There was a mini-dust-up between Danny Granger and Kevin Love late in the third quarter during Indiana’s 109-99 win over Minnesota earlier tonight. It was most likely one of those “he-did-he-thought” things. Love clearly reached out and smacked Granger with his arm extended and also sorta grabbed Granger’s shoulder while he was fouling him and lost his balance. But Danny, not having eyes in the back of his head (as anyone who has seen him pass can attest … ZING), thought Kevin was doing it more-on-purpose than he likely was. Perhaps he was up to something a little more nefarious. Love said it was a “hard foul.”

Either way, nobody was harmed, Danny yelled, Love just sorta stood there, Michael Beasley and Frank Vogel rushed over, and nothing really happened. But then something did happen.

Granger, who was already having a whale of a third quarter (15 points in the period up to that point), scored 14 more points following the fracas as his team pulled away. And he was ultra-physical and aggressive while waging his little one-man army campaign in a way that you know he was all sorts of charged up. As the philosopher Billy Hoyle once prophesized, Danny, unlike most guys, seems to play better when he’s mad.

After the win, Roy Hibbert wanted to make sure the rest of the NBA knew that Love had erred in his ways. So as a word of advice, he took to Twitter let everyone know they shouldn’t make the same mistake of angering his captain.

Great win tonight. Lesson to the league don’t get @dgranger33 mad. Y’all been warned!!

So take that to heart, league. You’re on notice about getting Danny Granger mad, according to Roy Hibbert.

The foul that started it all.

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After the Pacers beat the Bulls in Chicago last week, Derrick Rose took exception to Indiana’s over-exuberance in celebrating the win. “I can’t wait to play them again,” he said, vowing revenge. Pacers Coach Frank Vogel later jabbed the Bulls back with some words, which my mom told me, unlike sticks and stone, can never hurt me. Thus, a sorta-feud was born.

Now, another young, usually mild-mannered NBA All-Star is lashing out at the team from the Hoosier State after getting beat on his home court. Look at how much Kevin Love doesn’t like the Pacers. (My emphasis added)

“I’ve said all along,” Love said, “I don’t like the Pacers.”

Love and Pacers forward Danny Granger almost came to blows with 23.7 seconds remaining the third quarter after Love was whistled for a foul and Granger approached him aggressively.

Players bumped into each other, with Michael Beasley and Martell Webster helping separate the pair. But like just about every fight in the NBA, it was all talking and no punching.

“I know that none of them were going to do anything,” said Love, who finished with 21 points. “Just play ball. It’s part of the game — a hard foul, everybody is getting fouled out there.”

The escalating feud between the two teams extends back to last season, when they split a pair of physical contests with each team winning on their home court.

“(They think) they are so tough,” Love said. “They take those pills and they got all that toughness. I don’t know where that comes from. They all think they are tough guys. I just don’t know where that comes from. It just blows my mind. They are all tough and that makes me laugh.”

The teams won’t play each other again until April 16 at Indiana, but it appears Love is already looking forward to it.

“I guarantee the next time we play them, it will be just as physical,” he said.

I’m not sure what pills he is referring to but he is clearly an authority on who is and who is not a tough guy. He has a scraggly beard and all, you know.

UPDATE: Danny Granger responded to Kevin Love on Twitter.

In response to @kevinlove’s “pacer toughness” comments… We don’t act tough, we just play hard. If we have to be tough then we will be…

In addition to wins, these Pacers sure are racking up the feuds.

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Danny Granger has made 26 of his past 52 shots. By using my fingers and toes, I’ve discovered that that equals 50% from the field. If you go back even further, to include his past six games, he has made 45 of his past 95 shots. That’s a little worse but still good for 47.4%, which is almost 3 percentage points above his career average FG%. Better still, he has been sticking his threes of late. In that six-game stretch, he has his 14 of his 31 shots (45.2%) from behind the arc. Sharp shooting.

While this is all good news, his season-long numbers are so heavily weighted down by his early season struggles that they remain gross. Danny’s eFG% is only 44.1%. His career average is 48.6%, so he reamins s 4.5 percentage points below what we should expect. Given that his low point this season was after 7 games, when his eFG% was 36.4%. however, it’s notable that he has picked up about 7.7 percentage points over his past 11 outings.

As far as where on the court he is hitting from, according to Hoopdata, Danny is still shooting below average at the rim and in the mid-range. His shooting rates at the rim, from 10-15 feet and from 16-23 feet are 1.4, 1.7, and 2,8 points against league average, respectively.

