OKC – Bill Torgerson

Indiana Pacers Lose the NBA Finals, Haliburton Injury, and A Fan Reflection

Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast! We’re recording Mon June 23rd, the day after the Pacers lost in game in 7 of the NBA Finals to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Anne, I’m fresh off of Day 1 of the Watauga Girls Basketball Camp. Did you used to go to camp as a kid?

What’s most prominent in your mind after this game 7 of the NBA Finals?

It’s two things for me: Haliburton slamming the floor and after the game when his teammates came off the court and he greeted them one by one.

How would you describe the single overwhelming emotion you felt in the final minute of Game 7, win or lose?

Deflated. After the game the camera was following the Pacers back to the locker room. Haliburton was waiting on everyone. Felt like the producers missed the big story when they went to the championship celebration.

How did you think Haliburton going out impacted each team? Did you see anything?

Two recent experiences that might inform some of what happened in Game 7:

Kate having a knee injury as a junior and missing at least a half.
RJ Reynolds point guard spraining an ankle in walk through and not playing us.

Keys to the outcome:

Haliburton injury. What do they lose when they lose Haliburton? (vs. McConnell)
Stifling defense that made Indiana go long stretches without scoring and forced Indiana into 21 turnovers. 32-10 points off turnovers.
SGA can get 29 one way or another when no one else in the game could.
Five blocks by Chet Holgrem

Go over the team stats and the box score click here.

X-Factor:

McConnell going 8-13 for 16 points off the bench. Chet Holmgren getting 18 on 6-8 shooting with 5 blocks. He’s not always doing that.

How does this Game 7 performance alter your perspective on the current Pacers team and their potential for the future?

Regardless of the final score, what was the biggest surprise for you in how Game 7 unfolded? Did anything completely go against your expectations?

The Pacers leading at halftime was a pretty big surprise.

Game Notes on a Timeline:

Pacers could win the title and never get picked for like three rounds.
Dort hang and over the shoulder lay up to cut to 11-8. Just fancy.
Nesmith 2 fouls at over 7 mins in first.
Freaking Caruso.
Haliburton 4:12. Down 18-16.
Everyone trying to hit a little extra tougher shot, but hanging in there 20-22 45 secs in 1st. 22-25 at QTR. Reminds me of Durant. Toronto fans seemed to cheer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBv99Orq9Ys
It barely touches Haliburton’s hands. TJ dribbles a lot but he scores and forces a timeout cutting score 36-37.
SGA splitting help on ball screens.
Nesmith diving on floor for jump ball 40-42 2:19 in half.
Dort flop with less than a minute in half.
Dort hail Mary 10:37 48-52.
That Dort can slide over to someone else makes it hard.
Two turnovers in a row by TJ. Threes by OKC. 56-65.
TJ big third quarter. Pacers trying to free him with a ball screen near half court and he gets trapped. 5 second violation 66-75 2:17 in third.
Suffocating defense 8:27 68-89.
27-5 points off turnovers up 68-89.
I feel irritated with the finger twirl.
Wow, OKC out of timeouts with 4:11 left.

Best Commercials:

State Farm Logo Commercial. Everything is easier from the logo. Sheboygan, WI!
Progressive can’t protect you from becoming your parents.

Pacers Trivia Game Created by Google Gemini:

1. Question: Which legendary Boston Celtics player coached the Pacers to their first and only NBA Finals appearance in 2000?

2. Question: Who is the Pacers’ all-time franchise leader in blocked shots?

3. Question: Before moving to Gainbridge Fieldhouse (originally Conseco Fieldhouse), the Pacers played in what famously domed arena from 1974 to 1999?

4. Question: In the 1987 NBA draft, the Pacers famously selected Reggie Miller with the 11th pick. Which Indiana University star did many local fans want the team to draft instead?

5. Question: What was the well-known nickname of the 7’4″ center from the Netherlands, Rik Smits, who played his entire career with the Pacers?

6. Question: The Pacers acquired their current All-Star point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, in a major trade with which Western Conference team?

