How do the Pacers do so well against Boston

Some teams just match up well against other teams. For example, we were 2-2 against the Lake-show last year.

Plus, my guess is that KG didn’t get on his knees and bark like a dog at them. Everyone knows that a 6’11, 250 lb dog is frightening.

might cause the Boston Celtics to alter its gameplan in a negative manner.

In addition to beating Boston, they’ve also knocked off the Lakers. Look for them to find their way into the playoffs.

He and Roy Hibbert make all the difference.

Grnager and Daniels are both very long, athletic wings who can keep up with Pierce and Allen on D. Plus Rondo usually has a speed edge at PG, but TJ Ford is probably the quickest guard in the entire league. Foster and Murphy are both bruisers, so Garnett and Perkins can’t unload on them physically. It’s like the old boxing cliche, styles make fights.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best

o’brien has been the coach of the celtics for some years. i know that only perkins and pierce are left from that squad but he knows them well (pierce struggled in all 3 games against them) and he knows doc rivers as well. uptempo teams don’t necessarily cause trouble against boston, but those who concentrate on 3-pointers as much as the pacers do, might, because boston’s defense is the greatest in the inside. they lost posey, their best perimiter defender and allen is not yet on that level. so teams like the pacers, the magic, and a portland team having a great shooting night can give them a hard time.

The Celtics were clearly way up for the Blazers game—wanting to put the young upstarts in their place & all. Consequently, they may have suffered a letdown vs the Pacers.

and played poorly. When Boston gets way up, they play better and start yelling at the sky and beating their chests. KG and company aren’t nearly as aggressive and in-your-face in a close game.

I look forward to those guys getting embarassed by the Cavs this year in the playoffs. What’s the expression? Oh yeah – book it.

Blazers back when we were an elite team? It was 2001 I think. It happens.

was up for the Blazers. They may have played it off as just another game, but they wanted to send a message, which they did. The Blazers didn’t play well, but that was not just another game to Boston.

Larry Bird.

When Indy goes to Boston, the Celtics are befuddled by the corn-fed earnestness of Indy and their President of Basketball Operations. Fear the Hick from French Lick.

Play a lot on the perimeter. I think that’s the biggest thing. Get Perkins and Garnett away from the basket and you have a chance to drive and score.

Boston’s strength is all about their defense. If they are not shutting you down and scoring in transition from steals and long rebounds, they are probably only a slightly above average offense. They are ranked 8th as it is; without buckets in transition, they are nothing special on offense, especially if you can shut down Peirce.

twggyy, I think you nailed it when you pointed out that Rondo had bad games. Friday night in the fourth, after we went on our run, they re-inserted Garnett and Rondo, and they put the game away. I want to suggest that it was Rondo that did the damage to us in that game, not Garnett. Rondo is a great point guard who can penetrate and break things down, passing as well as finishing. So the question is, what did the Pacers do to stop Rondo?

The Blazers are terrible at perimeter defense. We saw it against New York with Duhon, we saw it with the Wizards as well. In fact, the only game where I think we succeeded in playing defense at “the point of attack” (nod to The Snapper), was against Chris Paul and the Hornets. The Blazers pushed Paul toward the sidelines, and prevented him from getting into the lane much better than other teams have, and much much better than they have against any other point guards. It would be nice to see more of that, or learn from the Pacers in how they did it.

There’s a couple of the main things successful opposing teams do against Boston

(1) A perimeter shooting big man – Like PoliSam said above me, it makes a huge difference to Boston’s defense. They hate taking one of their two big men away from the rim because it takes their safety belt away. Have a quick look down the list of teams that beat them last season – Utah, Washington, Raptors, Hawks, Cavs, Pistons, Magic, Warriors Hornets, Bobcats (Gerald Wallace at PF) – all those teams have at least one big man who plays a lot of minutes that is a threat from the perimeter. There were only three other teams that beat the Celtics last season outside of that group (Pho, Den, Phi)

For the Pacers this is Troy Murphy

(2) Possessions are vital – The Celtics defense will shut down your offense. Their offense will do a lot of damage against your defense. If you’re playing at a deficit in possessions as well as the above then, it’s just too difficult to pull off. This means rebounds and turnovers are paramount …. which are both strengths of this Blazers squad, but they got outworked on the boards in Boston. You can’t let Boston outrebound you.

