An honest and transparent Pascal Siakam after the Pacers fall to 6-24
It has to suck going from the highest of highs last season when everything was clicking to whatever the hell this team is.
When Hali hit his third 3 pointer and they were up by 4, then boom..
I swear I could hear that snap live… crazy moment
Well if you didn’t hear it live you certainly herd it during one of the 250 close up, slo-mo replays throughout the entire game.
I have no love for the pacers but that was the most heartbreaking injury I’ve seen in sports. His instant reaction to it was really hard to see… Over and over we they replayed it
Yeah even as an OKC fan that one was hard. I mean for an incredible series to end like that in a game 7 it felt like some kind of cruel twist of fate. Like, “Oh you wanted to win that bad? Here you go.”
Same man, I’m so sure I heard it on the broadcast. NBA basketball just hasn’t been the same since.
I was at the watch party at Gainbridge when it happened. Not to be dramatic but that’s one of those moments that will stay with me forever. The silence was so loud.
It was the NBA version of Kevin Ware’s leg snap
So now, less than five years months later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas Indy and look West to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
Unexpected fear and loathing
As your attorney, I advise Pacers fans to start drinking heavily.
I still stand by Pacers would have won it all if Hali didn’t go down
I mean that’s not a crazy notion at all lol
Hali was on an unstoppable run. Not saying they win if he doesn’t go down, but god damn
I mean it was game 7, super close, and Hali was on a hot streak. I don’t think its unreasonable or even unsurprising to think they would have won.
Obviously nobody knows, thats the difficult part of it all, because now there will always be that “what if” hanging over that championship.
That was the devil right there, came to collect his end of the deal after all those game winners
Where were you when you found his tendon was kill?
That’s a nice sweater.
$800 sweater 😭😭😭
For a Nike sweater????
Yes. It’s a limited edition release with some other brand. I’m sure there are good fake out there tho.
It’s a Nike x CPFM collab. It originally retailed for \(285, but flips around \)800-1000 now.
Excuse me for being a dumb piece of shit but what the hell is cpfm
Cactus plant flea market
I was 100% sure you were joking and I upvoted you because it made me chuckle. Then I went to google to find the actual answer and… yeah. Quite the name
Yeah bro, $800 is nothing to pro athletes or people with actual money
The kid made that shirt for 8 cents
Nah that’s actually a nice sweater
high end like 12 cents
I wonder if he bought it, or if its part of an NBA collaboration. “Here is a catalogue of items. Pick some to wear for interviews etc”.
this man spent the better part of a decade playing with OG Anunoby and you think he’s wearing something the NBA emailed him in a catalogue
And serge ibaka
Good thing Kawhi only wears free clothes !
Paying that much for a sweater made in a sweatshop is wild lol
Matching orange hat with the swoosh too 🔥
That’s the logo for his foundation, not Nike.
He said he was matching his hat (orange) with the Nike swoosh on his sweater. Same colour
Ah totally missed the swoosh on the sweater
It’s actually a Nike sweater.
It’s pronounced sheep hoarder, and yes you are one
Highlight of the video.
CPFM collab
This makes sense
The sweater is nothing. The Royal Oak he has on is worth 50k at least
Isn’t that a Daytona?
Hello Nike bot and friends below.
The gigantic registration mark is a bit much, though
All CPFM x Nike is fire
Ethical tanking
Getting a top 3 pick and and All NBA point guard back in the same summer is nasty
Odds are they won’t get a top three pick no matter how bad they are
I’m gonna be real surprised if the point guard they get back is still All-NBA, for that matter.
Achilles aren’t necessarily the death sentence they used to be. He’s young enough that I don’t see how he doesn’t recover to his previous form especially given how he played
The other thing I’m going to add on that, is that recovering from an achilles injury seems easier when your game is less dependent on explosive movements.
Hali doesn’t need to elevate over defenders at the rim to be effective. He’s going keep pushing the pace and making connective passes and shooting off movement. None of that needs the extra burst he may lose off this injury.
Right, but his tendon in particular ruptured doing exactly those things. In general you are correct but in this specific case I don’t think you can take that as a given. Any repair that the body does will never be as strong as the initial tendon and attachments that each person was born with.
It would be different if he relied on his explosiveness to the rim.
Elite court vision and passing. His 3 doesn’t really rely that much on lift He rarely dunks
The biggest hurdle for him next year is getting into NBA shape and mentally trusting his body again.
Going from average explosiveness to below average might still make him unable to get the separation necessarry to fully use his vision, or it might turn him into an unplayable defender.
It’s not as simple as It’s not his main skill so it’s ok.
you don’t see ? achilles are gruesome injury and then on top of that you straight up don’t get to exercise in your normal way for like 1-2 years, you really don’t see how he might not recover to be a top 3 point guard (or whatever he was for most of last year)?
if he recovers fully then great i’ll be happy about it. but just because a couple guys have bucked the trend to be almost as good as they once were doesn’t mean it’s not a super serious injury that some players never recover fully from
Based on what, exactly? Kevin Durant is basically the only example in any sport where somebody coming back from an Achilles injury wasn’t actively bad
“I don’t see how he doesn’t recover to his previous form” is a baffling statement, even when you account for the advances in medical technology. What about his style of play makes you so confident?
What player has come back from tearing their Achilles and played the same? KD played exceptionally well, but he never regained his burst and athleticism, he just became an even better shooter. Klay was still good when he came back, but he was nowhere near his prime self.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen a star PG tear his Achilles and come back the same. Haliburton relies on change of pace and quick bursts of speed about as much as any player in the league does. Tearing his achilles will undoubtedly impact that, and by the time he returns he will be 26 years old. It’ll probably take a full season for him to start to look like a semblance of himself again, and his athleticism will probably decline a bit as he starts to age. Obviously 27 isn’t old, and I think he’ll go on to have a long career, but it wouldn’t shock me if he plays more like an Eastern Conference All-Star than an All-NBA level guy.
He never really relied on his athleticism so I’d be surprised if he isnt.
Of course he relied on athleticism, what are you smoking?
He’s young and Achilles injuries really aren’t the death sentence they used to be.
Maybe he’s not 100% of what he was but I’ll be pretty surprised if he’s not one of the best PGs in the league.
You say that but KD is still really the only high level player to recover from an achilles and still be a top tier player.
There haven’t been many young stars who have even torn their Achilles, though, so I feel like we are going to learn a lot from Hali and Tatum’s returns either way
His main weapons are his basketball IQ and 3pt shooting.
Athleticism of course is important to any player, but shouldn’t hurt Tyrese compared to someone like Giannis for example.
Athletic players fare better post injuries because they’re still athletic .
A average or so athlete losing a step is worse.
Look at LeBron for example. He’s a million times slower than his prime but he’s still one of best athletes on the court .
Some extreme examples are Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook. They were rim sprinters and stop on a dime high jumping mid range shooters.
Hali is almost antithetical to that type of point guard.
This is what people usually say to cope through it, but all nba players rely on athleticism to get to their spots, no matter how visible it is in their body builds and movements.
While you’re right in some ways, different players do rely on athleticism differently. I think he’ll be able to do most of what he was already doing, and improve in other areas to make up for it, he’s still 25 years old.
Also as Edmond Sumner recently tweeted about (interesting to me at least), it mostly will affect his single leg jumping and since Haliburton jumps from his left foot anyways it won’t be as much of a problem.
He never relied on his athleticism? Bro do you know how explosive a player Hali is? Wth
He’s not that explosive. He’s a fine athlete but not like an upper tier one in the NBA.
Of course he is. Just bc he isn’t dunking on ppl doesn’t mean he’s not explosive.
They built an entire contending team around his run & gun playstyle bc of how fast he plays.
I take explosive to mean he’s using a freak athletic quick first step to beat defenders off the dribble consistently and relying on that as a key part of his game.
Thats just not the primary aspect of Haliburton’s game
He’s still going to be able to run the court and make quick reads. If not, then that means the recovery went bad.
He’s not a freak athlete, but his half court offense is heavily dependent on his quick first step.
He’s going to be a step slower. That’s just the nature of the injury. When your styling is a quick-read run and gun transition ball, not being able to bring the ball up as fast is the biggest disadvantage you could have.
That’s not even accounting for the fact that the only living player to come out of this injury and still be good is KD. KD really only leveraged this because his shooting is generational. Y’all gotta start tempering your expectations, modern medicine doesn’t suddenly grant miracle recoveries.
Pacers have never had a #1 pick or a #1 pick play for them.
Kind of crazy that the closest they ever came was when they were talking with Ben Simmons during summer. (Although I’m sure every Pacer fan is fine with how that turned out.)
For the record though, the Pacers have had multiple #2 draft picks play for them… Rik Smits, Wayman Tisdale and Steve Stipanovich were all #2 picks for the Pacers and James Wiseman was drafted #2 overall by GSW and signed with the Pacers in 2024.
Really?
Yep!
Fun fact: They traded the 1st overall pick (which they knew they had) in 1978 though for Rick Robey (who the Pacers drafted 3rd overall and Johnny Davis. Pick ended up being Mychal Thompson.
As a Celtics fan, the possibility of this Pacers team being this generation’s version of the ‘96-‘97 Spurs (season before they got Duncan where David Robinson was out injured most of the season) is very real and very scary!
I dont even know the players for like 40% of our minutes this season.
Pro basketball players are very quick to stop caring about playing winning basketball. There’s millions on the line for guys on these bad teams to be extended, or traded onto good teams because of their play.
Pascal, Hali, Nembhard, Walker, Topin, Sheppard all extension eligible this summer on top of Mathurin’s RFA.
Yall need to sacrifice for the good of the team! During your contract year.
Shiiiiiiit
Siakam need to summon more of that black magic. We’ve seen the evidence.
I have to imagine Mathurin is getting shopped. He’s a good player who could move the needle for a lot of teams, but he’s somewhat expendable for the Pacers considering the other talent they have on the roster and they’d potentially end up losing him for nothing come free agency.
82 games will do that
Teams aren’t dumb, though. Playing winning basketball gets you paid more, regardless if you’re on a good or bad team. I get the idea that some players might get frustrated, but if you’re not trying on defence and chucking up bad shots, good luck getting paid what you probably think you’re worth.
The pacers have every incentive to lose as many games as possible because they are gonna be great next season AND have a chance to add a franchise defining player in the upcoming draft.
I’m sure it’s frustrating for Siakam, but the franchise should be thinking long term
You could argue the Celtics should be doing the same thing, and yet they are 3rd seed while missing Tatum, and relying heavily on players they drafted like Brown/Pritchard/Walsh/Gonzales/Hauser.
This is indicative of a shitty team culture
I think a significant difference is that the Pacers have been extremely injured all season, on top of the hardship of losing Hali. We’ve had like 4 hardship contracts in the first half of this season alone, with Nembhard, Obi, Nesmith, McConnell, and several role players missing significant time already.
I do not think that you could ever associate a shitty culture with the Pacers.
Yeah before this year it felt like we were gunning for 7th / 8th seed of eastern conference playoffs every year. the culture has been win enough games to be competitive but fall short and get a mid-late draft pick. this is not the same pacers lol
Pacers have possibly one of the best and most respected team cultures in the NBA. It’s a franchise that hasn’t resorted to tanking in like 30 plus years and the one year the team is actively bad because it’s missing its best player it’s a shitty culture? Jaylen brown would be the best player on this team. Hell Derrick White might be. The pacers just aren’t good without Hali, and the Celtics are a deeper team. It’s not surprising that the celtics are doing better in a weak East. The difference between the Celtics are the 3 seed and the cavs at 7 is pretty marginal rn.
