Boston Celtics vs. Indiana Pacers Eastern Conference Finals: C’s offense vs. Pacers defense

Boston Celtics vs. Indiana Pacers Eastern Conference Finals: C’s offense vs. Pacers defense

it’s Celtics and Pacers in the Conference Finals the path to a championship is wide open after Sunday’s game sevens talk about that I’ll talk about the challenges the Pacers present all right now on the lockdown Celtics podcast than a blockbuster Brad it’s holiday season drop Drew in the mix and three from KP no we not on the knck fling competition like h on Yannis juic and big de still being ch been a r te going up in the rafter watching SE gameing locked on after car on the breakdown CL like a tip from D white on the breakdown John on the mic documenting domination m p back B all SE Nation r j to started raising B how we finish locked on Celtics home of the winners hey there welcome back to the locked on Celtics podcast right here on the locked on podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I got you covered every Monday through Friday plus bonus podcast on the weekend like when they play on a Saturday in Indiana where I’ll be so you’ll get a bonus podcast that day too so make sure you subscribe wherever you get your podcast Spotify Apple podcast wherever uh watch show on YouTube bring the Bell got get into that comment section let me know what you think about the Celtics and the Pacers I was sure it was going to be the Knicks I cannot believe it’s not the Knicks although I kind of sort of can but I’m just I guess I’m going back to the Midwest this is just spring in the Midwest for me and I just have to accept it Pacers have won and the Minnesota Timberwolves have won I’ll get to all of this stuff I get to how this is a wide openen East the challenges that the Pacers present all of that stuff that’s all coming up in just a second I’m John corales by the way if you’re new to the show used to play a long time ago now I’m with beat Rider covering the Celtics I travel with the team I uh am just inside at the practice is all that stuff so it’s an Insider uh perspective here that you’re not going to get anywhere else Today’s Show is brought to you by prize pick the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockdown NBA use that code lockdown NBA all lowercase for a first deposit match up to $100 so what a Sunday by the way uh the Knicks just could not get the job done they they were very much I love making the blues mobile comparison when The Blues Brothers finally get to uh the government offices to pay the taxes for the orphanage they uh they get out of their car and the car just completely falls apart it it fell apart while it was still being driven for the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers ended up taking advantage it took a 70% shooting night for them to take advantage but they did it and it’s one of the things that I’m mildly concerned about when the Celtics take on the Pacers but uh the Knicks I I’m I’m surpris I’m always surprised when a home team doesn’t win a game seven this is the first time in NBA history that both teams both both home teams lost a game seven so uh that’s I have reason to be surprised it’s never happened before but the Pacers end up playing great halberton uh played great uh the Knicks too many injuries shout out to Jaylen Brunson who broke his hand so you know hopefully they get healthy I just want everybody to be healthy um Tom Tibido playing these guys all these minutes I mean it doesn’t lead to a broken hand but it leads to some of these things that we saw pretty sure of that so uh that’s that’s an interesting conversation going on in New York I’ll just leave it there the Denver Nuggets f to the Timberwolves they led by 20 in the second half they ended up losing at home now they’ve won a championship so they get a little bit of a a leeway but man I cannot imagine what the discourse would be if it was the boss and Celtics who lost in that fashion the Nuggets lost three games at home in that series that’s that’s very not Championship like and we talk about the championship response to them to go win on the road like that’s great but very unch likee for them to uh lose three G three games at home to the Timberwolves Timberwolves are good Timberwolves are really good but you know there’s there’s enough youth there and enough that I I didn’t trust before I have to trust it now they’re in the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks who eliminated the OKC Thunder over the weekend so a wild kind of final four here with Dallas and Indie uh what is they five and six seeds uh in the Conference finals against a two seed and a top seed I think was Minnesota two or three but regardless it was still not the one seed so the Celtics are the only one seed left the path is right there for them I’ll talk about the the Pacers in just a minute and in the challenges but the the path through the East has been pretty easy for the Celtics Miami not you know five games CL the Cleveland Cavaliers five games uh injuries aside whatever it’s still I don’t think I don’t