Official Game Thread: Pacers at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“How many points can we allow in THIS quarter?”

 

Hey Siri. Has any NBA team ever plunked 150 regulation points, or more, on an opponent at least three times in a single season?

Siri? SIRI?

Sorry, folks. I think I may have broken Siri’s brain.

The Indiana Pacers have a chance to do this three times in a row, at the expense of the Hawks, and for the second straight time at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena tonight (Check yo local listings!!! CBS Atlanta, Peachtree TV and 92.9 FM in ATL, Bally Sports Indiana).

I should have just checked Pacers GameNotes instead. No NBA team has ever met-or-exceeded the 150 points mark on more than four occasions in NBA history. West, Wilt and Goodrich’s 1971-72 world champion Lakers, and Iceman and Special K’s 1978-79 ECF Finalist Spurs, crossed the threshold four times, each team versus four separate foes.

After beating Wemby’s Spurs, 152-111 in early November, then the Hawks in both mid-November (157-152) and last Friday (150-116), Indiana stands ready to make history. Should they settle for just 140 or so, the Pacers still get one more crack at the Hawks in mid-April’s season finale in Indianapolis.

Breaking the buck-fitty barrier again, though, will prove tougher for coach Rick Carlisle’s club in the near-term, not so much having to do with what the Hawks (15-21) bring to the fray.

First-place Boston disrupted Indiana’s six-game win streak a day after the Pacers blitzed the Hawks on Saturday, holding the hosts to a mere 101 points. But Indy would get a second-straight shot at the Celtics at the Fieldhouse two nights later. The 2024 All-Star hosts will spend the next month keeping the Fieldhouse floor dry, after their probable All-Star sensation, Tyrese Haliburton, slipped and strained a hamstring shortly before halftime of the payback match.

Up 60-54 at the time, the Celts, who sat out All-Star Jayson Tatum to heal up a sprained ankle, would widen their lead to 11. But Jaylen Brown couldn’t quite put away the pesky Pacers, who used an inspired sprint from its bench brigade of Bennedict Mathurin (37 combined bench points this season vs. ATL, most among non-Haliburtons aside from Myles Turner’s 38), Buddy Hield, and T.J. McConnell to surge back into the contest. With 44 third-quarter points, Indiana seized the lead and fought to secure the 133-131 victory.

It’s not quite clear how long Indiana will have to make do without Haliburton (expected to miss a couple weeks after his diagnosed Grade 1 hammy strain, with an update coming possibly sometime next week). Even after beating the Wizards in the follow-up game against the Celtics, it’s not quite clear that what the Pacers (22-15) were experiencing wasn’t a dead-cat bounce.

Atlanta’s opponent tomorrow, the Wizards held, if you will, Indiana to just, if you will, 112 points in its eight-point loss at Indy (104 points allowed tying IND’s season-best). Whether or not the Hawks help provide some clarification on the fatal-feline theory tonight, there remains reason to believe the catnip the Pacers have enjoyed might run out soon.

In addition to feasting on defenses like the Hawks’, Indiana has been able to drill down on their divisional foes (9-2), including the Bucks (4-1), while avoiding taking too many trips out West. Their seven games versus NBA West foes, at 3-4, is matched as an NBA-low only by Milwaukee.

The Pacers have 7 of their league-low 13 back-to-back sets remaining, and three of the six they’ve played, like last weekend’s games versus the Hawks and Celtics, were home-home. That cozy travel schedule, with no trips beyond the Central and Eastern time zones, concludes after today’s final horn.

While Haliburton hurries to heal up, Indiana heads out immediately after this game to Denver, extending this six-game road trip with five Western opponents. Sunday and MLK Monday, it’s Nuggets and Jazz on a back-to-back. Thursday-Friday, it’s Kings and Blazers. The only time Indiana has had a full road back-to-back, in mid-December, they lost by double digits at 3-20 Washington (137-123) and Minnesota (127-109, as Haliburton rested a bruised knee, and the Pacers arrived from D.C. late for their third game in four nights).

Once they depart for home from Phoenix on Sunday, the Nuggets will be waiting for them for a homestand that includes the Suns, again, and the 76ers, perhaps with Joel Embiid upright again. Back to back. Later, they’ll close out this month and kickstart February with garden trips, to Boston and red-hot New York.

The Hawks could do their part to trip up the Pacers before their arduous trip kicks in. That is, if they can figure out a way to keep Haliburton’s replacements from running up the score. One of the few teams with more home-home back-to-backs this season than the Pacers, Atlanta (with an NBA-high 11, to Indy’s 8), can finally begin to drill down on defensive precepts from the comfort of their Brookhaven practice facility.