Hell Derrick White might be.
what is this Siakam slander? You can’t be serious.
Siakams great. Just highlighting that pacers have a lot of depth but it’s not top end talent.
It’s only recently been seen that way for the Pacers. The fans have been pretty vocal about only bein Playoff bound only takin em but so far til the miracle run last year.
It’s indicitive of the importance of Haliburton
Mazzulla was never going to tank, though, even if they theoretically should have
This is FAR AND AWAY the worst record the Pacers have had this century. Everyone needs to shut up.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone, even me as a bucks fan, say the pacers have a shitty team culture.
They have been horribly injured all season and have less talent overall than the current Celtics. The truth is that smart organizations plan for the future once they realize the current season is lost.
Man, the pacers have been through it and STILL have three of their top players out for the next two months at a minimum. The situations aren’t as similar as you imply. I do agree they have a shitty team culture though. If getting down double digits in the first 5 minutes and quitting the rest of the game was worth anything, these dudes would be rolling in it.
Nearly 40% of our minutes are by players who wouldnt be on an active NBA roster.
When your injury list runs 6 to 8 deep every game of players who would get those minutes….
They’re gonna be great next season?
They will be getting Haliburton back + a good draft pick and will have kept almost of all of a team that made the nba finals and took the best team in the nba to 7 games. Yeah they are gonna be great in the east
GD. Pascal has quickly climbed my ranks of all-time Pacers. He cares in a way that is so refreshing.
He’s an all-time Raptor as well. Good dude.
Please come to wizards when you turns 38, Pascal. We’d still love to have you
Fav Raptor by a margin. The effort he’s put in to become the player he has become is insane
Of all the players on our 2019 team, he was the saddest to see go. I hope Hali comes back healthy and the two of them bring you guys a chip in the next few years.
he’s my fav. Seems like a great person off the court. His personal family stories with his pops made me realize this
This isn’t a championship team without Hali but there is more than enough talent to make the playoffs in the east (and maybe Hali is back). They should absolutely not be in the same boat as the Nets and Wizards.
You realize we have been missing 6 to 8 guys every game?
One game Siakam was the only active player of our playoff rotation.
40% of our minutes are filled by guys who wouldnt otherwise be on an NBA roster.
Yeah you guys have Wiseman on 10-days right?
And a ton of others
Fair replies all , I don’t watch a lot of Pacers game but I did watch the one with the Pistons and they looked a very tough team that night.
Ya we look competitive when we have more of the rotation guys playing.
Also Walker and Mathurin and Nembhard are all streaky.
(Walker wasn’t even rotation for us last year. Been a disappointment).
Walker hasn’t even been streaky this year, just hot ass. He was statistically a bottom three player in the whole NBA earlier this season.
but there is more than enough talent to make the playoffs
To be fair, Siakam is the only consistent scorer on the team.
Mathurin has the talent, but he’s always been inconsistent and isn’t much of a playmaker. Nembhard is very good in the role of secondary ballhandler and defender who can make some plays offensively, but asking him to carry the load on the offensive end is an entirely different beast.
Aside from those three, McConnell is the only other guy who can be counted on to contribute offensively on a semi-regular basis. Everyone else is back of the rotation (8th-10th) guys at best.
Pacers have exactly zero bigs that anyone would respect. They can’t get the looks they want with their shooters because there is nobody to challenge the paint. Add to the Huff sets the worst screens I’ve ever seen so you can’t even run the most basic play in basketball with him on the floor.
I don’t know if that’s true. Pacers have had injuries to a ton of guys this season as well. Siakam is the only consistent scorer and he’s getting older. Who else is supposed to carry the team? Nesmith? He’s been injured for months. Mathurin?
The ugliest part of this season will be when Mathurin wants a bag even though he’s entered the witness protection program for the entirety of the last month.
