NBA Finals Are Reinforcing A Lesson For The Pacers

Source: Boston Globe / Getty

The Indiana Pacers would be wise to watch what is going on in the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Pacers had the Celtics on their heels in three of their games in the Eastern Conference Finals, but ultimately were swept. The Mavericks are now facing the same fate, as Boston looks to close out the season on a historic winning streak. While the Celtics may just be so talented that it wouldn’t matter, there is a similar, fatal flaw between the Mavs and the Pacers that, unless addressed, will hold both teams back.

Your best player cannot be a liability on defense.

Both Tyrese Haliburton of Indiana and Luka Doncic of Dallas are incredibly talented, superstar level players on offense. Defensively, it’s an entirely different story. At times during the Pacers playoff run, opposing teams would go after Haliburton repeatedly, knowing he couldn’t stop them. For the Mavericks, a similar story is unfolding against Boston.

Haliburton is young, and there is plenty of time for him to improve his game on that end of the floor. He may never be a lockdown defender, but he doesn’t need to be. Even average defense would be fine, especially with the Pacers high-octane offense. All that matters is that he and the Pacers are better defensively going forward.

Otherwise, we might have seen the limit on how far this team can go.

During the Thursday edition of The Ride With JMV, John spoke to Noah Eagle of Peacock and NBC, as well as Mike Chappell of FOX59 and CBS4. Listen to those conversations down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!

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