Again, things are trending northward, however. Since his low point after game 7, Granger picked up 15.7 percentage points at the rim, 10.7 percentage points from 10-15, and 16.3 percentage points from 16-23 feet. (The only place he’s fallen back is from 3-9 feet, where he’s given back 16.6 points. However, he’s still shooting well there objectively, with 47.1% success rate vs. a league average of 40.0%.)

Interestingly, this change in effectiveness has come without much of a change in shot selection. He has hoisted up at least 13 shots in each of his last 6 games and the location distribution has held pretty steady. Since that low point after the first 7 games, he has increased his shooting volume about 2.5% from the 3-9 range and 0.7% at the rim. But those are negligible changes within this sample size.

In short, Granger’s recent shooting improvement isn’t coming from a better shot selection.

It’s coming from better shot making.

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Below are two really good screens that Hibbert set in the fourth that gave Pacers’ shooters wide-open looks. How’s your face feeling Dorell Wright?

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There are 20 NBA players who still have a shot to represent the United States during the Olympics in London this summer. Danny Granger is not among them.

Former North Central High School and Indiana University star Eric Gordon was selected to be part of the 20-player pool that could represent the USA in the London Olympics this summer. Gordon was part of the gold medal-winning team in the World Championship in 2010.

Granger, also a member of the 2010 World Championship team, was not one of the 20 players chosen.

The 12-man roster and alternates for London will be announced in June.

As Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows notes, this is for the best “considering Granger wouldn’t make the final team anyway and will be able to enjoy a normal offseason.” And since Danny didn’t even get that much run in the World Championship tournament in 2010, this is hardly a surprise.

Related posts:

1. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part V: Ranking the Draft Classes — The 10 Worst
2. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part VI: Ranking the Draft Classes 11-20
3. The Pacers and the 2010 NBA Draft: A Couple of Wings and a Prayer

As explained in more detail in an earlier post, Danny Granger had already gotten one technical in the opening minutes of Indiana’s 95-90 win over the Raptors tonight. So when he blocked a dunk attempt by Ed Davis — then stared Davis down — Danny got his second tech. That’s taunting, and it’s against the rules. Also against the rules: continuing to play in a game after you get two techincal fouls.

So it was off to the showers for Mr. Granger, who shot 1-for-8 before his departure.

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It’s not clear how much of the dinner’s price tag is coming out of Granger’s sizable pockets. When talking to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star, he noted that “the team stepped in to help.” Regardless, the event is for “the part-time employees who did not get paid from July 1 until Nov. 26,” and will include raffles, games and “special guests.” The other night on Twitter, at @JeffRabjohns noted that Rik Smits was at Assembly Hall for the Indiana University/Minnesota game. Wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up.

UPDATE: Pacers offered these details on Twitter about which employees will be invited: “The guests include personnel from crowd management, Levy, event workers, security, stat crew, greeters, box office, gift shop and EMT.”

Granger also shared these thoughts on the dinner with Wells.

“I wanted to do something for these unsung workers and for the sacrifices they were making with lost income. Now, it’s the best of everything, the team stepped in to help, we’re playing, they are back making this the best place to come to in the NBA, and we can get together for some food and fun.”

The Pacers play tonight in Toronto and then rush back home to take on Boston tomorrow evening. Then, however, they are off until Wednesday. Seeing an NBA team schedule this season with three straight days off — coming off a home game, no less — is almost like seeing a Sasquatch. So this makes an ideal time to hold the dinner. Danny and his teammates that stop by are sure to enjoy the meal and the rest before they head off to Sacramento for a Wednesday game that kicks off a brutal stretch of schedule.

I mean, just look at the next two weeks in the life of the Pacers. It’s 7 games in 12 nights and none of them will be easy. Sacramento and Golden State aren’t scary but it’s a West Coast road trip, and the Warriors play small and the Kings play fast. Then, in their next five, Indiana plays four teams that have made it to the Finals in recent years (although Boston isn’t that scary of late). The other is against, in Chicago, a team that had the best record in basketball last year. And four of these are on the road.

After tonight’s (presumed) win in Toronto, the Pacers should be happy with 4-4 over the next 8.

The only good news? When they finish up in Orlando, they head home to take on the D-League Nets.

