Tag: haliburton

Caitlin Clark Returns, Pacers and Thunder in the NBA Finals and Asheville Recommendations

On this week’s episode, Caitlin Clark Return to Indiana Fever, it’s two games each for the Pacers and the Thunder in the NBA Finals and Anne gives quick recommendations for Switzerland and I do Asheville on the Torg Stories Podcast.

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Happy Father’s Day!

  1. Memory of playing golf on many Father’s Days with Dad at Moss Creek in Winamac, Indiana.
  2. Walk with Megan and Charlotte (don’t think Izzy was born yet) over the Brooklyn Bridge and back.
  3. My Father’s Day requests for today: lift weights and family tree clean up. Fried chicken sandwiches with sliced fried potatoes for dinner.

Caitlin Clark returns to Indiana Fever and they beat the previously undefeated Liberty.

  1. Clark had been out 19 days with a thigh contusion.
  2. Fever go to 5-5 and are in 7th place out of 13. Liberty fall to second place at 9-1 behind the first place Minnesota Lynx. Click here for WNBA standings.
  3. Clark went out with with 5:44 to go in the first and they were down 15-6.
  4. Clark set out for at least twice as many short stretches. Wonder if that’s something to stay with?
  5. Fever were down 21-15. Then these three in 33 seconds: 33 foot running pull up three pointer AND 27 foot three pointers and 31 foot three pointer. Tied up 24-24. Finished the half with 25.

Key Stats:

  1. Sabrina 38 mins and 34 points. Stewart shot 14 free throws
  2. Fever 17-35 from three. Liberty 6-29.

Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Finals:

Feeling Frustrated about the Calls SGA Getting:

  1. That he can push off hard with his forearm all the time.
  2. That he swings his arms to try and draw the foul and that a defender can do everything possible to get out of the way and then they barely touch him and that’s a foul too.

It hurt that Nesmith ended up on SGA a lot late in the game. I’m really enjoying watching Nembhard play. Some Nembhard things I’m enjoying…

  1. Playing with his chest and staying down on SGA.
  2. Chippy with SGA
  3. Lots of ball handling as Dort takes away from what Haliburton is able to do.

Reasons for loss:

  1. Turner went 0-6 from 3. Overall 30% from three not great.
  2. No big scoring game from anyone.
  3. Worried OKC went 3-16 from 3 and won. Got beat 24 on the three point line and won.
  4. Guess I’d say winning at the line by 9 was a major difference. OKC shot 89.5% to Pacers 75.8.
  5. Pacers up 4 with 3:20 to go when SGA hit a three to cut to 1. The Pacers didn’t make a basket after that. They fouled before the ball was inbounded twice. They missed free throws. SGA made shots and free throws. Ball game!

How are you feeling about the Pacers for Monday ?

Some Pacers vs. Thunder statistical trivia…

  1. Who leads Thunder and Pacers in minutes? SGA 158 and Haliburton at 146
  2. Both teams rebounding? Holmgren 37 and Siakam 31, Haliburton 23
  3. Steals? SGA and Caruso with 10. McConnell with 8
  4. Three pointers made: Dort 11 and Caruso 8. Haliburton and Nesmith 10.

Eight Pacers are averaging 9.5 points or more. Can you put them in order?

  1. Siakam 18.8
  2. Haliburton 17.8
  3. Mathurin 13.5
  4. Turner 13.0
  5. Toppin 11.3
  6. Nembhard 10.8
  7. Nesmith 9.8
  8. McConnell 9.5

Anne recommends @C2_Cooper on Pacers Basketball.

Asheville and Switzerland Recommendations:

Anne gives her Switzerland recommendations while I give mine for Asheville.

Lauterbrunnen Valley from Anne’s balcony in Wengen

My friend Klop is going to Asheville with his wife. My wife Megan and I are meeting them for a day:

Two of my favorite areas don’t seem to be open for business. Riverside Drive southwest of downtown. Wedge Brewery, a place where you could pull your kayak up to the riverbank and walk over to relax. Also the Salvage Station further up on Riverside and then Ledges Whitewater Park. We once rafted the entire length of the French Broad River and made a film about it:

We rafted the length of the French Broad River (in sections) as a Family

First, a word on the Biltmore Estate: click here for information. Tickets start at $80. $299 for a pass. (looks like they have the flex pricing) Have to pick a time slot.

