Early in the second half last night, Deron Williams did just about everything a ball-handler can do to paralyze an entire team’s defense. He maneuvered around the Pacers’ attempt to defend the Nets pick-and-roll like Baryshnikov, drawing both defenders and freezing every other Indiana player into an awed trance. The whole lane opens up for Sheldon Williams and D-Will delivers a perfect player. Then, Sheldon Williams does exactly what you might expect a guy who had 0 points, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 23 minutes to do: throw up all over his damn self.

The above play is essentially the mathematical inverse of this one. And of note is the fact that my favorite part about both plays is a two-handed power-dribble. Paul George uses his to set up a coiling action that allows him to better spin and delivery his fury. Sheldon uses his to display his earned disgust with himself after the play is blown dead due to his embarrassing turnover.

No related posts.

I know what you’re thinking: everyone plays great against the Nets. While that may be true, seriously, Paul George plays great against the Nets. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no player has shot better against any other NBA team this year than George has against the Nets.

Last night, reports Elias, “Paul George shot 8-for-11 from the field, scoring a career-high 24 points for the Pacers in their 106-99 home win over the Nets. On January 2, George shot 8-for-10 against New Jersey in his only other 20-point game of the season. George’s .762 field-goal percentage (16-for-21) against the Nets is the highest by any player against any team this season (minimum: 15 field goals made). The next-best percentage belongs to Gerald Wallace, who is 17-for-23 (.739) against the Kings.”

Another guy who tends to play well against the Nets is Dahntay Jones. He was effective, if not a standout, last night on 3-for-6 shooting for 6 points, but on January 2 in New Jersey, the state where he is from, he scored 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Moreover, last season, he scored his season-high 18 points on 7-for-10 in Newark.

I think every NBA player has a good feeling when they wake up and see that the Nets are on their schedule that night. But these two guys seem to have that extra bounce in their step even.

No related posts.

Anthony Morrow caught fire and nearly ruined a second half that looked like it was en route to blow-out city. Morrow hit 3 threes on his way to 15 fourth-quarter points, but it’s hard to really kill the Pacers too much for that. Dude got hot. It happens. Fortunately, they stayed poised at a time that would have likely been a choke job in year’s past. D-Will, who scored 34 points on 20 shots, also notably got the refs on his side after getting a tech. And on a night during which Johan Petro made 3 jump shots, Indiana missed 10 free-throws.

No one is going to bake any cookies for a rested 13-and-6 team that beat the New Jersey Nets at home. Not saying this is anything to get excited about. For this team, if they are actually as good as a lot of people think they might be, this game was simply a day at the office. Beat a terrible team and fly to Minnesota. But individually, most everyone played well and the team built enough of a cushion that even the combination of some in-game oddities (Petro making anything), a rash of 50/50 calls going toward New Jersey (after Deron complained his way into a technical), a superstar playing like one (D-Will beasting) and a hot hand (Morrow) still weren’t enough to do anything but give Frank Vogel some heartburn.

They let New Jersey back in it, and that’s no good. But they clamped down on defense when the game was on the line — the Nets only scored 2 points in the final 2:28 — and finally got just enough points to leave the building without hating themselves. With all the Super Bowl distractions, I’m not sure we could expect these guys to be well-oiled in a game that was tough to get up for. But they won even when they couldn’t score in the fourth (they went 5 minutes in the middle of the quarter without putting a point on the board) or make many free-throws. Ugly? Yup. A win? Yup.

On to the next one.

Here is how each guy played individually tonight. Agree? Disagree? Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me (@8pts9secs) or Tim (@TimDonahue8p9s) on Twitter.

	David West - 34 MIN | 3-4 FG | 5 REB | 4 AST | 5 TO | 6 PTS Statistically weak night for West, as he had as many TOs as he did rebounds to go with 6 pts against a front-line of ex-Mr. Kardashian and the Williamses Sheldon & Shawne.
	Danny Granger - 41 MIN | 6-15 FG | 9-9 FT | 7 REB | 5 AST | 21 PTS The FG% may upset those who didn’t watch but 1 miss was at the end of a shot clock, 1 was a long pull-up to end a quarter and 1 was a missed layup in traffic that he recovered to earn FTs. Also dove out of bounds to get his team another key possession late. Another excellent outing.
	Roy Hibbert - 32 MIN | 7-12 FG | 14 REB | 5 TO | 18 PTS Roy is probably going to be an All-Star. His mid-lane post-ups were torture for NJ and his work protecting the rim was stand-out. Got flushed on by DWill but swatted a Humpries dunk and two Deron layups.
	Darren Collison - 23 MIN | 2-7 FG | 4-5 FT | 3 AST | 8 PTS Screw the numbers, this guy controlled the offense. He is really getting a feel for how to run a team and it was on full display all night, initiating sets that led to movement and points.
	Paul George - 33 MIN | 8-11 FG (4-6 3PT) | 4 REB | 24 PTS Best offensive game of his career? The best highlight dunk in Pacers history? Either way, he couldn’t miss and his 3-point stroke was soaking wet. Stripped Deron late with clutch D also.

