Indiana Pacers – Haliburton, Turner, Siakam can’t close! Thunder tie it at two each! “Refs sucked”

Indiana Pacers – Haliburton, Turner, Siakam can’t close! Thunder tie it at two each! “Refs sucked”

all right that was not a fulfilling ending to this game the Pacers really had this game wi with what about eight minutes left they had three straight possessions up 10 with a chance to go up 1214 and 16 and they didn’t get it done missed two foul shots during that period people are going to blame Benedict Mathan for his role in this uh I’m not going to call it collapse because by the time he got on the floor late it wasn’t but he missed three foul shots and committed two fouls prepossession giving the Thunder a shot at a a at a free bucket at a free point and you you can’t have that but it he shouldn’t have been on the floor n Smith can’t come down on the shooter he can’t bring his hand down you cannot put in in wrong hand left hand cannot put your left hand on Shay Gilch Alexander’s right shoulder because he’s going to come up through it and he’s going to get the foul called played great defense until that moment and then he commits that foul and that was it because Benedict Matan in a high lever situation in the NBA finals is not ready for that stage what he did in limited minutes in 20 minutes in game three was really really good this is an absolute uh non-joyous postgame the uh uh the Thunder win 111 104 and and it just didn’t go down like it should have that the officiating was absolutely wretched i I don’t understand the assignment of a guy like Scott Foster into a game like this because Scott Foster Scott Foster thinks a lot of himself as an official but I think just as a guy like Benedict Mathan doesn’t necessarily play real well in the final minute of an NBA Finals game i don’t think Scott Foster is at his best in a high lever situation in a game like this there was a lot that went wrong in this game and a lot that went right in this game justin Spears says “I’m sick blown opportunity big momentum swing.” It is and if if the series goes to the Thunder there are guys who are going to wake up at night thinking about moments in this game where they didn’t do what they should have got done you look at the statistics and and I’m going to go I I’ll tell you what I thought Miles Turner played his ass off in the first quarter i thought he was really really good i thought they had a good shot pacers score 35,25 27 and then 17 that’s called the Thunder having superior will on the defensive end than the Pacers did on the offensive end the Pacers just don’t deal real well with success um 15 turnovers four of them by Nehard only one by Hallebertton somehow i I don’t know how they assess uh turnovers because Hallebertton made passes that were intercepted on the regular i mean I I don’t know that makes no sense to me uh Miles Turner was 0 for six shooting threes tyrese Hallebertton was one for seven shooting threes and the one he made was from like Cooko for God’s sake you can’t go over and and I know that like OKC did not shoot well from beyond the arc they were 3 of 17 but the Pacers being 11 of 36 in large part because of the 1 for13 from Turner and Hallebertton absolutely critical to to what happened in this game turner with 12 Seakum with 20 where was Seakkum late like goodness sake SGA is ruining He’s ruining basketball for the Pacers he sure as hell is i’ll tell you what is there a mid-range shot that Shay Gilchis Alexander takes that you don’t think okay buckets like he just does not miss he creates space with contact while maintaining balance and shooting 12-footers and knocking them down without a miss he is just extraordinary to me um uh on the other end uh you know what not a lot of in fact a whole lot of not great shooting by Oklahoma City but you know what Jaylen Williams and Shane Gilis Alexander 21 for 21 from the line how about that action uh speaking of action Doris Burke jeez Pete stop stating the obvious incorrectly if you’re going to state the obvious state it accurately could you bars media says “Why is shoving off not not an offensive foul all of a sudden Brenson and SGA are making a living off it they don’t call it they they they try to exert some equinimity between the offensive player and the defensive player the defensive player is allowed contact with one hand right offensive player they kind of allow the same thing that was a refed game sga pushoff never called but it’s never called i I don’t disagree with you i I think it was an awful officiated game i think the the flagrant that was assessed I thought that that was ridiculous and and not accurate i agree with Steve Jav uh Jody Shelton says if SGA is fading away from the elbow buckets all game long he didn’t miss never should have lost this game this is the game if they come back and again the Pacers have not lost back-to-back games going back to March 10th it’s been a minute since