Downtown Asheville: 

Parking is tight. I used to park for free on N French Broad near Bee Thai Kitchen (which was really good!) and walk north into town. The Wall Street Garage by the Grove Arcade is a good pay to park spot. The Grove Arcade is a building with a bunch of shops in it and the Wall Street Garage is across from it. 

Interesting to think about how to tell Klop where to go. Do I order things by restaurants and breweries or by what part of town?

Some places downtown that if you walk to these you’ll see some good stuff on the way: 

  1. Battery Park Avenue / Grove Arcade. Malaprop’s bookstore on Walnut then walk down the hill on walnut. Lexington St. both ways lots of stuff. 
  2. College Street intersects with Lexington and lots of stuff. It does not go to UNC Asheville and UNCA is not worth seeing. Maybe more on that later. 
  3. I don’t recommend Tupelo Honey (crowded, expensive) but everyone tries to go there. It’s near Patton and College and they have regular drum circles there and there is often wild stuff going on there. That square is interesting. 
  4. Walking South on Biltmore (it would eventually go to Biltmore) is Wicked Weed which is a great place to sit outside and people watch and then further south Green Man Brewery. Between those two places is the “Orange Peel” which often has good music. 
  5. Asheville Brewing on Coxe (there are two and the other one has a movie theater by college) is close to downtown but not walkable. Lots of cool stuff around there. 
  6. There are the Asheville Tourists. I would not use my time in AVL to go to baseball but you might! LOL. Megan worked there, I think in her 20’s, and spilled a tray of beers on quarter beer night. She just walked out and never went back.  

My favorite hikes somewhat close to Asheville…

  1. Craggy Gardens is the best view we can think of. It is only 1 mile hike. A bit of a drive on Parkway. I have seen bears driving there. 
  2. Graveyard Fields. Off the Parkway. Waterfall down in the valley along the stream. 
  3. Dupont State Forest. The hike isn’t that great but you get to Bridal Veil Falls. The Last of the Mohicans was filmed there. You can walk behind the waterfall. If you go there, check out the small town of Brevard. 
  4. Other cool towns close: Black Mountain. Hendersonville.

Rafting:  Blue Heron Rafting is very good. It’s north of town. Do section 9. 

Grove Park Inn:  Click on the link and look at the view from the restaurant.Best view in Asheville. Presidents including Obama have stayed there. I can’t remember but you might have to pay to park. At least walk around, read the plaques, and have a drink at the bar. Less casual than other places I’ve mentioned. Polo shirt and khaki shorts probably right Klop attire. 

New Belgium Brewery: On the French Broad River. Not too far from downtown. High up on the bank of the river. I really like it and I really liked all the little breweries on the other side of the river that are no longer open. Click here.

West Asheville: Hipster area at Haywood Road and 240. The Admiral is there and that area around there. I made a documentary about Christopher’s Garden in West Asheville but it isn’t there anymore.  

South Asheville: Sierra Nevada Taproom. Click here. My family loves it. It’s huge. Kind of “polished” for me but a really nice outdoor space in back. Live music sometimes. The Baby Bull on the other side of the river looks cool. 

Two places I like to eat not sure where to put them: Rocky’s Hot Chicken. Several locations. White Duck Taco several locations.

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Pacers in NBA Finals, Worried about the Fever, and Reasons for Living in LA and Boone, NC

Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast. On this episode we’re talking about the Pacers in the NBA Finals, deciding if we should worry about the Indiana Fever, and explaining why we live where we live: Boone and Los Angeles.

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We are also a video podcast. See window below:

Indiana Pacers Notes and Discussion Prompts:

From Game 1:

  1. I’ve been harping on how bad team’s sideline out of bounds plays have been. There was no timeout on Haliburton’s game winner. (same with Cleveland game winner)
  2. I texted you 19 turnovers in the first half but I was still hopeful because the game was still somewhat close. Ended with 24 to Thunder 6. Thunder ended with 16 more shots.
  3. With this team, you just keep watching if they are within 20.
  4. Pacers hit 18 threes to Thunder’s 11.
  5. Think these two teams are more even than thought before. Pacers probably won’t shoot that well but they also might not turn the ball over that much. Great chance Dort from OKC won’t hit 5 threes.

We read Ramona Shelburne’s ESPN article titled “Why Tyrese Haliburton’s superstar ascension actually began three years ago.” Click here for article.

