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Ronald Eugene

Game #78 Recap: Despite Blowout Loss, Pacers Inch Closer to Playoff Spot

by Ronald Eugene on April 3, 2011 at 10:58 pm · 1 comment

(Footage of the Pacers valiant, fourth quarter “comeback.” via Graydon Gordian)

The Pacers lost in New Orleans badly (108-96) in a contest where the final score was not very indicative of the whole game. The end result was pretty apparent toward the beginning of the third quarter as the Hornets padded a lead north of 20 points. Both teams had their starters out by the start of the fourth, and there was even an alleged James Posey sighting. A flurry of outside shots got the Pacers much closer in the waning minutes, but the game was never in doubt.

We could go over the stats, but it’s not really necessary. Chris Paul was excellent and New Orleans’ starters shot 32-for-55 (58.2%) while nothing really stood out for Indy aside from decent play by AJ Price and Paul George’s 1-for-5 shooting, 3-point performance. This was his the 12th time in his 15 starts that he failed to score in double-digits and the 9th time in this stretch he has failed to even put up 7 points. Meanwhile, Mike Dunleavy dropped 15 points on 7 shots, in fewer minutes than George played, largely because he got to the line 6 times in just his 3rd game back from sitting out for five weeks with a busted thumb. Paul George has only attempted 6 free throws once in a game since February 12.

Pointless numbers aside, the outcome should not have been too surprising.

The Hornets, with a current record of 44-33, will ultimately wind up as either the 6th, 7th or 8th playoff seed in the vastly superior Western Conference; the Pacers, with a 35-43 record, are destined for the 8th seed in the East (which comes with a I-65 playoff date and a two games in a half-red Conseco Fieldhouse in a series against the Bulls).

Yes, I wrote it.

The Pacers are headed to the playoffs. Tim Donahue may not have been ready to call it after the team’s nail-biter against Milwaukee last Friday, but I’m ready to dive across Charlotte’s limp carcass like a UFC referee just 48 hours later.

Perhaps the assertion that Charlotte has no interest in making the playoffs and receiving a first-round smackdown is true. The Bobcats, just two games back in the standings, lost 97-91 at home to lowly Washington in what was just the Wizards’ third road win in 38 tries. Charlotte’s leading scorer, the infamous Stephen Jackson, did not play due to a sore hamstring, and the team seems to be in no hurry to bring him back. This does not seem like a club very intent on winning.

It may seem out of place to be so upbeat about the season after the Pacers were on the receiving end of such a solid beating. Sure, there were some really disconcerting things to see, especially confirmation of an earlier assertion that the starting line-up just doesn’t play very well together.

But if the team’s preseason goal was to make the playoffs, it looks good now.

Milwaukee is too far back, and Charlotte is seemingly holding up its white flag. Before play started Sunday, Hollinger listed Indiana’s chances at appearing in the playoffs as 94.2% (with Charlotte at 5.7% and Milwaukee at a thread-like 0.1%). Essentially, there is no one left to challenge the Pacers for the final playoff spot; it’s just a matter of cleaning up with a couple of wins in the final four contests against teams already locked into playoff positioning.

The champagne is on ice.

Stay tuned.

Other deep thoughts:

Looking for a time-killer at work this week? Play ESPN’s playoff predictor and try to get the Pacers into the Finals. Odds are between 0.2% and 0.3%. Good luck!

I would pay any price for a Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket.

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Detroit, Indiana, Fans, Apathy and an Odd Future

by Ronald Eugene on March 30, 2011 at 1:03 pm · 8 comments

Recently, I entered the House the Bad Boys Built and Ron Artest nearly tore down: the Palace of Auburn Hills. Expecting to perhaps be threatened or harassed for my preferred outcome of Saturday’s Pacers/Pistons game in Motown, I was instead disturbed for entirely different reasons.

It wasn’t the fact that I was in Detroit during Spring Break, the free throw shooting of my favored team or even the final result that upset me. The problem was the atmosphere of the game.

In a city far removed from its team’s latest championship, the Detroit crowd was lively and responsive. The Pistons played a good game — certainly helped by their opponent’s 7-of-19 performance from the free throw line — and the crowd fed them energy.

Why does it matter that Detroit had a good crowd on a Saturday night home game in March? Great question. I’m glad that you asked.

The real problem is that it was a more energetic game than any of the dozen that I have been to in Indianapolis all year. This came in the building of a team that is effectively out of the playoff race and has very few, if any, long term answers.

