Expect more exasperated looks from Vogel

After the haunting disaster that was Game 1, it was almost forgotten that the Toronto Raptors were the heavy favorites entering the series.

I had the Raptors winning in five, and I’ll be honest, I was nervous when they dropped the first set. But having recovered from their psychological wounds, the Raptors have proven without doubt that they are the more talented team.

There’s been so much talk of adjustments. How would the Raptors adjust to Paul George? How would DeMar DeRozan adjust to the defense? How would the coaches align their rotations? How would Indiana take away Jonas Valanciunas’ easy baskets in the paint.

Adjustment and strategy are important, but they fall secondary to talent. The Pacers can rejigger what they like, but they’re not overcoming the talent gap.

After Game 2, Jonas Valanciunas — usually not one for insightful quotes — was asked about how the Pacers would adjust to his pick-and-roll baskets. The Big Lithuanian simply laid out the truth.

“By doing that (sending help), we’re going to open something else. Take away the rolls, maybe the penetration will be there. We just have to play basketball and enjoy.”

- Jonas Valanciunas

Solve one problem and another arises. That’s the luxury of having multiple threats as the Raptors do.

Vogel will have counters prepared after dropping the last two games. But he’ll have very little to point to in practice on Friday. Vogel pulled every trick in the book to get the Pacers going after halftime, but none of it worked.

He went big with Myles Turner starting at power forward. The Raptors countered that by remaining strong on the glass, and Luis Scola drained a three while Turner was lost on the perimeter.

Vogel tried C.J. Miles as the power forward in a smallball lineup, but that failed too. The Raptors just stuck Lowry on him and Miles continued to be ice-cold (he’s now 1–11 from deep in three games).

They also shuffled the pick-and-roll coverage. Vogel sagged both of his bigs back to help on the interior, but that opened up threes elsewhere after the Raptors forced them to scramble. Then he moved to trapping, but the Raptors beat that with ball movement. Finally, Vogel switched actions, but that allowed DeRozan to shake free of George’s clutches and he was able to score against Solomon Hill and Monta Ellis.

Again, it goes back to talent. The Raptors have the better roster, and after seeing what went wrong in Game 1, Dwane Casey made his adjustments. Vogel did too, but his didn’t work because the personnel simply isn’t up to par.

So after punking the Raptors in Game 1, it’s the Pacers who are on their hind legs. And while the series is still far from over, Indiana is running thin on adjustments, and cream is starting to rise to the top.

I get a ring and I bring it home like Cory Joe

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