7. Question: During the Paul George era in the early 2010s, which Eastern Conference rival, led by LeBron James, eliminated the Pacers from the playoffs in three consecutive seasons (2012, 2013, 2014)?

8. Question: The number 529 is retired in honor of legendary ABA coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard. What does the number 529 signify?

9. Question: Who was the last Pacers player to win the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, doing so in 2018?

10. Question: Which player, known for his defensive prowess, won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award as a Pacer in the 2003-2004 season?

Answer Key

Answer: Larry Bird
Answer: Myles Turner
Answer: Market Square Arena
Answer: Steve Alford
Answer: The Dunking Dutchman
Answer: The Sacramento Kings (in a trade for Domantas Sabonis)
Answer: The Miami Heat
Answer: His total number of wins as the Pacers’ head coach (a combination of ABA and NBA victories).
Answer: Victor Oladipo
Answer: Ron Artest (now Metta Sandiford-Artest)

Indiana Pacers Haliburton achilles NBA Finals

Thanks for checking out the website and this edition of the Torg Stories Podcast!

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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Indiana Pacers Notes and Discussion Prompts:

From Game 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)
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.
With this team, you just keep watching if they are within 20.
Pacers hit 18 threes to Thunder’s 11.
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.

We have listeners who will say, I don’t watch the NBA. What would you tell them about Haliburton?
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.”
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
Haliburton certainly doesn’t sound entitled. It sounds like he is self critical and needs to be pumped up occasionally.
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.

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?

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:

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.
College Town of Appalachian State
Place other people come on vacation.
The way 50 minutes in the woods can unwind tension.
People are friendly, chill, and helpful. That was not my experience driving the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, NY.

Other notes:

Anne went to see Phoenician Scheme.
I bought Landman from Amazon.
Anne was moved by the TikTok of the elephant rescuing the antelope. Click here to see video.
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!

Back in the Zone / Back to OKC

Was that a zone defense Golden State played in Game Five of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals?

Was that a zone defense Golden State played?

zone defense, Golden State, Warriors, Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, OKC, Thunder, Westbrook, Durant — not a zone

Watch along the baseline in the clip above. #40 Harrison Barnes chases Durant to the corner. If defenders chase the man they are guarding to a different part of the court, you’re looking at a man-to-man defense. If defenders point to each other and pass off offensive players to each other to guard, then you’re probably looking at a zone. At the end of this play, it sure looks like Golden State is in a match up or 2-3 zone, but they aren’t.

Extra note: In Golden State’s man-to-man defense, usually everyone not guarding the ball has a foot in the lane. They are really packed in, and when you combine that with the fact that sometimes the Thunder players don’t move (happening less in the playoffs) it’s easy to think that Golden State is playing zone.

In the clip above, watch ponytailed #12 Steven Adams in the blue for the Thunder. When he runs away from Golden State’s Bogut in the paint, Bogut just lets him go. He points to Curry to pick up Adams. Switching every screen has a lot in common with playing a zone defense.

In a zone, you match up with the person in your area. Theoretically, this means Golden State could have someone like their center Bogut match up with Durant when he tries to post up in the lane but have someone faster and more mobile like Draymond Green defend Durant when he is on the perimeter.

I remember Coach Bob Knight saying that the offense’s advantage versus a zone is that they get to pick who they want to attack. Want to play your little point guard on top of the zone? How about we put Dirk Nowitzki up there to shoot threes over your little guy? The defense’s advantage is that they get to pick where their players play.

zone defense, Golden State, Warriors, Stephen Curry, OKC, Thunder, Durant, Westbrook, NBA, Western Conference Finals — looks like a zone

On TNT, Chris Webber sounded like he was in disbelief that Golden State went to a zone. I tend to agree with CW’s assessment that this is indeed a zone. The aspect of this play that gives me pause is when Golden State’s Andre Iguodala seems to beat a screen and chase Durant to the top of the key. I think A.I. probably abandoned his post for a second so that Durant wasn’t left running free or else Kanter came down and tried to pin him inside so Durant could get free for a shot.

