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Pacers down Cavs, now have wins against top 4 teams – but were the Cavs robbed? February 11, 2009

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Lebron and Coach Brown couldn't believe the call. Were they robbed? See video below.

Lebron and Coach Brown couldn't believe the call. Were they robbed? See video below.

Pacers complete quartet of victories against top teams

The Indiana Pacers continue their trend of beating the best teams and losing to the worst.  After losing to the last-place Washington Wizards in the previous game, the Pacers returned to Conseco Fieldhouse and beat Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-95.  Lebron decimated the Pacers with 47 points, but a highly disputed late foul against him cost them the game (see below and decide for yourself if it was fair).

The Pacers now have wins over the top 4 teams in the NBA – reigning champs Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Orlando Magic and the Clevland Cavaliers.  It would be a lot more impressive if they were not still 12th out of 15 teams in the East and 3.5 games out of the 8th and final playoff spot with a record of 21-32.

Controversy at the end of the game

The end to this game was very interesting and controversial. 

With the game tied 93-93, TJ for hit a jumper with 0.8 seconds left ont he clock to give the Pacers a 2-point lead.  After a time-out, the Cavs threw an inbound alley-oop to Lebron James.  Danny Granger tips the ball away, makes some contact with Lebron.  Foul called on Granger.  Pacers bench and coach O’Brien incensed.  Lebron makes both free throws to tie it 95 all with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.  Next play after the time-out, the Pacers try the same play for Granger.  Lebron tips the ball away, makes some contact with Granger.  Foul called on Lebron and Granger makes the first and misses the second on purpose.  Game, set, match.  Pacers win 96-95.  Lebron and Coach Brown are incensed.

Post match interviews

In the post-game interviews, Mike Brown was basically asking for the NBA to fine him: “I went back and I watched the last two plays. That last call on LeBron (James) was the worst call that I’ve ever been a part of. It was an awful call and for him to take away a basketball game from a team with .04 seconds on the clock is irresponsible. We got the game taken away from us, absolutely horrible. I feel badly for the guys in the locker room.”

He then added: “We played OK. We played well enough to give ourselves an opportunity. That game should have gone into overtime. He determined the outcome. If they want to fine me for telling the truth, then fine me.”

And Lebron himself had this to say on the two plays: “I thought the one call on Granger against me was questionable. There was definitely some contact, enough for a whistle to be blown… But it could have gone both ways. The last call against me was not questionable at all. No contact was made. The pass was short. You couldn’t go to the rim. There was no way he could catch it and go up with four-tenths of a second. I was able to get a hand on it. Being the competitor I am, to have a game taken away like that, it hurts. It definitely hurts.”

Check out the video and decide for yourself

Okay, now check out the video of the plays below (it’s a highlight package so it’s at the end)

So, what do you think?  Was it a fair call?  Was it only a fair call because of the play at the other end?  Was it home court advantage for the Pacers?

Was King James robbed or should he gave gotten special treatment as the league superstar?  Or was it because Granger is also an All-Star now?

Personally I think it’s because they called it at the other end.  There was definitely contact on both sides on both plays.  Lebron is so big and powerful that he never looks like he gets bumped, but if there was no contact as he says, then why he did fall down?

Pacers down Bucks, run back on track January 29, 2009

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Pacers Win

The looks say it all

In my last post I hoped that the Pacers would not only win their next game against Milwaukee, but also hold them under 100 points.  Well, they did.  Just.

After being annihilated by the Orlando Magic by giving up 135 points a day earlier, the Pacers went back to Indiana and beat the ailing Milwaukee Bucks, 107-99. 

The Pacers are now 18-28 and back on track in their quest to make some ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race during their softest stretch of the schedule.  Despite the victory, they have not improved in the standings, as other teams with similar records are also finding ways to win.  Things will get more interesting as the Pacers play their next 3 games at home, where they have now won 6 straight.

The win was against a team without both Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut, but Pacers’ leading scorer Danny Granger sat out with a sore knee too (might explain why he’s been playing so poorly as of late).  TJ Ford filled the lacuna by tying a career high with 34 points. 

