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Apparently you all haven't read my game thread opener that I posted last night about the Magic @ Pacers, but. . . What about Pacers' Aaron Holiday? He killed it Wednesday night against the Nets with some of the players above him out. Apparently when those players return, he will go back to the end of the bench. Aaron and his brother, Justin, were killing it. Aaron Holiday finished with career highs of 24 points and 13 assists, Justin Holiday scored 20 points. Edit: I posted the article about Aaron in the game thread opener for tonight's game against the Pacers.

All I know is that when Birch started playing last year we started winning. Bamba better step it up and show something during this stretch or it will be time to move on from him once Vuch returns

Birch got pushed around pretty easily by Gasol in the post. I’m more worried about spacing with Birch, though, and that’s somewhat compounded by Iwundu being on the court as well. We’ll be fine defensively with either, it’s about how we replace Vuc’s shots and efficiency. Playing at a higher tempo will help, but it’s going to be a cramped paint.

I don’t buy that Bamba’s issue is that he’s lazy— that shows up on some plays, sure, but that’s only 5% of the problem with Mo, if that. If he was playing defense at the level he’s capable of, we’d brush over him not running back for a chase down block since he’d be more than capable of it. His motor is more of an annoyance rather than a legitimate reason he’s not playing well. When I watch Bamba, he looks lost on the defensive end. He’s tentative and often looks unsure about his assignment and defensive positioning. He’s late on rotations and on help defense, which is where Bamba derives so much of his value. When defending players outside the paint, he’s hesitant to use his length to defend jumpers out of fear of fouling. His inconsistency comes from a lack of mental understanding— when you watch Vuc, regardless of his athletic limitations, he’s always automatic in regards to knowing his assignments, pick and roll coverages and when and how to rotate. There’s no peeking back over his shoulder to see if he’s wrong in the way that Bamba always does. If Bamba played with his balls to the wall like you want him to, he’d foul out in 8 minutes and give up several easy buckets because his understanding of the defense just isn’t there. When Bamba stops thinking and just starts to react, he’ll be fine. I’m not sure if he’ll get to the point like Vuc or Birch where playing defense is like muscle memory, but it’s fairly obvious to me that Bamba’s extremely tentative on the court with making decisions, and it’s extremely detrimental. On defense, you don’t really have time to think— it’s react and make a play, and Bamba can’t really do that right now, certainly not in the same way that Birch or Vuc can. If he could, we wouldn’t be talking about his effort. I think benching Bamba would be the worst thing. Give him every rep possible and hope he turns a corner mentally, or trade him and play Birch or a center you acquire. Benching him would make him even more tentative, and that’s something you don’t want.