they lost back-to-back games so this series while not over it would certainly take a heroic uh act of basketball in game five on Monday night to get this thing right and to get this thing 3-2 in favor of the Pacers and allow them to get it done on their home court on Thursday joe Lawson says “This one stings but how does SGA get away with that push off every time?” time he’s definitely the MVP but it doesn’t make sense so bad for basketball i I think he’s one of the few guys who can do it he gets low he creates contact with the shoulder bounces off elevates and and has through the force of his mass through his momentum creates that space and and a smart defender like Nebard because Nebard’s been on him a lot you saw it in game one was it game one where Nemhard came out challenged but never got his hands up nmith brought the hand down or put the hand left hand on the right shoulder and and that’s that’s two foul shots for Gil Alexander because that’s what he does that’s how he makes his living that’s how he earns MVPs but that officiating crew was hot garbage they were terrible and you know if you watch this I don’t say that like ever blaming the officials is weak weak weak and uh you know what but accurate this time so I I stand by it and if that’s offensive I’m sorry hartinstein absolutely taken away he scored two points dort was six but Dort changes stuff you know and it it in fact he changes everything he changes everything that the Pacers try to do offensively when he’s on Hallebertton you you you have to screen and screen and screen to try to get Hallebertton free and try to get a switch from the Thunder to allow Hallebertton to be three and and it doesn’t happen all the time joey says “Uh guys need to pull the chair on SGA i want to see him fall on his ass trying to push off.” I I’m with you i remember uh Scotty Pippen doing that to Mark Jackson in the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals in game two and the the crowd in Chicago minus me loved it they thought it was hilarious nah what are you going to do yeah I you know what Corey I kind of agree with that the the enthusiasm with which the ESPN crew kind of lavishes praise upon the Thunder just really ridiculous completely ridiculous uh gritty gritty how are you did anyone see the pic of Stephen A playing solitire on his phone at the game what a joke he was absolutely true i saw it myself not surprising he doesn’t know anything he’s just good at at at staking out a position and riding that position to great wealth and good they have to pay him so much they have to fire 15 producers great good for Stephen A smith that’s wonderful and you watch him you do and you and you we got 498 people watching right now this shame on you for watching that crap in the morning shame on you for talking about it shame on you for helping him build his brand by doing exactly the thing that he wants you to do and that’s talk about him he’s going to get more mileage this is not a criticism of gritty at all but he he is going to get more mileage out of that picture of him playing solitire at this game he gets mileage out of everything the more you feed that buffoon attention the more he profits from it so don’t do that let this guy if you don’t feed him he dies his professional life will be over but you’re going to feed him and you’re going to feed him and you’re going to feed him and you’re going to make ESPN look like they’re smart for employing him because he’s the only guy that anybody talks about those nimrods in the Dumb and Dumber tuxes you don’t think Stephen A smith doesn’t love that you don’t think Kendrick Perkins doesn’t love that of course they do stop it drain the oxygen from the room and they go away keep feeding them oxygen in the form of your critique and they flower that’s the way it works i’m telling you from a from experience in media management on a scale of one to five one being I hate that guy and five being I love that guy all you care about are ones and fives you value them the same as a manager bunch of ones cool I’m in bunch of fives and a bunch of ones great bunch of threes you’re fired that’s the way media is i don’t normally complain about refs i’m just not that guy but there were so many game altering bad calls it was a hard game to watch at times totally agree Matt and now you got to go play game five and if you win game five you get two bites and there you go you know that’s kind of where we are with this thing uh on a night like tonight 15 turnovers didn’t kill you but it wasn’t great uh Pacers surprisingly were within five in terms of the number of free throws taken 3835 or 3833 but uh down nine in free throws made because the Pacers only made 25 and the the Thunder made 34 so it it always comes down to math you know you can look at the box score when the Pacers have to fight from behind pacers can be really good they do gritty fun stuff when they’re when they’re fighting