  1. We have listeners who will say, I don’t watch the NBA. What would you tell them about Haliburton?
  2. There’s this quote from the article: “This season he has hit an astounding 13-for-15 game-tying or game-winning shots in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime — the best field goal percentage in a single season since play-by-play was first tracked in 1996-97, per ESPN Research.”
  3. It’s understood that if you take these shots, you’re going to miss plenty of them. The thing is to have the courage to keep taking them when you’ve missed. That’s not what is going on here.
  4. When do you first remember noticing Haliburton as an NBA player? For me, it was his appearance on JJ Reddick’s podcast, “Old Man and the Three.”
  5. From trainer Drew Hanlon: “The big quote that we always say is, ‘Sometimes being too unselfish is actually being selfish,'” Hanlen told ESPN Thursday night, as he waited for Haliburton by the Pacers family room in Oklahoma City. “When he’s unselfish, it actually negatively impacts his teammates’ success and negatively impacts his team’s success.The more aggressive he is, the more his team wins.”
  6. I’ve never given a player a goal of shots to take but it makes me think of a couple of high percentage – low volume shooters that maybe I could have done this for.
  7. Haliburton certainly doesn’t sound entitled. It sounds like he is self critical and needs to be pumped up occasionally.
  8. Think this is a good sign that Haliburton would say this after hitting the game winner: I know I was terrible. I made the shot and everything, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. I can be better.”

Haliburton is 13-15 from the field with a chance to tie or take the lead with 2 mins or less to go. From @pitlessball on X. Click here for video.

  1. Reminds me of this quote about LeBron from Rotella’s book How Champions Think:

“I did tell him that I thought he could benefit from one of the standard methods of sports psychology, visualization. I wanted him to see himself making three-point shots. I suggested that he ask the Cavaliers’ staff to make a highlight video for him, about eight to twelve minutes long. This video would be a LeBron James long-range shooting montage. It would have LeBron making threes off the dribble. It would show LeBron catching the ball and making threes spotting up. It could have some of LeBron’s favorite music in the background, helping him to attach the good feelings associated with that music to the act of shooting threes. He would watch it every night. As he fell asleep, he could conjure up images of himself making three-point shots against tall, quick, tenacious defenders. He could let them fill his dreams.”

Are we worried about the Indiana Fever?

  1. Can Clark get and stay healthy? The team was constructed really well around Clark but she hasn’t been able to play. She’s like Curry and Jokic to the Fever. Just not very good without her.

Fever vs. Chicago Skye Notes:

  • (1st ever prime time national network game)
  • Anne, you said no stars. Angel Reese isn’t a star? Reese leading rebounder in W.
  • Lexie, what is she from 3 in league?
  • Vandersloot injured.
  • Fever are a team without a point guard.
  • Up 21-13 at the quarter. Chicago doesn’t have basket makers including Reese and Cardoso.
  • Lexie Hull so much better than she used to be. Playmaking. Creating opportunities beyond stand and shoot.
  • Game in United Center.
  • Jordan Kent (play-by-play), Isis Young (analyst), and Tiffany Blackmon (sideline reporter).
  • So much traveling!
  • 41-28 at half. Ball popping better for the Fever. Seeing some of those extra passes that we’re used to with the Pacers.
  • Ball goes from being in someone’s hands most of the time to moving from player to player more quickly.
  • Team chemistry looks good.
  • McDonald, Clark’s replacement, will be gone.
  • Skye playing with two offensively unskilled bigs. Reese is Rodman, Gordan

Living on Purpose

I like to say I live in Boone, NC on purpose. You wanted to live in LA so much that you moved there without a job. Here are five reasons I live in Boone:

  1. Green Mountains Water: Something inside me that is moved the most when I see green, water, and mountains. It doesn’t something to me that wide open landscape of corn fields, the Rocky Mountains, or the Grand Canyon doesn’t do. I think sitting next to the ocean is a close second. Mountain River Water: I think Stackhouse Access and The Ledges on the French Broad River are the two places that first evoked that feeling. Now I regularly am regularly standing in the shallow water of the Watauga River at the Valle Crucis Park.
  2. College Town of Appalachian State
  3. Place other people come on vacation.
  4. The way 50 minutes in the woods can unwind tension.
  5. People are friendly, chill, and helpful. That was not my experience driving the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, NY.

Other notes:

  1. Anne went to see Phoenician Scheme.
  2. I bought Landman from Amazon.
  3. Anne was moved by the TikTok of the elephant rescuing the antelope. Click here to see video.
  4. Anne thought one of these pens looked a lot better than the other and the one she liked the best didn’t work.

Thanks for checking out this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast!