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Dahntay Jones

Game #71 Recap: Pacers Crawl Across the Finish Line Slightly Ahead of a Terrible Team

by Jared Wade on March 22, 2011 at 1:15 am · 8 comments

It was a tale of two halves. And by that, I mean they played two halves of basketball. Twenty-four minutes each, which combined was roughly 45 minutes more than anyone watching should have been watching.

The last couple were interesting. I’ll give the game that. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were good basketball by any means, but true to the calendar heading under which they were played, there was a decidedly March Madness vibe: scrappy, unpredictable and full of weird things that really shouldn’t be happening when two teams are playing high-level hoops.

Case in point: Sasha Vujacic hit 3 three-pointers in the final 3 minutes. Sundiata Gaines, who dropped a career-high 18 points on 11 shots, hit another. They watched an 11-point lead dissolve and while, sure, Sasha was in a zone, it really should not be that hard to make those desperation comeback shots a little more difficult given how poorly the Nets usually create open looks.

But while the Pacers almost coughed up the game in the final minutes, they won it in the third quarter, outscoring New Jersey 29-17 and holding them to 24.1% shooting (7-for-29). Danny Granger — finally — rediscovered his shooting stroke, making 2 of this 3 shots in the quarter and adding a few points at the line. Granger added 10 more in the fourth to give the captain 17 points in the second half. This was especially nice to see for Pacers fans considering that Danny missed his first 6 shots of the game, which at the time meant he had bottomed out at 14 for his last 48 field goal attempts. That’s a 29.2% clip over nearly 14 quarters. He eventually hit one before the half, foreshadowing his strong second 24 minutes, but when the team’s primary scorer comes out so flat and the entire team follows suit by managing a mere 15 points in the first quarter, there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of urgency to make it to this whole postseason thing.

Good work pulling away in the third and then not completely shooting yourself in the foot late, but, really, more than 70 games into the season this is more troubling than anything.

Looking back to the game’s beginning, there was very little quality basketball being played by Indiana, or New Jersey honestly, in the first two quarters. Vujacic was causing problems for the Pacers for one stretch early as well. That bad. Then Sudiata Gaines got in on the act. Kris Humphries was rebounding everything, snatching 10 boards off the window, including 3 on the offensive end.

It’s not like the Nets were doing anything spectacular. Indiana was just giving no resistance and certainly not putting forth the energy you would expect from a team in the Pacers’ position.

Defensively, Darren Collison spent much of the half much like he has spent much of the season: out of position. As Zach Lowe of SI’s The Point Forward noted, Dahntay Jones at one point left Anthony Morrow, a career 45.3% three-point shooter, to double Kris Humphries, a 34.5% shooter from between 10-15 feet this season, despite the fact that (a) Humphries wasn’t even in the paint, and (b) Tyler Hansbrough was in fine position to guard Humphries. And when guys weren’t doing things like leaving Morrow open for no real reason, Morrow stayed busy getting Paul George into foul trouble.

Really, the only thing that allowed Indiana to trail only 44-40 at the half was that the Nets are the Nets. They shot an ugly 1-for-9 from behind the arc in the first two quarters and it wasn’t as if there were any great defensive rotations or hard close-outs from the Pacers that caused the errant accuracy. Again, if the Nets weren’t the Nets, it could have been worse — and it was at one point when New Jersey was up 12 — given just how anemic indiana’s offense was.

The whole team shot an depressing-but-not-particularly-unusual 39.5% through the first two quarters, not to mention committing 9 turnovers, there was little proof of life early. It was starting to look like David Stern really should just let whichever deserving Western Conference team finishes 9th have the East’s final playoff spot.

I’m sure nearly every single player on this team is looking forward to playing in the playoffs — most for the first time — but at this point, watching a game like this, it’s hard to see anything but four blowouts happening when they get there.

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Cacophony

by Tim Donahue on March 8, 2011 at 10:13 am · 12 comments

The departure of Jim O’Brien, and his replacement by Frank Vogel was viewed by many as a breath of fresh air. Vogel promised a different team, and – for a time – delivered. However, the Pacers have faltered in recent days, losing five of their last six games and being generally uncompetitive on their just-completed three-game road trip to Oklahoma and Texas.

After the Houston loss, Mike Wells asked if the ship was sinking. He had tweeted about shouting in the locker room after the Houston game, and mentioned specifically in-game displays of frustration/anger by both Jeff Foster and Dahntay Jones.

Yesterday, on The Ride with JMV, Mike Wells took things further. If you listen to the audio, you’ll get a more complete picture, but I’m not sure you’ll like what you hear.

