Official Game Thread: Pacers at Hawks -- IST Game #3

[lethalweapon3]

“Buddy. Sweep the Leg.”

“WHAT? But we’re OU alu--”

“I said, Make. Trae. FEEL. You.”

 

We all want it for the Atlanta Hawks, this IST thing the NBA has going on right now.

We want to see them all coalesce around the franchise pillar, top-four in compiled assists in each of his first five seasons, including the shortened Bubble season, and counting, into one with a positively competitive spirit led by its golden-egg-laying goose.

We want to see those in charge of issuing NBA accolades, and staffing nationally representative rosters, that are so quick to be dismissive of this rugged, productive, highlight-creating superstar, in favor of more sizable and defensive-minded bucket-makers like the Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton, or the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson (thanks in part to Atlanta, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week), to have reasons for second thoughts.

We want to see Atlanta, under the stewardship of its new coach, become a reliable top-level seed in the NBA East. We want to see them defeat lesser competition more handily, and to come out on top versus the East’s top rivals, at home, more frequently.

We want to see the Hawks, someday soon, be accepted as more than a mere troublemaker on occasion.

We all want these things for Trae Young’s Hawks, and for Atlanta. But we cannot have these things, if all of us, together, want it more than Trae wants these things himself.

IST Game #3 tips off in a few hours, and Haliburton (NBA-high 11.6 APG; career-bests 23.5 PPG, 43.2 3FG%, 93.6 FT%) is preparing for another coronation.

Tyrese is a spry 23 years of age. He is in his fourth year in The Association, his third as a starter after Sacramento had second thoughts about how well he’d mesh with another since-coronated star, De’Aaron Fox (Player of the Week in the Western Conference). Haliburton was a first-time All-Star last season, and a first-time FIBA World Cup participant for Team USA, alongside Brunson.

Tonight, on the Hawks’ bluish State Farm Arena floor (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Indiana), Haliburton’s Pacers are on the verge of going undefeated in IST East Group A, a cinch once the scene shifts to Friday and Cade Cunningham’s Pistons pay Indiana a visit.

It would be a significant validation, of sorts, for Rick Carlisle, now in his third-straight season there after coaching the Pacers way back in 2003-07 and previously an assistant under Larry Bird from 1997-2000, to show that, unlike one prior Pacers head coach, the game isn’t passing him by.

It would be a pleasant redemption, of sorts, for Carlisle’s lead assistant, Trae’s first NBA head coach, to bid adieu to Atlanta victorious, arm-in-arm with the league’s new flavor-of-the-month at the point guard shop.

Around the league, among all the ball-knowers, Tyrese Haliburton is heralded, feared, revered. And the next time he wins a playoff game will be the first time.

“The In-Season Tournament is probably the first time that I’m really competing to win a championship on the NBA level,” the former Iowa State standout acknowledged. “I’ve never made the playoffs or anything, so right here it gives me the chance to be able to do that, and that’s exciting for me.”

Trae was entering his third season as the starting PG, and lead ballhandler, when hopes were high that a rested, recalibrated roster was finally ready to make its surge up the East standings. But then there were inexplicably bad losses, to teams like the Hornets and the Magic, and especially in front of the home faithful, where calls were coming for Lloyd Pierce’s coaching head.

Some of those calls were coming from inside the house, too. Trae had a strong hand in jettisoning LP, the Hawks scrambling to make-do with his trusty lead assistant. After squeezing all the juice he could out of that relationship, Young sent Nate McMillan packing for the hinterlands, too.

Now Pierce gets to sit back and watch his Pacers (finally topping the NBA in Pace, 104.3 possessions-per-48) draw all the positive ink, with an unquestioning Haliburton (5.12 assist/TO ratio, 3^rd among NBA starters, ahead of Tyrese Maxey’s 4.84) handling the rock.

It’s not as if Indiana (7-5) hasn’t had unacceptable losses. They handed a reprieve to the Chicago Bulls, not long after the visitors’ infamous players-only meeting. They watched Haliburton, despite 43-and-12, get his pocket picked in the closing seconds to lose at home to LaMelo Ball’s Hornets. With Haliburton out to rest an ankle, they gave up a whopping 155 points in Boston (most by a Celtics team since 1959), losing by 51 (worst losing margin since 1977).

Most recently, the Pacers had four off-days prior to a home game. Yet even with Haliburton back, they blew that game, too, getting out-rebounded on Sunday by a Magic team that is without Wendell Carter and losing 128-116 at the Fieldhouse. You'll hear no cries of "He too little!", though, when it comes to Tyrese.

