Right call or wrong call, the Indiana Pacers must do better in Game 6
By Ben Gibson
The missed goaltending call against LeBron James might have changed the outcome of Game 5, but that provides little solace to the Indiana Pacers.
Missed calls happen all the time in the NBA. It’s fast sport with bodies flying around the floor and in the air. But the missed goaltending call on LeBron James might have changed the outcome of Game 5 and the Indiana Pacers could have been leading the series 3-2 instead of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But that doesn’t matter.
It was a missed call, albeit a critical one. Victor Oladipo drove to the lane and blew by LeBron James once again, but thanks to the tight defense, Oladipo was forced to put up an awkward shot. And because of its strange angle, it was nearly impossible to expect officials to call it goaltending at full speed.
And as our friend Joe Borgia points out, the only way to review the play is for it to be called on the court.
In some cosmic way, you could argue things were ‘even’ because of the missed out of bounds all the play before, but even then I’ve yet to see an angle that shows it doesn’t touch LeBron after Thaddeus Young pokes it.
It may look obvious, and I can’t remember the game, but a similar looking play went against the Pacers a season or two ago once they officials viewed it from a dozen angles. Sometimes it grazes the ball handler after the defender pokes it, but we rarely bother to look in most situations because we simply don’t have time to review every call.
But again, that’s irrelevant.
It doesn’t matter, the Cavaliers won.
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There isn’t a way to ‘fix’ it now. Indiana could have come up with a better way to defend LeBron, though I don’t think Thaddeus Young needs to apologize. Perhaps Indiana could have fouled. Maybe Indiana could avoid turning the ball over at the worst times.
The Pacers could have played better basketball and not ended up in a situation where LeBron got the last shot.
And that’s what does matter.
The Pacers must do better in Game 6. They have to handle the trapping defense better. They can’t let Cleveland have a quarter of dominance as they did in the third in Game 5. They can’t let Kyle Korver sneak away and hit 3-pointers.
Indiana needs Victor Oladipo to figure out why he no longer can shoot a basketball — he is shooting 36.8 percent on the series. The same can be said for Darren Collison and his 34.8 percent shooting, though his 5.2 assists a game isn’t bad. But Indiana can’t have such glaringly obvious issues and expect to win close games.
Outside of Game 1, this series is closely contested in every game. Indiana’s had a chance to steal the win away in all three losses, but the sealed their own fate by getting blasted on huge runs early in the game. There’s a certain charm to all the comebacks, but staying in the lead is an easier way to win.
This series is going seven games for one of two reasons. Because this team never quits, and won’t now. Or because our pain must be drawn out over time and Game 7 will give us hope before LeBron dashes it.
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And if Indiana wants it to go seven games, they can’t let the officals play a role — if you let the game come down to one call, you reap what you sow — and they can’t give LeBron the chance to save the day once again.