Wolves at Pacers GDT

[BloopOracle]

Should be noted that Ant had zero turnovers

[Coolbreeze44]

No KAT, no whining, no problem

[Lipoli390]

The Naz center lineups can’t get a stop. By far the biggest issue without Kat

Interestingly, KAT’s absence might hurt us more defensively than offensively. Who’d a thunk it. We’re fine defensively as long as Rudy’s on the court. He’s simply been fantastic this season. But Naz on the court without Rudy or KAT on the floor seems problematic defensively. Making up for KAT’s lost offensive production will be another challenge. TJ Warren stepped up tonight. But mainly it was Ant scoring 44 instead of 25 that gave us what we needed offensively without KAT.

Rudy did his thing tonight as he’s done all season with tremendous consistency. Jaden stepped up with 8 rebounds to compensate for losing KAT’s rebounding. But we would have lost by a wide margin if Ant hadn’t ramped up his scoring a la MJ and Kobe in big games. The problem is that we can’t expect Ant to score like this every game. And we’ll need to score even more than before KAT’s injury because our defense will suffer in KAT’s absence. I just don’t know where the extra points we need will come from if not from Ant. Can Jaden do it? He’s already playing consistently elite defense. And tonight he stepped up big time on the boards. Can he continue doing those things and also ramp up his scoring by producing 20+ per game going forward? Is he ready to step up and tap into his inner Scottie Pippen. That’s a lot to ask of that young man, but I think he can do it. He has the talent and he has the competitive fire, as evidenced by his wall punch last season. . KAT’s absence could be Jaden’s opportunity to take that next step offensively. It will be interesting to watch.

[Lipoli390]

No KAT, no whining, no problem

lol. Well, we narrowly escaped Indianapolis with a 2-point win in spite of Ant’s 44 points, including incredible clutch scoring and a heroic unbelievable block at the end. So I’ll gladly take KAT’s whining with the knowledge that the whining comes with 22 highly efficient points per game, very solid defense and a presence that forces defenses to focus on him and open up opportunities for others.

[Coolbreeze44]

No KAT, no whining, no problem

lol. Well, we narrowly escaped Indianapolis with a 2-point win in spite of Ant’s 44 points, including incredible clutch scoring and a heroic unbelievable block at the end. So I’ll gladly take KAT’s whining with the knowledge that the whining comes with 22 highly efficient points per game, very solid defense and a presence that forces defenses to focus on him and open up opportunities for others.

Yes, but did you notice we had very little trouble with the refs tonight? For me it was refreshing to watch.

It was probably the best game I've ever seen Ant play. But man is he going to be sore for tomorrow nights game. Hopefully he can pull himself together and have an encore.

And Lip, in regard to picking up the slack for KAT's scoring, Jaden is going to have to get more than 7 shots per game. If tonight was any gauge, Ant is going to get most of KAT's shots.

[Lipoli390]

No KAT, no whining, no problem

lol. Well, we narrowly escaped Indianapolis with a 2-point win in spite of Ant’s 44 points, including incredible clutch scoring and a heroic unbelievable block at the end. So I’ll gladly take KAT’s whining with the knowledge that the whining comes with 22 highly efficient points per game, very solid defense and a presence that forces defenses to focus on him and open up opportunities for others.

Yes, but did you notice we had very little trouble with the refs tonight? For me it was refreshing to watch.

It was probably the best game I've ever seen Ant play. But man is he going to be sore for tomorrow nights game. Hopefully he can pull himself together and have an encore.

And Lip, in regard to picking up the slack for KAT's scoring, Jaden is going to have to get more than 7 shots per game. If tonight was any gauge, Ant is going to get most of KAT's shots.

You’re right, Cool. Jaden’s not going to pick up KAT’s scoring slack on 7 shots. But I don’t think relying on Ant for 40+ points per game is sustainable down the stretch and throughout the playoffs. That means there will be a number of games when someone else will have to pick up a significant share of Ant’s shot total we saw tonight. I really think that guy will need to be Jaden. It can’t be Rudy and it had better not be Slo Mo. Maybe a combo of Naz and Jaden, but I think it will be essential for Jaden to get more than 7 shots in a lot of games if we’re going to stay in the championship hunt.

[Porckchop]

No team relies on their best player for 40 but if Ant is an elite player and SAGs counterpart he should be relied on for 25 -30. He has far to many 15 point games and disappearing half’s to be considered a super star capable of carrying a team.

[Carlos Danger]

Just saw the replays. Wow. Edwards looked amazing - especially on that final block. I was worried he was going to try and do too much without KAT. But damn if he didn't deliver last night.

We are now 3-0 without KAT this year. Again...I'd rather have KAT than not have him. But this team has a lot of talent. I think we can be ok. We do need McDaniels to give more on offense along with other guys like SloMo.

As far as defense, I keep seeing people touting KAT's defense. But it's my opinion that if KAT's defense actually improved, it was probably 10% KAT and 90% Rudy effect. Rudy is our defense. I personally don't think we'll miss KAT much on the other end. But we do have 20 points to fill without him.

[FNG]

Yes, KAT is a much improved defender this year, but he is not as effective on defense as SloMo. Without KAT last night we held the highest scoring team in the Association to 12.3 points under their average. We need Naz's scoring off the bench, but the falloff in defense was palpable last night when he was in. But KAT's absence will mean more minutes for SloMo, Jaden and NAW, and all were brilliant last night.

I keep hearing that Jaden needs more shots, and I agree...he's a 59.2% TS% scorer. But I continue to think his inactivity on offense is the reason he doesn't touch the ball more (unless Finchie is ordering him to not move without the ball and just hang in the corner like Wiggins). Look at how NAW, Naz and even SloMo work their butts off to make themselves available to get the ball, and contrast it with Jaden's laziness on offense. I'm convinced that if Jaden would move more without the ball rather than waiting for a pass in the corner, Mike, Ant and SloMo would find him.

[FNG]

A couple more things about last night's game, and this is something I almost never say (because I'm an unabashed homer). I thought every close call last night went our way. The Indy fans (and players) were clearly unhappy with the refs, and I think they have a case. Yeah, we had more fouls than Indy, but that's because we played very aggressive defense, and Indy plays none.

How about Rudy last night? Do you think Miles Turner will have nightmares for awhile about Rudy bullying him? Rudy is only credited with 3 blocks, but how many times did we see a Pacer think about taking a shot near the basket, but instead dribble or pass the ball out? Only Siakam took a chance around the basket, and Rudy altered some of his shots too.