(Image via

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In baseball, “The Mendoza Line” is a term used to describe hitting futility. Wikipedia explains.

The Mendoza Line is an expression in baseball in the United States, deriving from the name of shortstop Mario Mendoza, whose lifetime batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting. Even though Mendoza’s career batting average over nine seasons (1974-1982) was .215, most often the cutoff point is said to be .200, and, when a position player’s batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be below the Mendoza Line. This is often thought of as the offensive threshold below which a player’s presence in Major League Baseball cannot be justified, regardless of his defensive abilities.

The NBA doesn’t have an equivalent cut-off for value. But 40.0% shooting is a pretty good barometer for whether or not you’re making shots at a high enough clip to help your team. In recent years, those of us who have been paying attention have figured out that eFG% (effective field goal percentage) and TS% (true shooting percentage) are better gauges for shooting accuracy (they account for three-pointers being worth more and free-throw-making rate, respectively). But if you’re just looking at a box score and want a quick-and-dirty assessment of how a guy performed, 40% from the field works.

In related news, Danny Granger has only shot 40% from the field in one game so far this season. He has made 14 three-pointers in his 8 games and he is getting to the line at a decent rate (4.1 FTAs per outing), so his eFG% and TS% give a more complete picture. But his current 36.2% (eFG%) and 42.0% (TS%) are well below his career averages of 50.4% and 56.4%, respectively.

Here is the game-by-game breakdown.

After the Celtics win, Granger talked about his shooting woes.

“I’m missing shots that’s, like, rolling in and then coming back out,” said Granger. “I’m not really worried about my shot. It’ll come … I’m missing layups. And I’ve notoriously started off every season of my career bad. Each preseason, I would shoot, like, 20-something percent and end up shooting better throughout the year.”

He was clearly referring to his past pre-season play. And he was insinuating that since this season was so rushed and the team had only two exhibition games, he was still getting out the rust that he normally has in the preseason. But I don’t actually know where to find any preseasons stats to fact-check his comment. So all we can do is look at how he has typically started the regular season.

Here are Granger’s career stats by month.

As we can see, he usually shoots great in October (during which, we must note, he has played less than one game per season during his career). And while his FG% numbers in November aren’t phenomenal, they are better than his accuracy has been in November in December. On the other hand, his 3PT% has always been at its lowest during November and December, making huge jumps once he gets into mid-season form.

What about Danny’s claim that he is “missing layups”? Just from watching the games, it’s pretty obvious that he is missing a lot of shots in the paint. Some have looked like those he would normally make, but others appear to be off-balance, awkward attempts by a man who is pressing to get a bucket to go down.

But, again, let’s take the words of NBA statistician Dean Oliver to heart: “Individuals see a basketball game better than the numbers, but the numbers see all the games.”

Here are are his per-game shooting numbers, both this year and over the last five, from different locations on the floor.

As you can see, Danny’s percentage is miserable on his 3.4 attempts per game at the rim (which is defined as layups and dunks). He typically makes about 60% of his at-rim attempts. But so far this season, his 41.7% is barely over the NBA “Mendoza line” of 40% even on these should-be gimmes. Worse still are his numbers from the mid-range. He is shooting a borderline impossible 14.3% from 10-15 feet and 11.0% from 16-23 feet. Sample size must be noted — we’re talking about 16 total shots from 10-15 feet and 32 between 16-23 feet. But his accuracy from these spots on the floor is some 3 times worse than his previous career production.

For the most part, we can probably presume the at-rim numbers will go up. Danny knows how to make layups. His mid-range numbers are where we can infer more into shot selection and, perhaps, a mounting pressure to put the ball in the hoop affecting his shot-making. Shots from 10-23 feet are almost universally the most frequently missed by all NBA players. There is a short list of guys, like David West and Rip Hamilton, who post good percentages from these distances. The point here is that even good shots from these spots are tough to make. When you start taking difficult ones? Good luck.

While Pacers fans are increasingly asking me what’s going on, Granger isn’t worrying. At least not yet.

“I’m not too worried about it cause we’re winning,” said Granger after the Pacers win in Boston. “You know, if we were 2-5, I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep right now. But we’re 5-2, and we’re getting contributions from everybody — even down to our second unit. I really think that’s the mark of a good team: when, ya know, your top two or three guys, if they don’t have it going, you got a lot of other people that can pick them up. That’s teams that can go deep in the playoffs. So I’m very happy.”

