I don't have a ton of words today, other than "on to the next one." The loss last night stings. Dropping games you should have won is a recipe for regret in the playoffs.
The officials deserve blame. They were atrocious no matter how you slice it. But the Pacers could have won the game in spite of them and they simply came up short. I'm glad Rick Carlisle isn't giving the team an excuse by blaming the referees.
Truthfully, if last night showed me anything it's that the Pacers are the better team. Sure, Brunson is the best player and Josh Hart is an absolute weapon. But the Kicks are thin and if Brunson is off they are toast.
It's interesting because at one point in the season you could say the same thing about the Pacers and Tyrese Haliburton. However, that time seems like a distant memory. The current iteration of the Pacers has plenty of firepower to win even when its star man is practically invisible... which seems to be a common occurrence these days.
Is the back injury to blame? The hamstring? The loss of Buddy Hield? Was his performance early in the season simply an outlier?
So as not to get too depressing, we'll stick with the injury narrative.
One thing is for sure, whether it's this post-season or over the summer. Tyrese needs to learn how to draw fouls like the other top dogs in the league. He cannot continue to rely on step back threes for all of his offense if he wants to be the leader of a championship contender.
Vent away while you still can. We get a chance at redemption tomorrow.
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