I think this is a good sign – it means TJ is recovering from his back problems and may be rounding into the hot form he had right at the start of the season (when he threatened triple-doubles for a whole week).  It also teaches them not to lean on Granger every night.

Coming up: Miami, New York, Minnesota – all at home.  All three teams have been playing well lately, so the Pacers will need big efforts from everyone on the team.  They usually find ways to disappoint when such opportunities arise, so this will be a perfect test to see if they are finally ready to move out of the cellar.

Pacers improving on D…give up 135 to Magic January 28, 2009

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Pacers lose again

The looks say it all

Okay, so I expected to see a loss against the Orlando Magic today.  But to give up 135 points after all the recent chatter (courtesy of the ultimate spin website pacers.com) of how a significantly improved defense has led to the Pacers’ recent “run” of 4 wins in 6 games…it has just left me speechless.

The final score was 135-111.  Mickael Pietrus top-scored with 27 points in his first game back from injury.  I knew the Pacers were in for a tough time because Howard’s a monster and the Pacers are admittedly thin in the middle – “stick skinny” Jeff Foster, “super slow-mo” Nesterovic, “human foul machine” Roy Hibbert and “the guy who’s slightly better than Luke Ridnour (the guy who can’t guard a chair)” Troy Murphy.  But Dwight only had a semi-decent game with 22 points, 10 boards and 6 turnovers, and they only needed his services for 29 minutes.  No excuses.

The majority of games coming up are against weak teams, but this blowout loss does not infuse me with confidence that they’ll roll through their opponents.  He’s lucky the voting has closed, but Danny Granger dealt a serious blow to his All-Star credibility by scoring only 10 points on 4 of 14 shooting (I’ve lost count how many bad shooting nights he’s had in a row now), just a day or so before the All-Star reserves are announced.  The saving grace is that it seems TJ Ford (who returned to the starting line-up and led the way with 23 points) and Marquis Daniels (who added 16 off the bench) are finally healthy again.

Next up in this back-to-back is injury-depleted Milwaukee, who just lost Michael Redd for the rest of the season.  Let’s see if the Pacers can bounce back and not only win, but hold their opponents down below 100 points.

Pacers sweep Rockets – time for a charge? January 24, 2009

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Pacers win! But…

I was very excited to see that the Indiana Pacers managed to hold on against the Houston Rockets at home, 107-102.  This meant a season sweep against the Rockets (!), and improved their record to 16-27, still second worst in the East.

However, it was far from an impressive win at home.  The Rockets are a good team, but they were already missing stars Tracy McGray and Ron Artest, and the Pacers caught another break when remaining star Yao Ming injured his knee and sat out the second half.  Still, the Pacers shot poorly and almost managed to lose control of it towards the end.  If it weren’t for some accurate free throw shooting, they could have very easily lost the game.

The highlight was of course Danny Granger’s end-of-game stuff of Von Wafer’s dunk attempt that pretty much killed off any chance of a Rockets comeback.  Do yourself a favour and watch the video again and again below.

Can they make a charge?  Upcoming schedule says maybe…

ind2Talk all season has been about how tough the Pacers’ early schedule has been.  There is some truth to this – but when you’re as bad as the Pacers, pretty much every game is a tough one.  Really – if you run through their schedule game by game, you’ll notice there aren’t many games where you can say ‘they should win this one easily’ (and they sometimes lose those ones too).

However, this has not stopped recent chatter around the water cooler that the Pacers are finally to make a run for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.  As of today, they are 16-27, 14th out of a possible 15 teams in the East.  In the 7th position is Philadelphia with a record of 20-21, and rounding off the top 8 is Milwaukee with 21-25.  New Jersey is 9th with 19-24. 

So it’s not that far-fetched that the Pacers could make the playoffs.  For some reason John Hollinger’s Playoff Odds constantly have the Pacers within striking distance of the playoffs.  Currently they are ranked 9th in the East, just out of the picture, with a 23.4% chance of still making it.  Are the Pacers really that much better than their record indicates?