As the regular season draws to a close, and the postseason vaguely threatens to disappear entirely, it is not unreasonable to take a quick glance to the Pacers’ future.

Mike Dunleavy ($10.5 million), T.J. Ford ($8.5 million) and Jamaal Tinsley ($5.5 million) all have contributed about equal amounts since the switch to Frank Vogel, and all will be off the Pacers’ cap next year. This gives the team a considerable amount of wiggle room to sign new free agents to complement the assumed existing core of Darren Collison, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George.

In a rapidly changing NBA, the question becomes: what will bring the players to Indiana?

We’ve seen from the recent migrations of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony that money isn’t enough in every circumstance. Oftentimes it comes down to the existing players on the roster (also known as the “Miami Cheat” or “LeBron White Flag”) or location (also known as “Carmelo Takes Denver Hostage”). Unfortunately, the Pacers really don’t have either advantage on their side.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve lived in Indiana my entire life, and with the exception of a few months-long excursions to perfect my Spanish, I don’t expect to leave anytime soon. But I’m not an NBA free agent, the majority of whom aren’t from the Midwest.

So if money isn’t enough to bring a big-time free agent to Indianapolis, what’s getting him here?

See, the problem in Indiana may be the weather: the cold-weather tendencies of the winter and the fair-weather tendencies of the fans. The Colts even had some trouble selling out this year’s home playoff game initially, and the Pacers can’t get a full house without help from either LeBron or fans from Chicago.

If I’m an NBA player, I’ve noticed this in my past trips to Indiana over the years. I’m not entirely sure that I want to spend the next three to five years of my career playing in front of a Conseco Fieldhouse half-full of lethargic supporters. I don’t know what the small market of Indianapolis, a city where the bars close at 2:00 and the winter lasts a full three months, has to offer me other than a paycheck. I’m going to think twice about playing almost 50 games a year over six months in an arena in the self-proclaimed capital of basketball where the fans can’t match the energy level of a destitute team in a city that just set a national record for population decrease.

If you’re reading this thinking that sounds ridiculously immature and shortsighted, you may not completely understand the mind of a millionaire athletic phenomenon in his 20s.

On November 19, 2004, Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson ran into the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills; the Pacers have never been relevant since. As I sat less than a hundred feet from that very spot six years and change later listening to an invigorated Detroit crowd celebrate a fundamentally meaningless victory, I worried about how my team could ever return to what it once was if the fans just don’t really care.

Related Topics: Detroit Pistons, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson

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Game #75 Recap: Roy Hibbert Kickstarts and Darren Collison Closes in a Big Win Over Boston

by Ronald Eugene on March 28, 2011 at 11:33 pm · 6 comments

Just two nights after losing in Detroit due in large part to horrid foul shooting, the Pacers received some help from the Boston Celtics at the free-throw line. Rather than looking that gift horse in the mouth, the Pacers rode it to a 107-100 victory.

Playing against a banged-up team, the Pacers benefited from solid bench play and great showings from point guards Darren Collison (18 points on 8-of-9 shooting) and AJ Price (15 points in 20 minutes).

It was a night that both teams needed a win for different reasons. The Pacers, trying to hold off quickly closing Charlotte, began just one game ahead of the field for the 8th and final playoff spot. Boston needed help to catch Chicago for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

The game was a Jekyll-and-Hyde night that encapsulated a Jekyll-and-Hyde season thus far.

Predictably enough, the Pacers got off to their typical slow start. With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Indiana trailed 22-12 due mainly to an inability to control Celtics star Rajon Rondo. Rondo was doing anything and everything he wanted to such a degree that, at the time, it seemed as though Collison would be incapable of redeeming himself for the poor defense he was playing.

With Boston shooting lights out in the opening period, Roy Hibbert kept Indiana within striking distance. Throw in a Price buzzer-beater as the quarter expired and the lead was cut to a manageable six at 33-27.

Enter the Bench Brigade.

Led by Price, Dahntay Jones, and the sharp-shooting Brandon Rush, the second string turned the 6-point deficit to a 5-point surplus in just 5 minutes. The starters capitalized off this energy. By halftime, Indiana had shot 60% and gotten 19 points from Roy Hibbert, who simply out-classed whoever Doc Rivers threw at the big fella (including Nenad Krstic, Big Baby Davis and even Jeff Green). The good guys led by 8.

The third quarter was the opposite story. Teams began trading baskets to start the half, the kind of back-and-forth against a superior team that makes conditioned Pacers fans ask “How long can this last?”