“They should absolutely not be in the same boat as the Nets and Wizards.”
Hey now, you’re right but hey now
Absolutely insane how much of a difference Haliburton made for this team. What other team has fallen off as hard without their best player?
Us, maybe?
The Warriors lost KD and Klay too though
You still have JK ?
actually he was talking about jordan poole
they also lost their center and didn’t replace him. It’s more than “just” their best player.
Also a lot of injuries. Nesmith has missed 20 games and Toppin hasn’t played since October
and Toppin won’t be back until MAYBE February🥲
They’ve been missing a lot more than Haliburton. Plus they’re tanking, losing games is the org’s expectation and goal.
It was the case the first two weeks of the season, now we’re just missing Nesmith and Toppin. Getting those two back won’t fix everything.
We’re terrible without our engine
You also let Turner walk.
Can’t forgot that
Yeah but Myles was clearly our worst starter, we played better with Obi at the 5 in the playoffs.
Look at what he’s currently doing in Milwaukee.
Myles wouldn’t fix anything right now. Hali would
You are missing three starters between Haliburton, Nesmith, and Turner, along with your minutes leader off the bench in Toppin. You did not get NBA-level replacements for any of them. That is why you suck.
If it all came down to Haliburton, you guys wouldn’t win so many of those no-show games where he refuses to shoot or penetrate.
confidently incorrect my boy
Herb Simon Slander.
Have you watched the Bucks lately?
Voluntarily? Never.
Missing Toppin / Nesmith / not having Nembhard for a while forces a team built around depth to play and start guys on 10 day contracts. This is not just a “we don’t have Haliburton so we suck.” This is similar to the year PG broke his leg, and at points in that season our entire starting 5 was hurt. Tough to transition to a different playstyle when we’re losing another key 30 mpg player every other week and even the guys who would be stepping into the roles (look at Furphy and QJ) are missing every other game so they can’t develop a rhythm.
All that said, Siakam is right; mental toughness would have us at 10-15 wins right now.
Not just Hali but Myles Turner too
Turner was 4-14 (1-8 3pt) last night against a team that defended him with a combo of Jay huff, James wiseman, and Johnny furphy. He was on the receiving end of last years team, not the contributing end
I watched a lot of pacers game .
He threw up bricks but he was ALWAYS the player Hali passed it to the most .
The entire half court offense was pick and pop between him and Hali. Even if he wasn’t all that, his dynamic and spacing was important for the pacers
Tbf we were also missing Nembhard, Mathurin, and Nesmith for some games as well
It’s weird but Haliburton should get MVP votes.
They been missing like 8 players for most of the season
The hospital pacers man. It’s tough
Pacers kind of sent this message with their off-season moves and the narrative around them post haliburton injury
As an org, sure, but I don’t think the players themselves have adopted that mindset.
The best “tank” is one that doesn’t tank the locker room/team culture. I think the best case is like the Astros of my youth or process 76ers – put a bunch of guys out there whose best effort still won’t win games, and find yourself the TJ McConnells and Jose Altuves who would otherwise never get a shot.
I’m glad he has at least 1 chip. I enjoy hearing him speak
tbf we’ve played like 20+ different guys this season and if i recall correctly that was around november. However we still suck im not denying it. We’re at the bottom in every offensive stat and it hurts to watch
can he say this to the jazz
Won’t matter, Lauri is still gonna waste precious career minutes on the bench because Danny Ainge bribed a kid to go to BYU
Well they did lose the most overrated player in the league to an Achilles tear, so it’s to be expected
Doesn’t this result go completely against your claim?
It’s a reference to him being named the most overrated.
Oh lol
Can’t keep track of the infinite genius takes of The Media
Wasn’t the media, it was voted by nba players lol
Pacers fans as good as he has been for your team, if a contending franchise throws you some picks and young prospects, do you want them to move Pascal? Or do you wait until Hali is back next season and try to run it back?