think that Jimmy Butler would have changed would have swung the direction of the entire series I don’t think Jared Allen would have swung the direction of the entire series might have made it harder but still I still think the Celtics get by those teams and now the Pacers uh who are not the best defensive team in the world the worst defense left in the in the playoffs and a team that the Celtics can beat and I’ll get to a prediction later on this serves as like my mini initial preview I will tomorrow uh Monday late Monday it’s going to be a little bit of a later podcast so fair warning do a cross over with Tony east of locked on Pacers so we can dive into the nitty-gritty so that’s going to be tomorrow’s show but the Celtics should get past the Pacers right and then Dallas tough but the Celtics can beat Dallas and Minnesota tough but the Celtics have beaten Minnesota they split they split the two games that they’ve played that’s going to be that would be the toughest remaining game I think um but look Dallas has played uh great defense too and they’ve got Luca who I don’t know how how healthy he’s going to be that kyrese you know storyline would be amazing that’s all down the road whoever the Celtics play in the finals they have to get past the Pacers first but it’s all right there for them there’s no MVP left right so who’s the best player remaining in the playoffs it could just depend on who’s healthy right you can say Luca might be the best player left in the playoffs but he’s hurt so who’s next right wherever you go with this you can say Tatum is the best player remaining in the playoffs you you can kind of say halberton is he the best player I mean not the way he’s playing right now is it Kyrie no I don’t think so but uh he’s can stake a claim they’re certainly people who will stake that claim and can make a convincing argument I get it so but the point is there’s no definitive this is the consensus best player left in the playoffs one of these guys Anthony Edwards right one of these guys is going to win and that’s going to change the entire course of this player’s career whoever it is and it really looks like it can be Jason Tatum and jayen brown and the rest of the Celtics the Celtics built their team the way they built it because they don’t have a yic or a an embiid uh uh an MVP that can just completely carry the day Tatum is their best player but he doesn’t carry the team like these other guys have carried their teams this Celtics team is built to win in this exact scenario this team is now built they through the power of their depth and their great players all across the board have enough to attack all of the different places that Indiana is weak all the different places that the Mavs would be weak all the different places that the Timberwolves are weak they have the ability to pull go bear away from the rim they you know assuming that porzingis is healthy which by the way I saw him on the bike at The Practice Facility he was really jamming he was standing and pedaling so this wasn’t just a sitting on the bike and just he was up standing doing like the real standing uh pedaling thing so he is putting his calf through a little bit more of a workout that’s that’s significant to me that’s significant because if you’re on the bike and you’re pedaling you’re flexing that calf you’re flexing it you’re not putting repetitive stress on it but you’re flexing it you’re really pushing it so that was good porzingis could come back here I expect that porzingis could come back in this series so wherever the Celtics go down the road they have the the matchups they should be favored against all these other teams the path is wide open the Celtics just got to take it starts with the Indiana Pacers how do the Celtics beat the IND Indiana Pacers what’s up what’s in store I’ll talk about that when I come back Today’s Show is brought to you by Yahoo finance Yahoo finance helps me when I’m putting my uh when I’m getting my uh my my investments together when I’m I have I’m look I’m a 50y old man and that means I’m 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meaningful in what they say they’re intentional in what they say to borrow phrases from Joe Missoula uh the Celtics did have practice on Sunday and I was there and uh you know the they are getting themselves together here they they didn’t know their opponent they had six days off five days off and five days off ahead of each of their playoff series this is incredible they have an opportunity to have another four or five days off if they can handle the Pacers in short order can they do it how do they do it so the biggest challenge I think the very first thing like number one it’s Tyrese halberton and how does Tyrese halberton play in this series he’s had some UPS he’s had some Downs uh he in the beginning of the year bounced the Celtics out of the playin tournament if we remember that he didn’t play in the first game against the Celtics and they blew the the Pacers out by like 50 then he they played in the inseason tournament and he basically eliminated the