As it turns out, not very long. A 16-6 Boston run put the Celtics up by 2 midway through the period. But the Pacers weathered the storm.

Needing an impetus at the beginning of the final quarter, the Pacers responded to a Boston drought by going on a 7-0 run to grab a 3-point lead. Sloppy play and turnovers (I consider a jump shot by Josh McRoberts to be a turnover and am currently drafting up a proposal to the commissioner on the subject) prohibited the Pacers from stretching that lead any further. (I joke, but despite what the box score may tell you, McRoberts played very well, making several nice passes that led to buckets in the second half.)

The most surprising aspect of the game came with the Pacers new-found lead dwindling. With his team down one, Ray Allen went to the line for an automatic pair.

Then Allen missed his first foul shot since the Eisenhower administration, Indiana notched three quick buckets in under a minute, and the usually reliable Kevin Garnett shot off on a couple more free throws. Collison was at the center of the Pacers attack, hitting four big buckets late including a pull-up jumper, a steal/dunk alone in transition and a driving layup at the rim (on which he might have also gotten fouled).

Another big hoop by Hibbert, who had 26 on the night on 12-for-17 shooting, put the Pacers up 8. Whenever Indiana opened the door up for a potential Celtic comeback in the final 4 minutes, Boston was uncharacteristically quick to give the ball back.

On a night when they really needed a win — particularly with the Bobcats winning a thriller over the Bucks — the Pacers got it. With 9 games left and a 1-game cushion for the last playoff spot, nothing else matters.

Other thoughts:

Can we stop calling Pierce, Garnett and Allen The Big Three, please? None of them are currently the best player on their own team, and none of them even had the best career of all players currently on the team.

James Posey stands farther away from the team huddle than TV sideline reporter Stacey Paetz

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Game #63 Recap: More Questions. No Answers

by Ronald Eugene on March 8, 2011 at 10:20 pm · 1 comment

Playing a team from a city known for a cracked bell, Indiana got its clock cleaned. Losing to a team like Philadelphia at home, like that means one thing: if you didn’t already, you can now officially consider the Frank Vogel honeymoon to be over.

Mired in a three-game losing streak and not long after a reported players-only meeting, the Pacers got off to another signature slow start against Philadelphia, eventually losing by the looks-closer-than-it-was score of 110-100. In a game between the 7th- and 8th-seeded teams in the Eastern Conference, the 76ers took control very early in a game they never trailed. It was Indiana’s third wire-to-wire loss in their last four games.

Just once, in fact, did the Pacers even lurk in their opponent’s shadow. Down 15 in the second quarter, Indiana went on an 8-0 run and appeared likely to cut the deficit to just a handful at the break. But one long three-pointer and a flying tip-in by the Sixers soon brought the difference back to 12. It never got much closer until a late rally attempt sputtered, once again revealing the bad start to be Indiana’s Achilles’ Hell.

A daunting March schedule, including six back-to-backs and six road dates in an eight-game span, had people expecting a rough start to the season’s most important month. It’s been more than just a few losses to playoff-bound teams, however. The Pacers have had no answers, no go-to-guy, no chance.

Fortunately, they play in the Eastern Conference, where seemingly every other team in the hunt for the final remaining postseason berth has given up. It’s very realistic that the Pacers could back into the 8th seed and the assured sweep from Boston, but what’s most disconcerting is the lack of answers now.

It seems increasingly likely that Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and Darren Collison disappear for long stretches. Granger did not score a single point in the second half until he converted a meaningless jumper (plus a free-throw) with his team down by 12 with just a minute left. Vogel’s assertion that “no one in the NBA plays harder than Tyler Hansbrough” was spot on tonight, as he was the sole bright spot for the Pacers (26 points on 11-for-14 shooting in 30 minutes), but that can’t be the entire backbone of the franchise. Let us not forget that when the Pacers took Hansbrough with their first round pick in 2009 Jay Bilas said that every practice just got much better.

Not a game, not a game, not a game. We’re talking about practice.

The team is in a current state of flux. Recent efforts have been made to clean up the team’s image, bring in character guys and create a more likeable image. All of these efforts have been successful, the occasional drug suspension or domestic violence allegation notwithstanding. Don’t get me wrong: I’ll be the first person to celebrate the small step of returning to the playoffs.

Ultimately, however, it comes down to winning. There’s still time to do enough of that to grab the final spot into the postseason, but are there any long-term answers in Indianapolis other than Tyler Hansbrough playing hard?