I say that as I can definitely see teams like the Warriors or Lakers knocking on the door by the deadline.
Nah, Pascal is the heart of this team, we need his leadership. It sucks that he has to endure this cursed season but if we can actually stay somewhat healthy next year we’ll be a top 4 seed in the East.
Absolutely not.
Not even having the phone call unless and until Haliburton comes back and looks like he’s either not the same guy or is going to take too long to get there. Then we pivot to a rebuild/retool.
Pascal is their best player. To trade for him they would most likely be asking for a huge haul
Imagine going from Game 7 of the NBA finals to this lol
I love siakam
Every day I’m so glad this isn’t the culture in Boston.
Tbf, this isn’t the culture in Indiana. Missing 4 of your top 8 guys, one of which is the engine for the entire team’s identity, means you are going to lose games.
Siakam is the ultimate dawg. This is obviously the message you send your team. If the Pacers were tanking, Siakam would be playing less. They aren’t tanking, but he’s clearly calling out dudes who he sees as not caring enough and challenging them to show up.
Pacers’ management chose not to have a solution at Center. Yes, you guys chose to tank.
Look at Myles Turner’s numbers this year and ask Bucks fans if they are looking forward to 3 more seasons of him. He isn’t good. Huff and Jackson, who have both outplayed Turner in their matchups, have been fine. The Pacers aren’t losing games because Myles Turner is gone (because the Bucks overpaid him).
I’d much rather three more seasons of Myles Turner than rely on a centre rotation of Jay Huff and Isaiah Jackson for a once-contending team. Look at Jay Huff’s numbers. Look at Isaiah Jackson’s numbers. They’re losing minutes to James Wiseman.
I agree that losing so many starters for the first few months of the season sucks, but these Pascal comments seem to indicate it has more to do with team culture than just them losing starters.
He clearly doesn’t think the team cares enough
They’re definitely better than their record.
it seems like a long-ass nightmare that the Pacers can’t seem to wake up from, which began when Tyrese got injured 6 months ago.
it could be worse…
imagine if FO didn’t trade to get their pick back from the Pelicans during the finals… 🫣
(sigh)
Pascal is one of the realest and nicest guys in the league.
Pacers gonna be scary next year with a returning Hali, a lottery pick and Pascal dialed in.
Its okay Pascal when you got Haliburton + Boozer/Peterson/Dybantsa next year you’ll be back contending.
Spicy P 🌶️
honestly just tank this season get a good pick and next season hali is back and theyre fine
Rotational players aren’t motivated to lose games to draft their replacements. If you don’t hold that edge, it may never come back.
Their record is atrocious. Give the GM an extension for prying that lottery pick back from the Pels.
Thats the beauty of sports. Every year is different, 1 yr you can be on the top and the next at the bottom. Nothing is guaranteed and you gotta always put the work in
Crazy how they were almost finals winners and are now a bottom 5 team 6 months later.
Tldr; keeping it a buck, we ass
They really shouldn’t be this bad, I was expecting .500
To be fair to the Pacers, they did lose 2 quality starters in Haliburton due to injury and Turner due to free agency. And a quality bench player in Toppin due to injury.
Boston lost 4 of their top 6 guys and are the 3rd seed so far
I didn’t appreciate pascal nearly enough while he was in Toronto
He’d be a nice Celtic
Toughest loss the pacers will have all year is losing Pascal. Nice sweater though, King.
Still getting 20+ minutes a night from TWO hardship players. I get it, and six wins is nuts, but let’s have some perspective. 50 minutes a game of Nesmith and Toppin would sure help.
Watchin this vid on mute looks crazy 😂
Last nights game was pretty hard to watch, I wasn’t sure if we’d score over 70.
i cant believe i ever doubted this guy. so glad hes found a home and i hope he continues to be a winning player everywhere he goes. i hope he keeps proving me wrong.
i dont know, at some point you dont have enough salary out there
Champ mentality
my warriors lost to this team……