game. I enjoy hearing Samson's thoughts and happy to see him anytime he's on.