Boston do turn the ball over at a high rate so if you can beat them on the boards you should be able to get more possessions than them.

As noted in the fanpost, Indy had a good advantage here in turnovers the other night.

(3) Transition defense on both sides – Boston have the best (or one of) transition defenses in the league. They limit your fastbreak points (lowest in the league) extremely well. Boston’s halfcourt defense is brilliant, getting easy points on the board is very important so a team needs to run at every available opportunity. The Pacers do this well, as did Atlanta and LeBron James in the playoffs last year.

If my memory is accurate Boston also had the best fastbreak point differential in the league, meaning they outscored their opposition by the largest amount in the league. They don’t run all night (19th in pace) but they are opportunistic runners, so they’ll run off turnovers and rebounds and they’re very efficient when they do run. Boston were the league’s best defensive team last season but they ranked only 10th in offensive efficiency, how much Boston run and how many early opportunity baskets generally play a huge role in how effective their offense is on a given night. If they are scoring on the break they have an unbelievable offense, if not, they can fall into scoring droughts. You can’t let them score on the break – another huge problem for the Blazers in Boston.

Indiana are a great running team

(4) Make Rondo a jump shooter – It’s easier said than done. The truth is he can get to the rim no matter what you do, but he can get passive if you stand far back off of him and also if you double off of him in the halfcourt. If he’s playing intelligently he’ll kill you off the dribble anyway, but oftentimes this are the situations that lead to his inconsistencies.

TJ Ford is one of the few players in the league who’s actually quick enough to defend Rondo. They have an ongoing duel for the last three years which is very competitive.

(5) Pick and Roll and Penetration – The two players that caused the most trouble for Boston last season were Deron Williams and LeBron James. It’s very important you have a good pick and roll player who’ll create a lot of shots for their teammates and someone who can get to the paint with regularity.

They have an added importance because Boston does a great job of keeping the ball in front of the defense. They also have magnificent post defenders -_ the best in the league_ – and rarely suffer at the hands of an elite big man. The most reliable way to get the ball inside of the defense is by dribble penetration.

There’s a big upside to having a second high level player who can run the pick and roll. Golden State probably showed this best last season with Monta and Baron, but the C’s sag off their men off the ball and play a zone and try to cut down a penetrator’s space and options. Having a second penetrator on the other side of the floor helps punish this more effectively.

(6) Shot clock usage – Watch the shot clock very closely when playing Boston, particularly the first pass or the first threatening pass. If Boston get into their offense quickly they’ll kill you. If Boston stop you from getting into your offense quickly, they’ll kill you. They do both with regularity.

Rondo’s defense of late has been fantastic and the main reason why they’re stopping teams from starting their offense quickly. If you don’t have a point guard good enough to do get your team into your offense quickly, you’re probably going to lose.

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The Pacers have one more advantage and that’s Dick Harter. He’s an excellent defensive coach who has his team do a lot of the same things the Celtics do defensively, like their screen and roll defense. Doing what the Celtics do to the Celtics looks like a successful ploy. The Rockets also do the same thing and have given the Celtics some tough games.

Teams beat the Celtics by spreading the floor and keeping the ball in the middle. They overload on defense on the strong side when the ball is swung to the sidelines, and collapse very aggressively on all drives at the rim to make the player commit and then take a difficult shot. They also collapse before dribble penetration if the opposing offense isn’t well spaced. Teams that have success against them spread the floor, penetrate, and then kick and rotate the ball for the open shot. Quick guards who can finish at the rim or pass to the open man right before they collapse cause them grief.

The Blazers tried to do this some in the second quarter, but Brandon Roy’s ability to get to the rim didn’t pay off because he was met there by Garnett and Perkins, and it didn’t help that they repeatedly fouled him and he only got a couple of calls. I think Bayless would potentially be successful against them, if he was a credible threat to pass out before the collapse. Blake and Rodriguez don’t take it strong to the rim – not a knock – that’s just not their game.