Better late than never, but the Hawks began to sink their teeth into the Embiid-less 76ers in their 139-132 thriller on Wednesday evening at The Farm. Philly’s supporting cast tried to bleed out the Hawks with 1,000 cuts to the hoop earlier in the game, but Atlanta adjusted enough to make Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris (24 of PHI’s final 26 points) feel like they were going 2-on-5 the rest of the way. The Sixers were “held”, if you will, to 27 fourth-quarter points, then denied access to the paint and the hoop by the Clint Capela-less Hawks, producing a mere 7 points in the overtime session (Clint has been upgraded to probable, after missing the Sixer game with his sore Achilles).

Making Maxey overwork early on the defensive end paid dividends late as Philly’s lead scorer fouled out of the contest, his Sixers up 132-129 with 100 seconds remaining. As Jalen Johnson hit a big three-pointer to cap an amazing night (25 points, 3-for-4 3FGs, 6-for-6 FTs, 16 boards incl. 14 D-Rebs, 7 dimes, 2 blocks) and as he and Trae Young (probable for tonight, sore shoulder) made their OT freebies, Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu (19 points, 11 rebounds incl. 6 O-Rebs, 2 blocks) ensured Philly wouldn’t score again.

Coming off the bench for Haliburton’s replacement (second-year guard Andrew Nembhard, 6-2 as a Pacers starter) in the Pacers’ starting five, McConnell (10 assists and 3 steals in 23 bench minutes vs. ATL on Jan. 5) won’t feel as overtaxed as Maxey was on defense. Key for the Hawks will be ensuring that the high-tempo Pacers cannot get going with easy transition and fastbreak scores.

Indiana, like Philadelphia, will find keeping Johnson and Atlanta out of the paint tougher this go-round, particularly if Obi Toppin returns full-time to the starting five while Jalen Smith (questionable vs. ATL) heals a sore back. Toppin offset his usual defensive woes by going 3-for-6 on threes (teammates 5-for-20) versus Washington, and the Hawks must ensure he doesn’t artificially inflate Indiana’s tally tonight by parking himself in the corners (career-best 42.6 corner 3FG%), anticipating open looks while the Hawks scramble to double Turner.

November’s 157-152 game in Atlanta was a springboard for the Pacers’ dash to the middle of the NBA East standings, and a depth charge for the water-treading Hawks. Will a renewed sense of occasional defensive aptitude, help Atlanta look more like a team worth taking Siri-ously during their homestand?

Will the Pacers’ foreboding sense of the schedule to come, and the lingering uncertainty of Haliburton’s status, stop Indiana from being taken Siri-ously? Will Atlanta Siri-oulsy allow another 150-burger tonight, anyway, while those wascally, wested Wizards await their turn tomorrow, watching this game from right up the street?

Siri? Google? Alexa? ChatGPT? Is there any not-a-body out there?

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[HawksNWaffles]

It's time for the dub

[lethalweapon3]

The Race to 1,000 Threes continues tonight. Bogi (149th all-time) now needs one to fall, while Trae (150th) needs two. If they can find it within themselves to get to triple #1,003, they'll pass your friend, and mine, Danny Ainge at 148th.

While 2T Matthews is out with a strained calf, 1T Mathews has been upgraded to Questionable (sprained ankle) ahead of tonight's action. Pacers rookie Jarace Walker is Out with one of those take-your-pick respiratory things flying around, while Aaron Nesmith (sore shin) and Jalen JustSmith (sore back) remain Questionable as of the 4:30 Boo-Boo Report.

 

~lw3

[JeffS17]

Anyone seen an injury report for this game? 

[JayBirdHawk]

6 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

Anyone seen an injury report for this game? 

From yesterday 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Dnice]

I usually peek in on Twitter, but knowing they're not on Bally, it could  be a good thing, can't get annoyed as much.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Chrimturn]

I hope there isn’t a let down with all this trade chatter.  Put the game face on and take it to these chumps.  Time to run it back.

Edited January 13 by Chrimturn

[hawkman]

Had to sign up for a League Pass free trial to watch this game. It better be worth it. Who am I kidding? I'm cancelling the subscription regardless. 

[kg01]

1 minute ago, hawkman said:

Had to sign up for a League Pass free trial to watch this game. It better be worth it. Who am I kidding? I'm cancelling the subscription regardless. 

What channel is this on?  CBS? 

[JayBirdHawk]

Look at Trae fronting the post . Caused an Offensive foul...nice.

Just now, kg01 said:

What channel is this on?  CBS? 

ANF and Peachtree TV

[kg01]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

Look at Trae fronting the post . Caused an Offensive foul...nice.

Tray don't play defentz tho.... 

[hawkman]

Just now, kg01 said:

What channel is this on?  CBS? 

Not sure. I can only watch Hawks games via Bally in Augusta GA. 

[JayBirdHawk]

OMG...they gave Trae the And1 

[JayBirdHawk]

Bey...start out missing his 1st freethrow 

[hawkman]

Bey is becoming a liability out there on both ends.

[JayBirdHawk]

Bey...

We are too small with OO/Bey vs Turner/Smith....c'mon Quin.

[RedDawg#8]

Wondering who will be the first to blame Trae for that run the Pacers just went on while he was sitting on the bench lol