Pacers learn the (Nemb)hard way, trail 0-3 in series (Patreon)

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

After leading by as many as 18 points, it was deja vu all over again for the Pacers, as the loud minority of mistakes that were made at the end of what became a narrow, 114-111 loss are now overshadowing the silenced majority of how they positioned themselves to potentially win - despite being without Tyrese Haliburton. In that regard, the depth at the point guard position certainly shined bright for the Pacers, providing optimism for the long-term future of the team, regardless of the likely shortened long-term future of this series.

As such, in looking forward as well as backward, Samson Folk is here to discuss the standout play of Andrew Nembhard, especially in combination with and without both Pascal Siakam and T.J. McConnell, as well as the latest late-game miscues and whether the positives outweigh the negatives. Enjoy!

Here are the relevant timestamps:

0:00 - Introductions

1:52 - Call-back to last summer when Samson's friend predicted the future

6:00 - Andrew Nembhard's strides as a starting point guard

16:35 - Problem-solving with Nembhard-Siakam two-man game

18:52 - McConnell as the only player who can navigate McConnell's off-ball spacing

25:25 - Having your cake and eating it too while defending Al Horford in the pick-and-pop

32:04 - Overhelping versus under-helping

34:48 - Should the Pacers have called a timeout or played out of flow?

45:26 - Contrast between Myles Turner's start and finish to the game

50:57 - The value of movement shooters who can defend at the POA + two-guards who can run offense and play through physicality

55:53 - Actually making use of shot-fakes, rather than just using shot-fakes

56:59 - Scouting report on Samson's post-up game

1:00:24- Being a lefty who plays right handed and a righty who plays left handed

1:04:51 - Wrapping up with friendly banter

1:07:48 - Thank you and Goodbye