It might be interesting to see if Golden State tries to play more zone in Game six.

Yeah, Golden State played some zone, but Curry was back in the zone as a shooter

wdbsyndpuwmeu — Curry back to his old MVP self

In the upper right hand corner, first Curry goes back door off a down screen. Then he runs off a down screen on the other side of the court to the perimeter. Adams can’t decide if he should chase him or not. This is the kind of play where the defense pays so much attention to Curry that the screeners are left open.

Although Curry’s percentage was below average, he was 10-10 from the line, making circus moves around the hoop we are used to, and scored 31 points.

What do I mean the screeners get open?

khzpvccsiccuq — #12 Bogut screens for Thompson

It’s most impressive when the player with the ball realizes the screener is open and find him. In this case, this is most likely a set play out of a timeout. Pay attention to #12 Bogut. He is heading to screen for Thompson, a fantastic three point shooter. When everyone runs out to the shooter, Bogut gets free for the dunk.

When Ezeli hits two, you know it was Golden State’s night

Festus Ezeli, Golden State, Warriors, Curry, Steve Kerr, OKC, Durant, Westbrook — Swish, swish!

Festus Ezeli shot 53% from the line during the season and 42% in the playoffs. Here, near the end of the third quarter, he makes the both. Game six coming right up on Saturday night in Oklahoma City!

Ode to Steven Adams

With the biggest props from game 4 of the Western Conference Finals going to Russell Westbrook and his triple double, I wanted to write about the play of Steve Adams, some of the stuff that doesn’t make the postgame barrage of highlights. However, I ran into problems coming up with a title that would set up the list of of Adams clips I wanted to share with you. Thus–with props to John Keats for providing a model I could follow–this “Ode to Steven Adams’ Game Four” was born:

Thou ponytailed big man,

practitioner of the baby hook

Steven Adams, Thunder, OKC, Durant, Westbrook — nice little flip shot from Adams

***

Long jump shots are sweet,

but long jump shots blocked are sweeter

Steven Adams, OKC, Thunder, Golden State, Warriors, basketball, NBA, defense, switch screen — Adams blocks Curry’s shot

***

Let them grab your jersey,

Nothing will deny you from at least a tip

Steven Adams, Thunder, OKC, Westbrook, Durant — Adams keeps possession alive for Thunder

***

Curry so dangerous on the screen and roll

but your big mitt got a piece

***

Reggie Miller, voice of TNT, say’st,

You look like Arvydas Sabonis with the long pass.

I think you must have played dodge ball.

Adams throws a strike

Thunder Blowout: What Changed?

1. More Ball Movement

I’ve previously been critical of the Thunder for going to spots on the floor and standing around while watching someone play 1 on 1. These kind of plays were usually isolations for Durant or Westbrook or an alignment where someone posted up and kicked out for an outside shot when the double team came. On the play above, Westbrook dives in to the hoop. I like these aggressive, attack-the-hoop, kind of plays for the Thunder.

2. Better Defense in Screen Situations

Watch Westbrook above. He’s in the middle of the lane to start, and he’s chasing Curry. Thompson is setting a down screen for Curry, and Westbrook reads the pass and makes an incredible steal.

Go ahead and say it, Russell: “Eat it, Torg!” I’ve written previously that Westbrook so frantically chases the ball that he can’t keep track of his man. On the play above, Westbrook shows a lot of awareness of a lot of different things going on. He keeps track of the ball, the screener, and his man.

If I had ten seconds with the Warriors, I’d encourage the players to use ball fakes, especially when Westbrook is guarding a screener or cutter. A hard ball fake to Thompson here leaves Curry wide open for a three.

3. Intensity (duh, but check out this rebound)

Westbrook’s offensive rebound here exemplifies the intensity the Thunder brought to Sunday night’s game.

4. Props to Steven Adams

Adams usually does a good job of getting out on shooters, and he has been the victim of shots he has contested well but Curry or Thompson still manages to make. This time, he blocks Curry’s shot.

Tag: OKC