from ahead they don’t seem to fight nearly as hard bars Media says “I just want a sweat uh center who rebounds and doesn’t chuck threes.” I don’t mind the chucking of the threes when the threes go in but if if Miles Turner goes 0 for six from beyond the ark that’s that’s a game you’re going to have a tough time winning you can’t win that i I read a piece by my Turner in the Players Tribune today the great George Bremer uh retweeted it or or had the uh link in a tweet that he offered and so I read it and I really like Miles Turner but I I still he is the one part of this equation that just doesn’t fit easily to me you know as you try to prove a theorem right you you whack at it in a bunch of different ways and you keep coming you you’ve got the equation working this way that way and and eventually you find like I know anything about what I’m talking about i’ve never proven a theorem who am I goodwill Hunting for God’s sake i’m Matt Damon you know you like apples how these apples whatever but he’s that number that just kind that variable that doesn’t fit easily with what this team tries to do but it did it came down to that that stretch and I’ll get the exact time because I’m really curious about it myself but Pacers were up 10 was it Were they up 10 in the f maybe it was in the third it must have been in the third so we’ll see when that was but they were up 10 and And they had three possessions with an opportunity to really stretch this thing out uh there’s 82 8676 all right with two minutes 208 left in the third Obie makes a dunk on a Pascal Seakum assist and it was awesome really awesome right great play i’m trying I think I’m behind one comment so I’m trying to trying to I can’t find it anyway um I don’t want to miss any is the point um so with 208 they’re up 10 then there’s an 8-second turnover which is a beautiful thing it wasn’t back court as it turned out it was an 8-second turnover mcconnell missed a 14-ft pullup that would have put him up by 12 pacers get the rebound obie Topphen misses uh both free throws all right so that could have put him up 12 that was off the miss so that really doesn’t count gilchess Alexander misses a driving floating shot mathan with rebound siaka misses a 16point shot or 16 ft shot gilchis Alexander misses a 13-foot pullup shot seakum with the rebound seakka misses the shot this is what I’m talking about they had that opportunity uh from 208 left to 39.1 left where they could have kind of put this thing away salted it away gone up by 16 and they couldn’t get it done offensively those were three humongous moments in that game you think uh Pacers need to change lineup in game five no i would not overreact in that way and I guarantee Rick Carile will not he won’t and people are going to praise you know the the Thunder for starting Hartinstein and going away from that lineup that they had had and that’s ridiculous too up 10 then one point over the next six possessions that was it to me that was the game it wasn’t Matan at the end if I’m going to blame Matherine then as the root cause of Matine’s problems I got to blame Nesmith because Nesmith found out on just an absolutely silly foul that guy he’s he’s starting to get it he’s figuring it out nesmith is going to be a really really good B championship level contributing basketball player and this isn’t over so maybe he does it this year but you can’t have you can’t have him do that kind of thing that foul on SGA that I’ve talked about a bunch where that left arm is on Shay Gilchious Alexander’s right shoulder because that means RP is going to come right through and get the foul called and you know they’re going to call the foul you know that and then you’re sitting on your ass instead of being the hero on the other end knocking down threes and maybe raising hell enough defensively to cause a steal instead Matine’s got to come in into a situation with which he is just not familiar and what’s he do he misses two free throws he makes one free throw after missing a third free throw and he commits two dead ball fouls that lead to free buckets three free throws without any time coming off the clock and then the Thunder get the ball back you can’t have that you can’t do that matine is such a gifted basketball player for God’s sake but you don’t want him on the floor in the last minute for the first time in a high leverage game four uh PJ says the media will have this series over now for Indie but I think they can win in seven they’ve already proven that they can win on the road keep positive you know what they could win game five who the hell knows i think these two teams are very very equivalent i do i I just think that tonight the Pacers with a chance to grab that thing grab you know it’s right there in front of you and you can’t hold on to it and it’s tragic and hopefully it winds up being a like game four is an afterthought because they win five and then they win six and and