Wells described this team as “a very young team that doesn’t have any type of leadership.” A damning statement of the veterans on this team – specifically Danny Granger. Wells said he went so far as to slide his ear up against the door Saturday night, but “(it was) so many guys talking, you couldn’t pinpoint one voice out of it.” Wells also reiterated his “substitute teacher syndrome” concerns about this team and interim coach Frank Vogel.

I agree with Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows, who said “with Stephenson and Dahntay Jones creating the most noise in the Pacers’ locker room, I can’t see anything worthwhile emerging from the yelling.” That’s two fringe players — at least currently — having a petty squabble. It’s neither uncommon nor unexpected.

The problem is that it now seemingly becomes the (or a) central conflict for the entire team. In a room full of passive, disinterested, or perhaps even weak individuals, the dominant personalities will set the agenda. This is less leadership, and more inertia.

But digging deeper than just who is fighting with whom, and whose playing time is being unjustly given/taken away, you find a foundational problem. What is this team trying to accomplish when they take the floor? What is their game plan? If there was a leader in the locker room, where, exactly, is he supposed to lead them?

We’ve heard ad infinitum, ad nauseum, that the Pacers are now a “smash mouth, power post team.” Well, that’s fantastic pablum for a fan base weary of losing, but it doesn’t actually mean anything. Those are things that you are, not that you do. And, c’mon … who. besides Jeff Foster, Tyler Hansbrough, and perhaps Dahntay Jones on this team could you picture describing as “smash mouth” without bursting out in laughter?

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve heard vague, nebulous phrases about “getting back to where we were a couple weeks ago” or “not coming out as pumped as the first couple of games” after the coaching change. Again, what exactly does that mean?

It seems apparent that the team is lacking leadership, but to me, the bigger thing they are lacking is direction. One of the reasons that the so-called “goon squad” has continued to have success is that it is populated with “scramblers.” Price, Hansbrough, and Dahntay Jones are all capable of making things happen when everything falls apart. Arguably, they operate better in those freelance situations than they do within a working system. From this perspective, their success could be (fairly or unfairly) portrayed as much as a symptom of the dysfunction as anything else.

Meanwhile, players like Roy Hibbert, Darren Collison, Danny Granger, and Josh McRoberts, who benefit from some degree from structure, begin to flounder. (Or, as in the case of McRoberts, find that their contributions become less meaningful in a scramble situation.) Further, a player like Paul George (who Mike Wells described as “the perfect rookie”) finds himself stuck in between — trying to do what he has been taught, while pretty much everyone else is off doing their own thing.

Both Wells and Lewis focus on Lance Stephenson in their discussions, but he is less a cause, than a flashpoint. Again, in my opinion, a symptom of the lack of direction. It seemed odd to me (and to Mike Wells) that the Pacers had pushed him for playing time during a playoff race. Perhaps they feel that the spots in the bag — it would take an epic display of incompetence not to grab the 8th seed in the East — but his presence seems clearly to be at least a short-term disruption.

I don’t think that was a wise decision given this team’s history of fragility. Further, I continue to believe that the main focus of development should be getting Danny Granger, Darren Collison, and Roy Hibbert to work together as a cohesive unit. Right now, the three don’t play off of each other at all so much as just in the general vicinity of each other. To a large degree, working Stephenson into the lineup is a huge distraction from that. It creates noise where there needn’t be.

Vogel simplified a lot of things when he took over from O’Brien, but those were tactical. The problem now seems that the loss of Dunleavy, the struggles of the starting lineup vs. the “goon squad”, and the introduction of Lance Stephenson may have complicated things all over again.

Wells (seriously, listen for yourself) believes that the Pacers are at a tipping point. They have three “should win” games (home vs. Philly, @ Minny, and @ Toronto) that can either help restore them or help destroy them. This is a perfectly sensible point of view given this team’s history.

The leadership issue isn’t going to be solved this season.

If there isn’t one now, there isn’t going to be one to suddenly step up in the last 20 games. Therefore, the test falls to Vogel. He can’t hope to give a St. Crispin’s day speech before every game to get wins. He can’t count on the players’ individual talents to carry the day. He needs to get the team away from thinking about being happy and pumped up, and towards understanding their jobs and responsibilities on the floor.

And therein lies my biggest concern. Does even Vogel have a clear idea of how the pieces are supposed to fit and function?

We’re gonna find out.

Related Topics: Dahntay Jones, Frank Vogel, Lance Stephenson

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Game 51 Recap – Pacers Steamroll Timberwolves in Fourth Quarter

by Alex Yovanovich on February 12, 2011 at 1:31 am · 6 comments

Note: 8p9s welcomes back Alex Yovanovich, who was gracious enough to recap last night’s win over the T-Wolves. We’re very pleased to tell you that we hope to see more contributions from Alex through the rest of the season, the playoffs (fingers crossed), and beyond.

