Last year, the Pacers bench had the following players in uniform during the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami:
Tyler Hansbrough, Sam Young, Jeff Ayres, Ian Mahinmi, Ben Hansbrough, DJ Augustin, Orlando Johnson, Gerald Green.
No real offensive punch and as a result, the Pacers decided to only keep Mahinmi out of all the bench castoffs. In last season's series, Miami's bench outscored Indiana's bench in every game, which ended up being the difference in the seven-game series.
Indiana did not know it at the time, but they missed a golden opportunity to develop Augustin, Hansbrough and Green, who ended up being legitimate players this season for the Bulls and Suns, respectively. Augustin averaged 13.1 points, 4.4 assists, and made nearly two three-pointers per game for an offensively challenged Chicago team. You think the Pacers could have used his services this season? Green, the 12th man for Indiana last season, had a career year under Jeff Hornacek in Phoenix, averaging 16 points and becoming the best defender on the most improved team in the league. Hansbrough was the first big man off the bench in Toronto and was a big reason why the Raptors surged towards a three-seed, the first time they have reached the playoffs since the Bush administration. Last year, neither Green, Hansbrough, or Augustin could find the floor and when they did, they could not provide the same level of effectiveness they displayed this year.
To revamp their second unit, the Suns brought in Luis Scola from Phoenix (in the Gerald Green trade), CJ Watson from Brooklyn, and traded for Evan Turner midseason for Danny Granger. Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird, the two masterminds in Indiana's front office, believed this would propel them over their archrival Miami, who had knocked them out the previous two postseasons. Both the Pacers and Heat were the class of the East all season and are matching up in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year. Did they really improve their single weakness last season, the bench?
In a word, NO. They may have actually regressed this unit, and this is a shame because Indiana presents a matchup nightmare for Miami and have arguably the best starting five in the league: George Hill, Lance Stevenson, Paul George, David West, and Roy Hibbert. However, Turner has been an absolute BUST, making a watered down Danny Granger more valuable than ever. He has not played a single minute this series. Watson has been serviceable, but he is extremely limited on both ends with his undersized frame and lack of athleticism. He did not score a single point in 13 minutes last night. Scola put up career lows this season for the Pacers, and his strengths have NOT played well in coach Frank Vogel's system. Prior to this season, Scola averaged double-digits in points and played at least 24 minutes per game. He has achieved career lows in pretty much every major area in Indiana, averaging a paltry 17 minutes per game and averaging under 10 points and five rebounds for the first time in his career.
Miami is small on the frontline and Indiana has a clear advantage in all five positions with their length and strength. Stevenson is a big 2 guard, George has a 7-foot, 4-inch wingspan at the 3, and Hibbert and West are bruisers down low. This lineup has given fits to Miami over the past three years and has outscored the Heat by over 4.3 points per game when they are on the court together. They have now played multiple years with this group.
However, like last year, the bench has once again shown its inefficiencies on the court. EVERY member of the bench had a MINUS +/- differential in Tuesday's Game 2 and while every member of the Pacers starting unit was PLUS double-digits in Game 1, the bench had all but one player who had a negative differential on the court. In fact, in Game 2's defeat by a mere four points, Miami's bench outscored Indiana's bench 20-9, meaning the Pacers starters, like in Game 1, outscored the Heat starters (the Big 3, Haslem, Chalmers) by seven points. While Indiana jumped out to an early eight-point lead in the first eight minutes of the game, Norris Cole and Chris Andersen, two of Miami's bench mob, provided a major spark, especially on the defensive end, to get the Heat back in the game. Cole and Andersen played all of the crunch time minutes for the Heat as Miami coach Erik Spoelstra played the hot hand. When was the last time an Indiana bench player played meaningful minutes at the end of the game?
Indiana got away with their lack of depth in the first two rounds simply because of the talent disparity. They cannot expect the starters to bring out maximum energy every single night when they play 40+ grueling minutes each game in the playoffs. In the previous series, the starters scored 93 out of a possible 95 points in a Game 4 comeback victory in Washington. The starting five literally played the entire second half. No wonder they were blown out in Game 5 in that series, because they expended so much energy just to win Game 4.
When Chalmers, Bosh, Wade, or LeBron have an off night, usually someone on the bench, whether it be Ray Allen, Cole, Andersen, Battier, Haslem, or even Michael Beasley, will come in and provide a spark plug. When Indiana's starters have an off night, like George's shooting woes or West's foul trouble in Game 2, they cannot rely on anyone to come in and boost the team.
I believe these issues indeed reflect on coach Frank Vogel and his stubbornness, since Green, Hansbrough and Augustin went on to have a quality season this season a year after leaving Indiana. This was Don Nelson's, the winningest regular season coach in NBA history, single greatest weakness as a coach and the reason he never won a championship during his illustrious coaching career. Nelson almost never trusted the bench and continuously overplayed his starters to a point where they wore out at the end of the season and postseason. Indiana's starters broke down at the end of this regular season, as shown by their losing record in the final 30 games of the season, and have not displayed the same intensity as the beginning of the season, when they started 39-11 through 50 games.
Vogel has a much shorter leash with his bench and because he did not expose them to many crunch time minutes in the regular season, and four of the five Pacer starters averaged over 36 minutes per game. This mostly affected the post players, especially Hibbert and West, because they expose their bodies on a nightly basis to tough physical play. No wonder Hibbert has had several subpar games this postseason. He has worn out throughout the course of this season, and he cannot bring his 7-foot, 2-inch, 290-pound body to play at his high level every single night, especially during the postseason. Hibbert has averaged UNDER five points in Indiana's six losses this postseason and nearly 13 points in the team's nine wins. As he goes, so does the team.
For the second straight year, Indiana's bench has underperformed in the big stage and instead of blaming the players, I put the onus on the coach. How can three quality players suddenly have porous seasons in Indiana one year, then put up very respectable numbers the next year in a different uniform? How can a power forward averaging 13 points and 7 rebounds for his CAREER put up his career worst numbers by a mile in Indiana? How can Evan Turner, former number 2 overall pick, who has played well on both ends of the court in Philadelphia not even find the court in Indiana?
This has been a recurring trend for multiple years, and it's time Vogel realize that he needs to trust and develop his bench through consistent play if Indiana were to ever win a championship. Sure, he is a tremendous X's and O's coach, like Don Nelson was throughout his career. He has achieved great regular season success but like Nelson, may never win a championship with this coaching style. By only trusting five guys over the past two years, the Pacers have forced their starting lineup to carry the burden every single night and with a grueling postseason, this formula is not a recipe for success.
Sure, Miami may boast three superstar-caliber players in its starting five with James, Wade, and Bosh. However, they have won their past two championships and are on the verge of reaching a fourth straight NBA Finals because of their depth. Look at the past two NBA Finals, who is raining all of big three-pointers in some key decisive games? Mike Miller and Ray Allen, two veterans off the BENCH. Indiana has its fair share of veterans off the bench too with talent and experience, and the front office has done an admirable job of building a championship-quality team. Indiana just does not trust its full system unlike their opponents in Miami. There's only one man to blame for that: Frank Vogel.
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