we have a big parade that’ be awesome but man did they just make it harder on themselves tonight golly geez and and the Thunder if you had any kind of question as to whether they were capable of closing a game they closed that game tonight didn’t they all right you You got to still have hope but we’re not ringing the bell i tried everything I could every anti-jinx every you know everything had it all working and and it it only worked for like three and a half quarters and and then with with two minutes left in that third quarter game in hand you you kind of had the thing and and you let it go what are you going to do not necess You know what i I’m with you that the refs sucked refs were really bad tonight no question about it and the crowd was right to let them know they were bad but the refs didn’t lose that game for the Pacers pacers lost that game for the Pacers pacers still had a good chance to win that thing with two minutes left right with two minutes left you were still easily in this game and and what you wound up with was uh utter disappointment you know Pacers scored 17 in the fourth quarter uh Pacers were up by four with 609 left we we move ahead just like Lindsay Nelson used to with uh Notre Dame football uh they were still up a point with 234 left and then you had that u that step back 14-footer from Shay Gil Alexander he’s a badass i don’t know whether that was key and Joey I get what you’re saying and Doris Burke was all over this but God almighty man makes me want to cloth my ears honest to God listening to her analyze basketball and hey Richard Jefferson know better whoever Whoever at ESPN put those two together they have no chemistry whatsoever that person should be fired immediately that person is truly the loser of this series here’s your milkshake money jeffree says “Enjoy your weekend see you on Monday night.” Absolutely having Colts Pats flashbacks okc shot 17% from three and they still won hey Hallebertton and Turner hit one of 11 wait one of 13 threes and the Pacers still had a chance to win all right but and it wasn’t that it wasn’t the missed threes that gave the Pacers the opportunity to win the missed threes were part of the defensive excellence of the Pacers that lasted for you know the defense kind of never went away right uh it did a little bit in the fourth 3117 same exact difference uh in the fourth quarter in game three but it went the Pacers way gary Morris says “I’m so damn mad i am too.” And you should be and and these guys you know what this is especially gling for old guys because old guys have been there and they’ve had that moment there’s a great movie called American Flyers with Kevin Cosner and this other guy and their brothers and they’re bicycle racers road racers on bicycles ray Don Chung’s in the movie Alexander Paul really nice movie and uh from the 80s and Kevin Cosner shows his brother this tape of him in this what’s it called like hell of the west or something like that is the race and he says here’s where I lost and he’s riding he’s riding he’s riding and he looks down he goes that’s when I lost there’s a moment and and they’ll all remember individually the moment when they contributed to the loss of this game when they chose X instead of Y and it led to that loss benedict Mathan is going to ru this game so will uh Nmith so will Nebart so will Hallebertton so will Seakam all of it mcconnell all of these guys anybody who committed a foul tonight anybody who turned the ball over anybody who missed a shot Obie Topphen missing those two foul shots that could have put the Pacers up 12 those guys are going to take those moments if cuz this series isn’t over if they don’t win two of the next three they will take those moments to their graves that’s how important those moments are really important the good part of this and this is the reflective circumspect part of this but it was uh brought up by my wife during the game otherwise I don’t think I’d think of this until the series actually ended because of this experience playing in this series and getting over the hump in the Eastern Conference Finals this is going to be a much better team come 2526 and 2627 when almost all these guys are still under contract so Turner’s going to be a free agent you got to kind of figure that out if you’re the Indiana Pacers you got to figure it out what if it it’s kind of like being the anti-nicks the way the Knicks are dealing with their job search you know it was aim or uh fire ready aim right was the beginning of that job search they fired Tibido without having any idea who they’re going to hire if if you’re going to let Miles Turner walk or if you’re going to sign and trade Miles Turner you’ve got to figure out who you’re going to put in the pivot right who are you going to replace him with who’s going to be an upgrade in order to replace him you have to ask yourself that question and you have to have a really good answer