Celtics himself then he gets hurt against the Celtics in that crazy game where Jaylen uh there’s a a foul a challenge that that Celtics lost and because they lost that challenge they couldn’t challenge the foul on Kristof porzingis which later in the last two-minute report was shown to be no foul uh so they would have won that challenge or should have won that challenge anyway after that injury Halle Burton’s been kind of like iffy before the injury this is January 8th before the injury 23 and a half points per game almost 50% shooting 40% shooting from 3 12 and a half assists after the injury remember he was out for a while he tried coming back and then he couldn’t and then he he he was out for a while this a hamstring injury was really bad since he came back in in like February regular season 16 and a half points 45 and a half% shooting 32 and change percent from three and nine and a half assists in the playoffs it’s gone to 18.8 49% shooting 37 and a half% from three and eight assists so he’s not still not at that level of where he was back before the injury back when he was like lighting the world on fire you remember that when he the the playing tournament that was his kind of moment and this was gonna be the year of Tyrese hurn he was gonna get MVP Buzz that he was getting that kind of like it was the the the spotlight was on him he was embracing it the hamstring injury really derailed all of that and he kind of fell out of fell out of everything he might not even make an all-nba team now uh probably shouldn’t but that that initial burst was so great if they get any semblance of that this is going to be a tough Series right I I do believe the Celtics should win and could win easily but the number one thing here is if halberton comes back uh and is anywhere close to what he was prior to the injury and we saw some of that in in the playoffs it just hasn’t been consistent he’s had his ups and downs and it makes me wonder how the Celtics are going to defend him and I’ve take a closer look in that and and you know I’ll put together my preview for Boston Sports Journal Tuesday morning and we’ll get a better look at at how the Celtics will defend him and how he can be exploited but the bottom line is he’s their best player and if he is if he can match what the Celtics best players do and and be that kind of mono onano uh kind of guy who duels with Boston’s best players then then the Pacers now their chances of winning this series increase significantly now I talked about porzingis and and I don’t think the Celtics need porzingis in this series to make a uh to to eliminate the the Pacers it would be helpful right it’d be nice and it’s not talked about enough where the Celtics went through that that Cav Series without porzingis uh when things got a little dicey you could always throw the ball to porzingis right in that those games four and five when it was like Hey the Celtics look a little disjointed whenever the Celtics have looked disjointed or the course of the regular season you could kind of throw it into porzingis and say hey all right you you get the postup matchup you we’re going to run things through you and maybe you just run a little back door off of uh porzingis post up and you know him and Jaylen Brown have that real great chemistry and they can connect on on a play and and just kind of settle things down and that that wasn’t around so not that look again the Celtics one of those Series in five right so it didn’t matter matter necessarily but it would have been nice maybe maybe game two doesn’t happen the same way or maybe game five goes a little bit more uh you know smoothly so it’s it’s nice to have porzingis and if they can get him back and I’ll just say it this way if he’s 100% healthy and ready to play then play him there’s no once he gets to a 100% that’s it there’s no 110 there’s no 120 there’s no hey let’s just let him heal a little bit more like there’s a point where he’s fully healed and there’s no more healing to do so if you can get to that point in this series and even if it’s let’s just say it’s three 0 and porzingis is fully healed then you know what you do you bring him back you play him and you play him with a minutes restriction you treat it like a regular season but if he’s fully healthy then don’t bother sitting him out get him some NBA action and say okay let’s go let’s just do just do short bursts four five minutes get you out get you rested get you tested go back in another four five minute burst get you out how do you feel get you get your win back and get those short bursts to build him up because anytime you can there’s no duplicating NBA basketball playoff basketball you can’t duplicate that in a in a practice situation so if he’s fully healthy if he’s fully healed no matter where the series is bring him back now if he’s not then I’m not then don’t push it right if it’s if it’s three and he’s like ah no I can give it a shot no no no no don’t give it a shot get fully healthy it’s all about being fully healthy but once he’s that then I’m all for it becomes can’t believe