Let’s look at their upcoming schdule (next 17 games): Charlotte, @Orlando, Milwaukee, Miami, New York, Minnesota, @Philadelphia, Orlando, @Washington, Cleveland, @Milwaukee, Philadelphia, @Charlotte, @Minnesota, Chicago, @Knicks, Memphis.

If this isn’t the time to make a run, then I don’t know what is.  Take out the 2 games against Orlando and the games against Cleveland and Miami – and you’ve got 13 upcoming games against sub-0.500 teams.  You’ve also got 10 home games against only 7 away games.  On top of that, Mike Dunleavy is starting to round into form, and TJ Ford and Marquis Daniels are supposedly almost recovered from their respective injuries.

However, Pacers fans need to keep their expectations in check.  What can be expected from this ‘soft’ patch?  12-5?  11-6? 10-7?

Out of the teams they play in this period, only Minnesota and Memphis actually have worse records than the Pacers.  Therefore, I would consider anything equal or better than 10-7 during this bunch of games a moderate success.  It’s not going to get them back in playoff contention just yet, but they could at least give themselves an opportunity down the home stretch.  Besides, you never know.  Momentum is a strange thing, so if the Pacers can string together a few victories early on they could easily move further up the ladder than anticipated.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Just like that, Pacers establish losing streak January 21, 2009

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A quick follow up on last night’s post.  Just a little over a day ago, the Pacers were talking excitedly about the possibility of a 3-game winning streak (huge deal).  In the blink of an eye, they’ve lost 2 in a row – today to the Spurs in San Antonio.  This one wasn’t even close, 99-81, and the Spurs had rested most of their starters by the 4th quarter.

Another one of those ‘should have lost’ games.  The Pacers dropped to 15-27, still second worst in the league ahead of Washington, but it’s a shame as they were in position to make a push up the ladder with just a couple more wins.

The Pacers seem to struggle against teams that are fundamentally sound like the Spurs and teams with a good big man (like Duncan) – because they lack both and only try to beat teams by running them ragged with their run-and-gun game.  Such tactics don’t work against these types of teams.  Until they learn to play some defence, it’s not going to change anytime soon.

On a brighter note, the Pacers got 2 mentions in ESPN.COM’s Daily Dime today.  TJ Ford was named “Tuesday’s Worst” for his 4-14 effort against the Spurs in 28 minutes (give the poor guy a break, he’s still recovering from injury).  Danny Granger, on the other hand, was named by analyst Tim Legler as one of the season’s biggest surprises thus far:

Danny Granger.  I never thought he’d be a guy who could average over 25 points per game. Mike Dunleavy being out helped because Granger got more touches, but he has worked so hard at making himself a great scorer between his ball-handling, his mid-range game and now he’s a legitimate 3-point shooter. He’s got the whole package and he’s doing it against great defenders.

PS: There’s mention of another possible trade for ex-Pacer Jermaine O’Neal, this time with Shawn Marion of the Miami Heat.  The only reason Miami is even considering this is because of the salary cap space O’Neal would free up shortly. 

Since making a new start in Toronto, Jermaine had shown flashes of his old self, but really, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before he started getting injured again.  We had all heard of his inspirational speeches before about being healthy this time and returning to his All-Star levels, etc etc.  Well, sure enough, the big man has not seen any significant action for quite some time.

It was also recently revealed that he secretly requested to be traded the first year Jim O’Brien took over as head coach.  For some reason the request was never made public.  I guess the Pacers had enough problems on their hands at the time.  But it might also reveal why Jermaine was booed the first time he returned to Indiana a few days ago.  This was a guy that took the Pacers back up to elite status not that long ago, but I guess fans are still bitter about his lack of leadership and inability to take the team to the next level (and involvement in the brawl)- and now they think he’s betrayed them too.

I’ll still always remember Jermaine for that unforgettable sliding punch into one of those hobbits who ran onto the court in Detroit.  See the video again, at around the 1:11 mark. [NOTE: Video removed from Youtube.  Had to post a different one – this one’s at the 1:25 mark or thereabouts]