for it if you’re going to let him walk out the door otherwise you go to Herb and say “Pretty please pretty please can we go over the luxury threshold can we can we can we?” And then Herb’s going to make his call it’s Herb’s that’s Herb’s decision and it’s always been Herb’s decision so we’ll see what happens anyway I hope you have a great night don’t let this wreck your weekend all right have a nice time tomorrow night have a nice time father’s Day on Sunday enjoy that and then Monday we’re right back at it let’s go all right wait you know what i want to say one more thing because we never talk about this guy and this is my fault as much as anybody else’s we don’t talk about Pascal Seakkum and Pack Pascal Seakum played out of his mind for a good portion of the game uh 20 points eight boards five assists five steals he played really good basketball tonight he is one of those unheralded guys what he does is never it’s never spectacular and so we don’t talk a lot about him a lot we talk about Hallebertton who would if if they had won this game tonight and then they go to OKC and I don’t know they win one of the next three depending on what happens and how I know that there are a lot of unknowns but who would be your MVP would it be Hallebertton or would it be Siakum Seakum was the MVP and I think rightly so of the Eastern Conference Finals and we spend no time talking about him zero and and I I can’t figure I don’t think he cares i don’t think it it damages his brand to the extent that he cares about building one i mean if you’re making as much money as he is a year then what do you care about brand like what are you going to do you know you you hell Halbertton’s going out to you know Fischer Imports or whatever and and getting a car you know for a couple of spots why i don’t know he could walk in there with cash and buy every car on the lot so like brand value brand value it doesn’t make any difference but um we should talk about him and we should say things that are are praiseful of him because he is really really a good basketball player and he’s built himself into one beginning at the age of 17 miles is playing himself out of a deal in Indie i think he’s costing himself a lot of money tell you the truth and and I think that at some point I I and I think he is pragmatic i don’t think Herb Simon’s pragmatic i think Herb Simon indulges in love he was a really good There was a good yin and yang with Herb and Mel right mel Simon was like you know fire this guy today and the next day give him an extension hottempered right that kind of fan of the team that he owned herb is much more kind of you know reserved and and loving and and while he’s certainly willing to make tough decisions he’s a loving guy that’s who he is he loves giving toys to kids at Christmas he loves being a part of that with his friend with with that toy company and they they’ve always got thousands of toys for kids and he loves that that’s who he is but at some point you got to be a shark right you got to be coldblooded and you have to assess with pragmatics and not with love in your heart for a player you enjoy watching donnie Walsh was great at that by the way really good at knowing kind of when to bring him in and when to send him out and Miles Turner man I would be again if you’re making that it’s easy to say fire Miles that’s easy but who you going to go get who’s going to be better than him and who you going to get who knows everything that’s going on i thought he played out of his mind in the first quarter i thought he was great i thought he he was the principal reason that the Colts after the first quarter had that uh 3534 lead and had led by seven in that quarter i thought it was Miles so uh yeah you can’t miss the free throws you can’t turn it over stupid and you can’t commit bad fouls and at some point it’s going to bite you in the ass and tonight all three happened and it bit him in the ass so what are you going to do again how about that tyrese Hallebert and 15 shots with 16 shots Pacers undefeated and this goes back into the regular season a bunch of games too 15 and less not so much and tonight uh Hallebertton seven of 15 from the field one of seven from downtown three of three from the line his first free throws of the series seven assists that’s just not good enough if you’re going to be a great player if you want to be first team all NBA that can’t be your line in a high leverage game four in the NBA finals it just can’t so hopefully he comes back in game five that’s what usually happens and you get one in OKC we’ll see i think it’s going to be a fun game it’s going to be interesting i can’t wait to watch it

Bennedict Mathurin screwed up late, but he never should have been on the floor.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might one day miss a contested mid-range jumper.
Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner were a combined 1-13 from three.