that we’re talking about the Conference Finals in terms like this but it becomes get him some reps and use it as a sort of like pseudo training camp for the NBA Finals so that’s the porzingis thing let’s get into the Boston offense versus the Pacers defense and vice versa and how I think this series is going to go my initial thoughts on how this series could go we’ll talk about that in just a second Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel FanDuel it’s America’s number one sports book and it’s win or take all time here in the NBA in the NHL FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own all you got to do as a new customer go down to this what you see on the screen fanduel.com lockon sign up there once you do that you make a $5 bet if it wins you get $150 in bonus bets it’s very simple make your $5 bet and you can bet that on anything spreads money lines player props whatever if you win you get 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Madison will get a a very worthy co-host and they’ll cover uh they’ll give you a different perspective on Celtics Pacers game one so go check it out wherever you get your podcasts watch the show on YouTube okay the the the couple other things that I want to get to and again tomorrow I’ll do a crossover show with Tony east of lockdown Pacers uh the the offense this the Celtics offense and the Pacers offense are right next to each other top top of the the uh playoffs but the defense is very different the defense is uh the Celtics are third defensively and the Pacers are 13th there’s a 12 point per 100 possession difference between the two of them so uh at the top offense there is a we’ll say thre Point per 100 possession difference between the Pacers and the Celtics Pacers are number one the Celtics are number two the Celtics are minus three there they’re plus nine they’re plus 12 on on the defensive side so plus nine just raw numbers plus nine so which jives with the FanDuel thing Celtics are nine-point favorites uh but on top of that you take that top offense against the third rated defense and it’s probably going to struggle a little bit you take that second rated offense for the Celtics and put it against the 13th rated defense and it’s probably going to be better so the Celtics can I think you can expect that Celtics offense to put up more points than they’ve been putting up and the Pacers to put up fewer points than they’ve been putting up so the the offense versus defense matchup the Celtics just have to execute on offense they have to play with that pace they have to play with that good uh speed that good um ball movement they have to find the matchups that they’re trying to attack and attack it quickly so they have options there’s no need there’s no need to slow the game down there’s no need to you can control the pace and play at a a higher Tempo even though the Pacers like to play at that pace that’s something that the Celtics can thrive in and they can attack that that Pacers defense with regul it and I don’t know that the Pacers can attack the Celtics defense the same way now Al Horford’s going to be a very important part of this the Pacers are going to look at that Cav series and say look we’re willing to roll the dice on one Al Horford game versus two three where he’s not hitting shots we’re willing to roll the dice on that we’re going to leave Al Horford open this is going to be a big test for Al Horford again the five days off certainly helps and he’s going to have to shoot and you know take and make shots you can’t have too too high uh of variance between him you know the shots going in and not can they win without Horford making shots yeah of course but he has to be aware of how he’s being played he has to take the shots that are there but the Celtics also have to be aware like if Miles Turner is going to start on Al Horford and he is going to just be a helper How do you take advantage of that and maybe there are ways to switch Horford onto somebody else before uh that before you run your actions and see if you can get uh Turner to have to make a decision right like if you’re running some off ball actions on the weak side and Tatum and whomever are running actions you know with with the ball running a pick and roll and Horford’s not involved so Tatum so so Turner is sitting there waiting to help so maybe you run a dummy action where Turner doesn’t end up on on Horford and then you use that guy to set the pick and then you you attack Turner that way and you get him you know away from the basket and you drive and then you kick and you you’re you’re not relying on Al Horford 3es you’re getting the three-pointers to somebody like Jaylen brown or Derek white or Drew holiday or somebody else who’s a little bit more reliable in the playoffs but it doesn’t matter however the Celtics handle that there’s going to be plenty of opportunity for Al Horford so how the Celtics attack a weak Pacers defense that’s going to be very interesting it can’t just be we’re g to matchup hunt because they do have some decent Defenders on there and it