If you had told me a few weeks ago that A.J. Price and Dahntay Jones were going to score the first 16 points of the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves, I would have thought you were crazy. I would have thought you were a complete lunatic if you had told me Jones would end up scoring 19 points in the quarter for your Indiana Pacers.

Yet, that’s exactly what happened. Jones managed to top off his great night by putting the brakes on a solid game by Timberwolves guard Wayne Ellington with some really tight defense at the end of the game.

Dahntay Jones dominated the fourth quarter (Jeff Clark - Pacers.com)

That’s a Reggie Miller-like virtuoso performance by a Pacers shooting guard. Not only was Jones the hero of the night, but he finished the game strong. For a team desperately in need of a closer, Jones played that role on Friday night.

What makes this performance more amazing is that the Pacers were trailing by seven points after three and looked really shaky. That’s when Jones donned his red cape and came to the rescue. A night like this makes you wonder if the Pacers will decide to let Brandon Rush sit on the bench for awhile. By the time the game was over the Pacers had outscored the Timberwolves 33-15 in the final 12 minutes.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect any more 19-point quarters from Jones. It was only a few days ago that he was the goat for being unable to inbound the ball against Miami in the waning seconds. You’ve got to give him all the credit in the world for bouncing back from that disappointment.

Everyone who saw Jones as the hero coming before this game, raise your hand.

Frank Vogel looks like a genius for making the move to Jones. There is almost no one who would have thought that inserting him into the lineup was a recipe for success. Vogel did. In fact, he’s made all the right moves so far.

Yes, the schedule has been favorable. Yes, the schedule will get tougher.

Could this team have gone 6-1 in this stretch with Jim O’Brien? I say no way, no how.

Vogel is 6-1, but probably should be 7-0 because his team outplayed Miami in their lone loss and still had a chance to win it at the end.

Don’t misunderstand. All was not wine and roses coming out of this game. There are some things that may be indicators of problems to come against better teams.

For the first three quarters of this game the Pacers played pathetic defense. There were easy, uncontested shots all over the place for the Timberwolves. The defensive tone only changed in the fourth quarter when Price and Jones put the clamps on the Timberwolves easy buckets.

By the way, Kevin Love is a load. Seeing him play reminds you of how far the Pacers have to go at power forward. Let’s face it, Josh McRoberts and Tyler Hansbrough are both really backups. I expect this position to be a priority in free agency during the Summer.

In spite of what I just said, McRoberts should get a lot of credit for keeping the Pacers from getting blown out in the middle of the third quarter as he went on a bit of a scoring tear. He really is getting the most of his talent this year. He will always be a limited scorer, but he can contribute if used the right way.

Meanwhile, Hansbrough needs to spend as much time as possible practicing 15-20 foot jumpers. With his propensity for getting to the foul line he could be a much more consistent scorer if he can develop his jump shot. It’s easy to see that he should be a double figure scorer on a nightly basis. He may develop into a solid starter, but I don’t see that happening until his jump shot can be counted on.

Seeing Kevin Love dominate inside also reminds you of how far the Pacers have to go at center. Is it just me or does Roy Hibbert miss more bunnies than any other center in the league? Hibbert needs to toughen up. He followed a really nice 29-point performance with six points against Minnesota. That’s just not going to cut it when you are one of the team’s core players.

Mike Dunleavy scored 14 points in a little more than four minutes at the start of the game. A stretch like this makes you understand why Dunleavy was the number three pick in the 2002 draft. Unfortunately, the next 44 minutes make you remember why nobody likes his contract and he will likely call a new city home next season.

Paul George continues to impress. He had a really nice three-pointer to end the first quarter. The rookie also helped McRoberts keep the Pacers in the game in the middle of third quarter by scoring a few buckets. The Pacers are keeping their fingers crossed that George continues his progress. That means they won’t have to spend money on a starting shooting guard in the offseason.

Danny Granger was solid with a quiet 19-point night. He’s not a superstar, but he’s the best player on this team right now. Better yet, he seems to have completely bought in to Vogel and the rest of the team has followed his lead.

In the end, beating the Timberwolves helped cap a really nice stretch has given the Pacers some breathing room. They are now three games up in the loss column over Charlotte. With their upcoming March schedule the Pacers will likely need all the space they can get.

Related Topics: Dahntay Jones, Game Recaps

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The Frank Vogel Era Is Off to a Great Start

by Jared Wade on January 31, 2011 at 10:52 pm · 3 comments

And just like that, Frank Vogel has the highest winning percentage of any coach in NBA history.