He continued talking about how it was team play, not his individual performance, that would define the Pacers this season.

“We’re so talented across the board,” said Granger. “I’m talking, maybe one through eight, we’ve got guys who could start on other teams. So it’s really exciting to be a part of.”

This wasn’t solely post-game talk. In the waning minutes of the team’s win over the Celtics, Granger had an open three-point shot after he caught a swing pass amid a rotating defense. Rather than his going with his instinct — firing away from distance — he shot-faked and put it on the floor to get a closer look. He got that closer look and appeared to be squaring up for a pull-up jumper from right behind the three-point line. Instead, as he drew a rotating defender, to the surprise of many, he passed the ball out to an open Darren Collison behind the arc on the left wing. DC buried the shot, putting Indy up by 12 with 91 seconds to play and sending the Celtics fans for the exits.

I asked him about the pass, telling him that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him pass up a look that good.

“I think that’s indicative of how we’re trying to play,” replied Granger. “I mean, I had hit a few shots — but they weren’t really falling. I knew Darren had hit two or three in a row and I had a wide-open shot —”

“Two of em,” I said, interrupting.

“Yeah, yeah: two of em,” he said. “And I knew that he had a good one and he had it going, so I  passed to him, and he knocked it down. So, that’s the way we play: whoever has it going, that’s where we’re going.”

Rhetoric is often just that. And Granger saying things like this means little. Every player and coach preaches team play even when they clearly don’t practice it on the floor. But I was struck by a phrase that, for a team with this many similarly talented offensive weapons, could become a calling card. “Whoever has it going, that’s where we’re going.”

The past two games, it often has been George Hill that has it going. Roy Hibbert had it going last night. David West, a mid-range assassin, is going to have games where he has it going so well that it will seem like he is incapable of missing. In one playoff game against the Bulls last season, Tyler Hansbrough had it going to a point that Carlos Boozer’s dreams are probably still haunted. Paul George, a 29.7% three-point shooter last year, has had it going from behind the arc all season: his 63.0% accuracy from three-point range this year leaves him second in the league, trailing only Ray Allen — ya know, the all-time leader in three-pointers.

Danny Granger is a shooter. And shooters gonna shoot. He would likely be the first one to tell you this. And it seems clear that his outward confidence hasn’t been shaken at all by his early-season futility. His on-court behavior, too, hasn’t reflected anything but a willingness to keep getting the ball up on the rim.

Ultimately, I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t think Granger’s shooting will improve in the weeks and months to come. This could just be a slump. It could turn out to be an off-year for him. Or maybe he has simply lost a little something after years of playing in a terrible offense and will not regain his once-elite scoring ability. But whatever is going on right now, it can’t be this bad all year.

But as he tries to get back on track — and perhaps even more telling, after he does — it will be interesting to see whether or not this “whoever has it going, that’s where we’re going” slogan becomes forgotten post-game rhetoric or something he displays in his decision making.

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In the Pacers first loss of the season, team captain Danny Granger shot a woeful 4-for-15 (26.7%) from the floor. Looking at the shot chart below, you see that 9 of his 11 misses came outside the paint. In fact, the only shot he hit aside from three buckets in the lane, was a 35-foot heave with the shot clock running out late in the second quarter. All this, combined with the fact that he only took 2 free throws in 38 minutes, is damning evidence that he spent the night taking terrible shots.

He’s a good shooter, right? So it either had to be just an off night or another one of those 2010 days where he lazily launched jumpers in lieu of trying to get his team a better look. Reading this piece in the Indianapolis Star from Mike Wells certainly suggests it is the latter.

He actually states that almost exactly.

Danny Granger wasn’t on the same page with his teammates. He was 4-of-15 from the field.

The Pacers are still feeling their way out offensively because they’re getting David West and George Hill use to the system.

That doesn’t excuse Granger’s poor shot selection.

As I wrote in the paper and mentioned in the blog earlier, the Pacers can’t afford to have personal egos get in the way this season.

Granger has to make the biggest change on offense. He can’t force things on offense because they don’t need him to force things. The Pacers have other players who can put the ball in the basket.

West has shown that. Paul George was on display in the first half at Toronto. Hill has come alive the past two games.

Granger’s trying too hard to score right now. He’ll still get his points (they won’t be as high as previous seasons). All he has to do is move the ball because it’ll come back to him. The Pacers don’t have a roster full of selfish players. They’ve got players who want to win, not just put up numbers.