As much as Young’s Hawks get derided for their team defense already slipping back into the league’s bottom-ten (115.2 D-Rating, 21^st in NBA), Haliburton’s Pacers are quietly bottom-five (118.4, 26^th in NBA). It’s a similar case for Clint Capela’s and Onyeka Okongwu’s OOpsies while pursuing vital rebounds in the clutch for the Hawks (69.4 D-Reb%, 25^th in NBA), when Myles Turner’s Pacers (69.3 D-Reb%, 27^th in NBA) sit right there below Atlanta. Quietly.

That’s because Haliburton provides his team an ample muffler. Visiting Philly with a pair of games last week, Indiana split with Maxey’s Sixers, behind their Tyrese’s two-game combo of 58 points (10-for-14 on twos, 10-for-18 on threes, 8-for-9 FTs), 32 assists, 4 steals, a pair of blocks, and as many turnovers as you, Bob Rathbun, and I, over 75 minutes.

Teams across the NBA East have scoured the NBA West for ballhandling backcourt talent after watching Ice Trae’s outright sorcery in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. The Pacers gave up Domantas Sabonis for a chance to kick the training wheels off of Haliburton. Cleveland got off the lottery hamster wheel after springing Donovan Mitchell free from Utah.

The Knicks guessed there was only enough room in Dallas for one ball-hogger, securing Brunson’s coach-daddy before tossing a 2025 second-rounder into the tamper hamper while signing Jalen with a free agent deal. Milwaukee, under cover of night, made Miami have to settle for Kyle Lowry by snatching Damian Lillard from the Blazers.

While Philly tush-pushed Ben Simmons, and later James Harden, painfully out of town in hopes of Maxey emerging to become their main guy, Boston pulled Derrick White out of San Antonio in time for 2022’s Finals run, then made sure Jrue Holiday’s stay in Portland would be short.

All of those wheeling and dealing NBA East teams, plus Gary Harris’ Magic, are teams the Hawks (6-6) are presently looking up at in the full conference standings. They, like the Celts, sought out a Spur in 2022 to help balance out the backcourt, in Dejounte Murray (13 points in each of Atlanta’s last two homestand losses, versus NYK and PHI; 1-for-3 combined FTs, 5 assists, 4 TOs, minus-34 in past two games). Boston is satisfied that they’ve got the right one.

The media-driven appeal for Young is all tied to, “YOU JUST GOT YOUR SEASON ENDED BY…”, “YOU JUST GOT FLOORED BY…”, “YOU WERE JUST HANDED A 40-PIECE BY…” ((insert Hello Bello diaper-baby picture)). But you can only get away with clowning the De’Anthony Meltons for so long before the fun feeling fades away. Giving the Lillards, the Maxeys, the Holidays and Haliburtons their comeuppance is what draws the most meaningful double-takes, and the better hot-takes.

With all the smoke clearing, where does Trae now stand among the top point guards in the NBA, within the East, or eligible for Team USA? The point behind all this managerial movement is to ensure nobody ever has to bother ranking him at all, to render all of his ankle-breaking, fancy-passing, long-range sniping irrelevant. That is, until some Big Market or Big Culture club decides they’ll tumble for him and rings Landry Fields’ cellie seeking out a bargain.

If things are going to work out, for Trae and Atlanta, it’ll be because of Young (last three games, all home Ls: 35.6 FG%, 26.3 3FG%, 1.7 RPG, 13.7 APG but 4.0 TOs/game) personally stepping up, not just in the boxscores, but with his squirrelly voice inspiring and guiding Murray, De’Andre Hunter, Capela and their teammates to remain focused and do their jobs exceptionally well. To storm on the court, not off.

Young must be the one player getting in the bigs’ ears before they can permit the Sixers to tally 13 offensive boards, leading to 28 second-chance points in Friday’s 126-116 defeat. Either of Young, or Coach Quin Snyder, leaping in on behalf of the literally fallen Hunter to accost the referees after a screwjob call spreads the tech-love around, and likely keeps Hunter on the floor as another half-hearted Hawks contester when the (supposedly important) IST game’s outcome hangs in the balance.

A fourth-straight defeat tonight wouldn’t be as embarrassing as, say, the Aints running roughshod over the Failcons around the corner as Ryan Cameron, Greg Street, Big Tigger, Big TOOMP, Big Kuntry, Big Boi, Big Oomp, Big Bank, Bonecrusher, T.I., Killer Mike, Luda, Quavo, CeeLo, Tag Team, Youngbloodz, Yung Joc, Yung LA, Yung Ralph, Young Nudy, Young Scooter, Pastor Troy, Jermaine Dupri, Hitman Sammy Sam (“I’mma Call yo mama!” “CALL my mama!”), Da Brat, Dem Franchize Boyz, Rich Homie Quan, Bubba Sparxxx and friends watch from Arthur Blank’s emptied PSLs in honor of HipHop50.