Aside from the second six minutes of the second quarter and all the turnovers and Danny Granger being unable to hit water from a boat, this victory over the Raptors was exactly what the Pacers needed. More than just winning, it was an attitude shift. I wasn’t at the game, but inside my television set, it appeared as though there was a near-palpable difference in the players’ attitudes. Roy Hibbert looked like a kid out there compared to the mopey, Eeyore-impersonating, rain-cloud carrier we have seen for much of the season. Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough played like confident veterans. Darren Collison seemed unshackled.

It was at times ugly, but the offense was free-flowing, which is rarely an adjective that I have used to describe this team over the past few seasons. 25 turnovers suggest that it was too free-flowing. And DC’s 6 turnovers suggest he could maybe use some shackles. But the team looked like they were having fun out there for the first time in a while, and they really looked to be making a concerted effort to share the ball, particularly by getting it to Roy in the deep post, a location from which he destroyed Toronto’s interior. There were a lot of cutters and a lot of interior passing. Again, there was too much and Danny, Darren and Roy all forced things, but like that paperweight your son made you for your birthday, it’s the thought that counts.

The transition defense was also notable. That’s one of those things that is all attitude and effort and the Pacers got back multiple times, breaking up at least three opportunities when they were outnumbered and back-pedaling. That’s saving 6 points. Pretty big deal.

Getting back to Roy’s low post work, look at his shot chart. You don’t get open directly under the hoop as often as he did tonight unless your are really busting your ass. He planted and backed down the Raptors’ “bigs.”

OK. Let’s not pretend this was a perfect game from Roy. He turned the ball over too much, was sloppy and awkward looking at time, and a couple of his early shots were very much of his now-patented “no-look hook” variety. But that’s just picking nits when we’re talking about a guy who had only had one double-double so far in 2011 before this evening. 24 points on 19 shots to go along with 11 boards and 2 blocks? Plus some tremendous interior defense on the same night that the opposition shot 41.3%? That will work, sir. Welcome back. I was starting to forgot why I ever thought you were good.

Speaking of someone who is good … Paul George.

This kid is just can just flat-out play basketball. I have been enjoying his play more and more of late, but the way he attacked the rim tonight and got to the line was just a joy to watch. I regularly criticize Granger when he doesn’t get into the lane, but ultimately, Danny is always going to be more of a shooter than anything else. He and I both know this. George, on the other hand, looks natural going north/south and trying to dunk on any fool silly enough to try to jump with him. His dribble moves don’t seem blinding in a Dwyane Wade sense or even spellbinding in a Paul Pierce sense, but particularly when he grabs a rebound or a loose ball and takes off up the court, it just looks right … if that makes any sense. He’s just smooth.

Between that, his rapidly improving defense and his ability to shoot from the mid-range (and hopefully further out), it is starting to seem inevitable that he will become the team’s starting two guard this. I suppose Vogel could stick with Mike Dunleavy, Jr. all year (provided he doesn’t get traded, which he very well might) and use George to buoy the second unit (something he has said he might do with Hansbrough), but considering that one of the stated reasons for getting rid of O’Brien was his unwillingness to play the young kids, I imagine Bird will put a little pressure on Vogel to make sure Paul keeps getting 25 mpg. Whether he starts or not is, I guess, academic, but I think it will happen eventually.

Speaking of guys who should start … Tyler Hansbrough, ladies and gentlemen. He played an excellent game on his first night back from pneumonia , hitting 6 of his 13 shots for 14 points in 16 minutes. He also added 6 boards. And his energy should be even more useful on a team that is no trying to re-assert itself as a squad that can beat any team in this league on any given night.

Another wrinkle added by Vogel was playing Dahntay Jones. I almost forgot he was on the team. I mean, he looked as mediocre as ever during his 10 minutes of court time, but it was interesting to see him, and not James Posey, head out there. Vogel has said that we will see less small ball going forward, so that makes you wonder whether or not we will see much Posey at all. With George deserving a lot of minutes on the wing and Lance Stephenson presumably getting a shot at the rotation at some point, there wouldn’t seem to be much time left for Posey. Similarly, AJ Price will likely remain the second point guard with TJ Ford only seeing the court due to injuries or foul trouble. I don’t think we will be seeing the TJ/AJ back court again anytime soon.

In the end, it was a very good win that the team now gets to bond over as they race to get away from the storm to get to Cleveland. And if you thought the Raptors was bad, wait until you see the Cavs. These guys are hilarious.

UPDATE: Here are two comments from John Rabjohns of the Indy Star reflecting what I expected: Vogel will probably keep a similar rotation to what we saw tonight. That’s fine by me. At one point seven minutes into the first quarter, I realized that the starters were still in. And then Vogel made a few substitutions and let those guys plays together for an extended stretch. It was so simple and so effective that I was wondering whether or not it was even allowed. It was like he was going out of his way to set a rotation and allow his players to become comfortable playing next to one another within established roles.

Odd, I know — but perhaps crazy enough that it might just work.