My impression was quite different, however. I watched a poor shooting night from a good shooter. Sure, I thought his shot selection was weak on a few possessions. But to me there are many larger sins going on within this Pacers offense. To focus on a couple of lazy moments by Granger was, to me, overstating their importance.

So I decided to head over to Synergy Sports to review all of Danny’s shots last night against Detroit to see just how bad they were. For the uninitiated, Synergy is an NBA video index that catalogs (almost) every play from every NBA game. (You can subscribe to all 2011-12 Pacers coverage for $39.99 or all NBA coverage for $89.95.)

The following is my thoughts on each of Granger’s field goal attempts (and his one move that earned his only 2 FTAs). In short, I don’t think he took many bad shots at all. Jumpers, yeah. But he’s a jump-shooter first and foremost and these were mostly fine ones to take.

1. MAKE – Post Up
In a called play, Collison gets the ball to West on the wing who finds Danny posting up a few feet away from the left block. Granger catches and backs down Tayshaun, finally pivoting to his right hand to hit a 5-foot hook shot in the lane.

Shot clock: 10 sec left
Ruling: Good shot

2. MISS – Spot up left wing
With Collison being doubled by Granger’s man (Tayshaun), Darren drives and kicks to Danny in the corner. He catches and shot-fakes Prince, who bites — nearly flying out of bounds. Danny uses the time to take one dribble to his right and pulls up for the wide-open, on-balance 19-footer — which he nearly airballs.

Shot clock: 14 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

3. MISS – ISO layup
In the first option of a called action, Danny catches in the left mid-post/elbow area with his back to hoop. He reverse-pivots to face up, uses a shot-fake to beat Tayshaun, blows by him to the left and draws the help defender. He puts up a running layup with his right hand. He misses, but Tyler is right there for an uncontested tip-in since David West’s defender was forced to leave in help on Granger and West boxed out Jerebko (who had been guarding Hansbrough).

Shot clock: 8 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

4. MISS – Transition jumper
David West gets a defensive board and outlets to Danny, who pushes it up-court. None of the three defenders racing back pick him up closely and he pulls up for a an 18-foot jumper. He misses.

Shot clock: 20 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot (could have pulled it out, but a fine look he would usually make)

5. MISS – Pick-and-Roll drive
Pacers run a called high screen-and-roll with Granger and Hibbert. The pick holds up Tayshaun, leaving Monroe on Danny. He tries to exploit the mismatch and drives hard into the paint. He makes a spin move to his left and takes a 6-footer from the middle of the paint, which is well-contested by Jerebko (who roamed over to help during the spin). Granger is a little off-balance and clearly wan’t prepared to deal with Jerebko. Ideally, after the spin, he would have kicked it out to Collison, who was wide-open in the corner, but it’s hard to call a 6-foot shot a bad choice.

Shot clock: 12 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

6. MAKE – 35-foot jumper
A broken play and a thwarted post move attempt by David West lead to Danny catching a release-valve pass waaaay beyond the three-point line with the shot clock running out. He launches and drills a shot from Dan Marjele range.

Shot clock: 2 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot, even if Collison was open 

HALF TIME

7. MISS – Spot-up jumper off a fade cut
Collison throws an entry pass to a strong-side posting HIbbert from the top of the key with Granger on the wing. Danny fakes a baseline hand-off cut, which Tay bites on hard, and instead fades back to the  baseline. Roy hits him spotting up. He shoots the wide-open 20-footer.

Shot clock: 14 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

8. MAKE – Layup off a baseline cut
Collison gets an offensive board to continue the possession after the previous Granger miss. DC is open on the perimeter for the jumper and looks poised to take it. Simultaneously, Danny cuts to the rim and Darren finds him on the other side of the hoop. Granger catches, pivots, takes a power dribble and lays it in.

Shot clock: 20 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

9. MISS – Isolation step-back jumper
After a defensive stop to make keep the Pacers down only 54-48 with 9:41 to go in the 3rd, Danny takes his first truly bad shot of the night. DC pushes it hard up the court, which gives Indy plenty of time to work for a good shot. He finds George on the right wing. George sees Granger open on the opposite wing and throws him a skip pass. Tayshaun closes out well and Greg Monroe also crowds Granger on the catch, negating the possibility of an open jumper. There are still 15 seconds on the shot clock and the offense has great spacing. Granger holds it, sizes up Tayshaun, dribbles right, crosses over left, takes one more dribble left to take a step-back jumper with Tayshaun right in his face.

