re: NOT the same old Pels

They also shot almost 92 percent of their free throws, controlled the boards, had 11 steals and 6 blocks. Look, there's things they need to clean up, figure out, and even change. But what you saw last night was encouraging.

They had a solid half court offense in the final 5 where they were running some nice actions/sets that were effective and were able to go punch for punch with Indiana.

Yes, there were breakdowns on the pick and roll defense in the final 5, but it wasn't a schematic issue like what they had in the past. It was the players not communicating and making the right decisions to play the passing lanes or rotate the weak side towards Siakam.

It's going to be a learning process for them and it ain't happening overnigjt with this group. The defense wasn't fundamentally flawed ala Willie's drop coverage on the P&R where it won't matter how well they position themselves.

Other positives are the Bench who gave them 43 points. We're going to be in a lot of games if they give you that kind of production.

Queens's defense and rebounding was a huge positive. Missi under Mosley is turning into the rim protector and anchor we were hoping he could develop into. 24 rebounds between Queen and Missi is huge.

Murray looked really good and showed that he is the leader of the team last night calling huddles and defending our young players during the altercations.

You dudes are melting hard but these are the kind of games were rare in the last two years. If they give me that kind of grit and fight for the majority of their games, that's a good product to watch.