(If any of dem big, yung, rich crushers and killers can wrap up a scurrying part-time astronaut in the open field, I vow to buy their next mixtape. Shoot, even Arrested Development. Desmond and the Dirty Birds, please don’t have your fans singing “Take me to another place!” by the third quarter. Arthur Smith, help me understand your plan!)

But the NBA’s most valuable players on and off the hardwood motivate their teammates to look at the importance of seizing the day and winning games, like tonight’s, as more valuable than just trying to avoid losing. A potential half-million dollars in Wesley Matthews and Garrison Mathews’ pockets are on the line today, and that should be enough reason to keep Trae and the Hawks’ eyes on the IST prize.

With IST eligibility on the line, in front of a hungry home crowd, today is Another Day, Another Opportunity, for Trae Young to chisel his rightful place in the Mount Rushmore of the NBA’s premier and most coveted point guards, superstars, and leaders. While other Opportunities in the foreseeable future may arise, there may not be better ones. And these Days are already starting to look like sands through the hourglass.

 

It's Fun To Stay at the... Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

While AJ joins Ko-B and Easy Mo G on the shelf, the sole non-two-way Pacer whose status is up-for-grabs is Andrew Nembhard (sore back), who missed the Magic game on Sunday.

Pacers' GameNotes points out the 128-116 loss to Orlando snapped a seven-game run of 120+ points, the longest streak in NBA franchise history (not sure about ABA-era). Myles Turner's next two triples will move him ahead of ABA star Billy Keller for fourth in all-time Pacer-made threes. With Paul George, Danny Granger and Reggie Miller next on the list, 4th is about where Turner will stay, until Buddy Hield catches him.

While his had his share of cracks at the top spot, Rick Carlisle is two wins away from tying Frank Vogel for the most NBA wins as a Pacers coach.

The Hawks won the last two of three meetings in 2022-23. Capela had 17 rebounds in March's 143-130 win at The Farm, while Okongwu cleared 20 boards in January's 113-111 win at The Fieldhouse.

Indiana's rebounding woes weren't enough to make Carlisle look Daniel Theis' way, so the Team Deutschland star fahrvergnügen'd his way out of town. He helped the Clippers right-size their ship yesterday with 19-and-7 after the last Wednesday's buyout from the Pacers.

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

36 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

As much as Young’s Hawks get derided for their team defense already slipping back into the league’s bottom-ten (115.2 D-Rating, 21^st in NBA), Haliburton’s Pacers are quietly bottom-five (118.4, 26^th in NBA). It’s a similar case for Clint Capela’s and Onyeka Okongwu’s OOpsies while pursuing vital rebounds in the clutch for the Hawks (69.4 D-Reb%, 25^th in NBA), when Myles Turner’s Pacers (69.3 D-Reb%, 27^th in NBA) sit right there below Atlanta. Quietly.

 

38 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

The media-driven appeal for Young is all tied to, “YOU JUST GOT YOUR SEASON ENDED BY…”, “YOU JUST GOT FLOORED BY…”, “YOU WERE JUST HANDED A 40-PIECE BY…” ((insert Hello Bello diaper-baby picture))

[BrazilianHawk]

I don't know what to expect from this game, but GO HAWKS!

Hopefully our 3s will fall tonight.

[HawksNWaffles]

lets get this dub

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

15 minutes ago, HawksNWaffles said:

lets get this dub

 

 

 

[Atlantaholic]

Pacers coming back down to earth a little bit last game. Hopefully they stay cold. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

can we please have a defensive effort tonight?

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

[HawksNWaffles]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Drink it in 

 

 

[lethalweapon3]

"T.J. MCCONNELL CAREER COMEBACK GAME" LOADING...

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

12 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

"T.J. MCCONNELL CAREER COMEBACK GAME" LOADING...

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

Been driving across state./ all day. Thanks lw3. Hawks in a laugher  

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Trae has a Hawksquawk burner account.  Or he reads the site.

Comes out with a 30 footer that he drains.

 

Please keep shooting that shot if they give you space.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

This is crazy what they do to Trae and these shooting fouls.

Ressler needs to take a fine.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

[terrell]

WEak take by Dre there...

Edited November 22, 2023 by terrell

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Point differential

 

Sixers:  +12

Pacers: +11

Cavs:  +2

Hawks:  -4

Pistons:  -22

 

Hawks need 2 wins, with one of them needing to be a double digit win . . . hopefully vs this team.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

5 minutes ago, terrell said:

WEak shit by Dre there...

At least he made up for it with that 3.