Shot clock: 14 sec remaining
Ruling: Bad shot

9b. DRAWS FTs – Back-down post up
(NOTE: Not an official shot attempt since he was fouled)
Danny catches on the left wing with the whole side of the court open aside from Tayshaun, who is in front of him. In an uncalled action, Granger starts to back him down starting at the three-point line. He gets all the way to the block, banging with Prince until he makes a drop step and raises for the 3-foot shot, getting hammered by Prince and going to the line to make two freebies.

14 sec left on the shot clock
Ruling: Good shot

10. MISS – Iso step-back jumper
The next Pacers possession, Collison finds Danny on the right wing. He stands there making some useless jab-step fakes like he thinks he is Kobe before putting it on the deck going left. He takes two dribbles then pulls it back for a rushed, contested fadeaway.

Shot clock: 13 seconds remaining
Ruling: Bad shot

11. MAKE – Iso jumper
After a Tyler/Hill two-man game yields nothing, Danny catches at the top of the key off a double screen. He bobbles the catch and regathers, sizing up Damien Wilkins. He dribbles hard right and catches Wilkins retreating too far, pulling up at the free-throw line for an open jumper.

Shot clock: 5 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

12. MISS – Missed jumper after a pick-and-roll
Danny leads a top-of-the key PnR with Hansbrough, but both Pistons defenders play it perfectly. Granger keeps dribbling right and stops hard, pulling it back to this left for a step-back jumper. All things being equal, it’s not a quote-unquote good shot by any means, but he left Tayshaun in the dust after DG’s nice crossover pull-back. And his team was down 16 with under 8 minutes to go. So it’s hard to expect any scorer to pass up an open look like this when no one else on his team is creating any.

Shot clock: 5 sec remaining
Ruling: Bad shot

13. MISS – Three in transition
Pacers force a turnover as Tyler steals a pass and pushes it up court. He runs into a defender in the paint so leaves it for a trailing Granger behind the arc. Danny has all day, squares his feet, fires and misses.

Shot clock: 18 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

14. MISS – Three in the half court
With his team down 8 and less than 2 minutes left, Collison and Tyler run a high pick-and-roll. DC drives left but Detroit plays it well. He makes a nice cross-court kick out to Danny on the wing. Tayshaun is slow to recover but does manage to contest (albeit with the wrong hand) as Granger launches a very makable three that he bricks.

Shot clock: 11 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

15. MISS – Three off an in-bounds play
Danny rebounded his own miss from the previous shot and it eventually led to an under-the-basket out-of-bounds play. Coach Vogel choses to run a play to free up Danny for a three off a double screen. Granger catches the inbounds pass as Tayshaun fights through for a contest on his three attempt. Tay did recover but when a coach calls an out-of-bounds play to try to get a three and it works well enough to get you the ball with a look at the hoop, that’s a shot that most any NBA player is going to — and should — take.

Shot clock: 10 sec remaining
Ruling: Good shot

Final Verdict

By my count, Danny took 11 good shots compared to 3 bad shots (none or which came in the first half). (He also had 1 nice post-up move to get 2 points at the line.) Since his break-out All-Star season in 2008-09, Granger has definitely become less discerning about what shots to take. He has had games in which he just lazily flings upwards of 10 shots. He’s a great shooter so he is sometimes able to make even bad shots. He should definitely be criticized for even those bad shots that lead to points. And he did call his own number several times in the third and fourth quarters when the score was becoming increasingly lopsided and the team was trying to claw its way back into the game.

But this seems like just one of those nights when nothing was working for anyone in this offense. Including Danny’s ability to hit shots he normally makes.

Related posts:

1. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part V: Ranking the Draft Classes — The 10 Worst
2. What Does a Draft Pick Get You? Part VI: Ranking the Draft Classes 11-20

Due to the sabotaging of the LA/NO trade by david stern, and following in the footsteps of my athlete brethern Metta World Peace and Chad Ochocinco, I’m changing my last name to “Stern’s Bi#&h” #effectiveimmediately

Emma Carmichael of Deadspin took it upon herself to create the custom jersey.

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1. Game #80 Recap: Pacers Starting to Look Like They Deserve to Play in the Postseason
2. Going Small?
3. The Numbers Behind “Going Small”