going just one-on-one that’s not going to be the way to do it the Celtics have to move the ball they have to play with good pace and trust that the ball movement attacking early in the shot clock so you can get multiple bites at the Apple that’s that’s how they’re going to take advantage of a weak Pacers defense they have to buckle down and defend and really uh make sure they’re clearing the boards they’re preventing offensive rebounds uh that they are getting out into transition scoring coming back setting the defense that’s the whole thing the offensive execution for the Celtics has to be there so they can get back and set their defense and when they set their defense you limit them to one shot and that that should be the simple formula for winning this series I think the Celtics are going to win this series I don’t think it’s going to be a sweep although a sweep is possible the Celtics are going to be favored in every one of these games provided the there’s no further injury to anybody each individual game will Boston will be favored so that means a sweep is possible I don’t expect a sweep I think the Celtics are good enough to win this in five but also okay there’s going to be a game where the Celtics probably don’t have it so uh that’s five okay I’m not going to pick the Celtics in five because then there’s also the possibility of the Pacers doing what they did against New York which is hit 70% of their shots I don’t think the Celtics are going to give up 70% shooting but 50% shooting there’s going to be the the biggest uh the biggest thing to worry about with the Pacers is shooting variants and the Celtics can play great and the Pacers can still hit a bunch of shots and if that happens they’re going to win a game just based on their shooting they’re capable of outshooting the Celtics for sure so taking into account a Boston stinker a Pacers outlier shooting performance I’m GNA say Celtics and six the Pacers are bad on the road the Celtics should protect homec court now the Pacers are six and0 at home but the Celtics are 4-0 on the road I think the Celtics are good enough to win one of these games on the road now does that mean Celtics in five or the Celtics gonna have to go back they’re gonna are they going to lose game five at home and have to go back game six I don’t know how it’s going to work out I don’t know how it’s going to break down but I I I’m gonna say Celtics in six it should be five and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s five but knowing the Celtics and knowing the Pacers I’m gonna say Celtics in six and that whenever you make a prediction like could go one game either way right so does that mean a potential game seven yeah it does mean a potential game seven this should be not another easy series but if the Celtics I would not be surprised if they win it in five if they go and they execute the way they should offensively and if their defense is on point they could do it they could sweep and and that would take just no outlier shooting from the Pacers and kind of Bad halberton series which this is his first Conference Finals it could be they they could just stink it’s entirely possible they could just think but it’s also entirely possible that they don’t know any better and they’ll just come out and they’ll play play free because everybody’s going to be picking Boston and they’ll be like hey we got nothing to lose and they could play free and they could make it a seven game series I still think Boston’s going to win I’m going to save Boston in six I want to save Boston in five um but I’m giving them a little bit I’m giving them a little bit of credit and giving Boston a little bit of the okay I know I know you’re probably GNA blow one so again tomorrow crossover podcast previewing the full preview Series so you’ll get the Pacers perspective on this and see what they think in Indiana so make sure you’re subscribed to get that watch the show on YouTube get into the comments section let me know what you think of what I just said about this uh sorry that there’s no mailbag I know I I try to do mailbags here uh but the the we’re in the Conference Finals we’re in the playoffs so I apologize for that hopefully I answered some of the questions that maybe you’re you’re thinking of uh within organically within this podcast but uh I will I will answer questions at some point so thank you for listening thank you for watching I would love it if you share the podcast and spread the word tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day

The Indiana Pacers got past a decimated New York Knicks team in Game 7 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Does this series just boil down to whether Tyrese Haliburton can be a superstar? John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal discusses that, the wide open path to a championship for Boston, how Boston’s offense can take advantage of bad Pacers defense, and a prediction for how long this series can go.

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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