8p9s Roundtable: What in the World Is Going On?

The Indiana Pacers seem to be turning into a truly terrible team. In their last five games they have lost to thw Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Even the two wins were discouraging: It too an overtime to avoid a collapse at home against the Boston Celtics and late-game struggles nearly cost them a win against the Utah Jazz.

To make some sense of this, we gathered the finest of 8 Points, 9 Seconds.

I mean, what in the … how could … is there … c’mon … what is this?

William Furr: This was two offensive-minded point guards (C.J. Watson and Donald Sloan) and one offensive-minded shooting guard with food poisoning (Rodney Stuckey) getting burned by a hot role player who shot almost 65% on contested shots, hit multiple fading threes, and had a flame trailing the ball nearly every shot.  Mo Williams will never play a game this good again; he scored nearly half the Timberwolves points.

Justin Ochoa: So many questions arise … what happened last night? The T’Wolves scored 41 in the 4th quarter. Mo Williams dropped 52 points on a defense that is supposed to have pride and tenacity. I follow the NBA relentlessly and I completely forgot Mo Williams even played basketball. For all I know, he was still in Cleveland with LeBron James, Boobie Gibson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas trying to find that illusive first ring. Whatever. Next question.  

Jalen Bishop: Comedy in its purest form. Stuff like this could happen to below average to average NBA teams but jeez. I thought the Pacers for sure were going to use this game to build on the bad losses recently but that did not happen. The 12 missed free throws definitely didn’t help their cause.

Jon Washburn: Perhaps this is merely the Tipping Point (copyright Gladwell, Malcolm). To be clear, Indiana has been overachieving all season, and it’s possible that they are finally regressing to the mean. Realistically, what should the expectations be for a team with THIS many injuries and THIS much turnover? This game should probably never be thought about again.  

Where does The Mo Williams 52-Point Game rank on the list of recent embarrassments for the Indiana Pacers franchise?

Furr: On the one hand, Mo Williams was NBA Jam hot; those fading threes especially were brutal and he also hit a floating one-hand bank 3 right after a foul at some point. On the other hand, Mo Williams scored 52 points in a 2015 NBA game against the Indiana Pacers; it’s pretty bad. I tend to think of this entire season as a mostly terrible embarrassment though, to be fair.

Ochoa: Extremely high. Mo Williams doesn’t deserve 52 points strictly due to the fact that he spells his name Mo without an ‘e’ at the end. He had 52, the rest of the T’Wolves roster only had 58. The entire Pacers starting lineup only had 63. Mo(e) Williams outscored Solomon Hill by 50 points. It is extremely embarrassing to let a mediocre role player on one of the worst teams in the league explode for 52 points. Luckily, nobody outside of these teams’ respective states care about either team, so it will get washed over on Sports Center, and we can all try to forget this ever happened.

Bishop: Probably top ten worst in the past three years. If you told me an hour before the game that 2015 Mo Williams without LeBron would make 19 field-goals points on a borderline top ten defense, I would flail and flop on the ground laughing. He was hitting shots that would make me rage quit on NBA 2K.

Washburn: I don’t think it’s that embarrassing. It’s not like he was just draining wide-open corner threes off of atrocious defensive rotations. The one-legged 26-foot fade away, the 30-foot bomb that we had to watch in slow motion, the shot over David West … I can’t blame the Pacers for any of that nonsense. Giving up a wide-open game-tying 3-point attempt to Avery Bradley is far more embarrassing to me. 

Which of the last three losses is the worst: Lakers, Sixers, or Timberwolves?

Furr: The Sixers, easily. The Lakers have an old war horse who’s not done kicking, and the Timberwolves are trying to win, despite their injuries. The Sixers field a roster full of D-Leaguers and young players trying to figure the NBA out. They may be good one day, but that date probably won’t end in “2015.”

Ochoa: The loss to the Timberwolves is the worst because of the performance by Mo Williams. That’s what stings the most. When you play for a terrible team like the Minnesota Timberwolves all good things that happen during a game are supposed to be overshadowed by something negative. It’s just how it works. Example: You have a player, like Mo Williams, put on an unforgettable performance BUT you lose the game. That is how it’s suppose to be when you play in Minnesota. In last night’s case the T’Wolves had their cake and ate it too, which is something that rarely happens. They got the standout performance, but Indiana wasn’t even good enough to spoil the night. Not to mention, it was in Bankers Life Fieldhouse in front of thousands of awesome fans who continue to support the Pacers’ rocky season.

Bishop: For personal reasons, the Lakers loss. The fact that Kobe hit the final shot made it worse. The Pacers were up a lot that night, and C.J. Miles was playing well. The Sixers recently beat the Cavs and the T’Wolves had a historic night from Mo Williams.

Washburn: The Lakers. The Pacers had that game and just gave it away. Philly shot above their heads from distance and Mo Williams briefly turned into Mario after eating a burning flower. There was just no excuse for losing to the Lakers.  

The Indiana Pacers start a Southeast-heavy five-game road trip on Saturday, heading to Charlotte, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and Orlando. How many games will the team win? 

Furr: This is a conditional answer for me: With George Hill, the Pacers could win 3 and be relatively competitive in the other two games.  Without Hill, the Pacers could easily go 1-4.

Ochoa: I’m going to be extremely bold and predict that the Pacers will beat Charlotte and Orlando on this road trip. Miami is a maybe. Houston and Atlanta are firm losses, in my opinion. It would be nice to see the Pacers bounce back from losing to Minnesota and Philly with some tough road wins against a few quality teams. I’d be please to go 2-3.

Bishop: One. Charlotte has played well without Al Jefferson and Lance Stephenson but I think they can beat the Hornets. The Hawks and Rockets are definite L’s. The Magic are tough this year and the Heat have stumbled upon Hassan Wiltside. Those games will be tough.

Washburn: I’m holding to the tipping point theory. Unless George Hill comes back, I think Indiana goes 0-5.

The Pistons have looked like a new team since waiving Josh Smith. Is there any reason to think Indiana will go to Detroit and win?

Furr: There is some reason to think the Pacers could go to Detroit and win; they’re the 2015 Indiana Pacers.  Nothing we’ve thought to be true or untrue this season has held up for more than a week. It is very possible the team is able to match up well with Detroit’s strength (the front line), and just outshoot the other 3 guys. It’s also very possible they could lose by 23 and Shayne Whittington plays the entire 4th quarter.

Ochoa: I definitely wouldn’t count the Pacers out. The Pacers have lost a lot of close games to really good teams due to the lack of ability to close a game. They don’t have a closer; he broke his leg over the Summer. I am rarely disappointed with the Pacers effort, so as long as they compete for all 4 quarters no win will surprise me.

Bishop: No. Especially not on the road. The Pistons are now Josh Smith free and the whole team seems to have boosted one level up in each category of basketball. I would say possibly because of their trigger-happy point guard but Jennings just dropped 34 points and 10 assists on a very good Toronto Raptors team. Everybody looks good.

Washburn: No. The Pacers played really great offense against Detroit the last time these two played … and lost by double digits. Detroit is a better team and these Pacers just look like they’ve got nothing else left in the tank. At least until a few guys get healthy. Then they will win three straight and suck me back in again.