	Dahntay Jones - 12 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS This guy is slowly finding his role and has oddly morphed from a dude who was signed as a defensive specialist into a dude who can make things happen in the half-court off the bench. Will need that sans Hill.
	Louis Amundson - 9 MIN | 4-4 FG | 4 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS Didn’t miss on 4 FGAs, and he notably made a slick outlet to Danny right after George’s leak-out dunk, but Granger bobbled it off his leg. Would have repaid the favor, as Danny fed him for a layup on the break earlier.
	George Hill - 24 MIN | 1-5 FG | 2 REB | 3 AST | 2 PTS Who cares about this game now? We now know he has a “chip fracture” in his left ankle, whatever that means. Out indefinitely. Bad news for a team whose second unit was just re-discovering itself.
	Tyler Hansbrough - 21 MIN | 3-7 FG | 4-6 FT | 3 REB | 10 PTS 10 points on 7 shots will do. He wasn’t as productive on the glass as you would like in 21 mins, but he put the ball in the hoop and got to the line. After a rough stretch not so long ago, that’s what you want to see.
	Lance Stephenson – SG 12 MIN | 1-2 FG | 2 REB | 5 AST | 2 PTS Two All-Star-level passes: the perfect over-the-top outlet to hit Paul George in stride for the dunk and a little no-look dump-off across the lane to Amundson. This kid has a ton of talent.

Related posts:

1. Pacers Post-Game Grades: Pacers 108 – Nets 94
2. Post-Game Grades: Pacers 91, Pistons 79
3. Post-Game Grades: Pacers 90, Raptors 85

Great pass by Lance Stephenson to find a streaking-like-Victor-Cruz Paul George to put the exclamation point on a wonderful third quarter by the Pacers. George does the rest, catching the outlet in stride, taking one power dribble (which really ties the dunk together) before turning his back to the rim with disdain while bringing he ball down so he can better unleash some spring-loaded fury on the rim. Wowzers.

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1. The Pacers and the 2010 NBA Draft: A Couple of Wings and a Prayer

You can follow Jared Wade (@8pts9secs) and I (@TimDonahue8p9s) during the game on Twitter for the Pacers’ side. From the Nets side, keep up with Devin Kharpertian  (@uuords) and Justin DeFeo (@JustinDeFeo), and be sure to check out our True Hoop sister site: NetsAreScorching.com.

I’m gonna go ahead and apologize to Devin and Justin for butchering the pronunciation of their names. Also need to apologize for trying not to make it seem like a good thing that Marshon Brooks is injured, then doing it anyway.

Maybe I should write a script before I record these things. Naaaah.

For my fellow stat geeks and obsessive-compulsives, I give you the fact sheets.

Pacer Fact Sheet

Nets Fact Sheet

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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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1. Game Recap #37: Pacers Beat the Best National Basketball Association Team in Canada
2. Game #74 Recap: Al Horford REALLY Likes Playing the Pacers
3. Game #1 Recap: Hawks 120 – Pacers 109
   Actual Observations and Related, Possibly Stupid Conjectures

But there is one real reason for this.

@New York
vs San Antonio
@ Atlanta
@ Philadelphia
vs Dallas
vs Chicago
@ LA Clippers
@ Golden State
@ Portland
@ Denver
vs Orlando

That was their January schedule prior to the Conseco beat down they gave the Nets.

The only three non-playoff teams on that 11-team list are Philly, Golden State and the Clips —  and the Blake Griffin Show has made LA’s JV squad into a legitimate team that’s playing excellent ball of late so we can’t even really count them as cupcake city. Basically, Indiana started off the month playing four excellent teams and the rather-good Knicks with a road game in Philly being their only “rest” game. Then they had to go on a four-game West Coast road trip, which is not easy no matter how good you are. Then they get the nice home-coming gift of Dwight Howard and Orlando. Welcome home, guys.

There is no excuse for losing 9 of 11 games — particularly when you lose playing as poorly as Indiana did for much of that stretch. But that said. if a team is ever going to start spiraling the drain irreversibly for a stretch, you might expect a brutal schedule like this to be part of the equation.

Stomping the Nets doesn’t change anything. This was a very nice win that I think this team desperately needed. Mike Dunleavy Jr. scored a franchise record 236 points on 87-for-23 shooting and Paul George played basketball like the harp of an angel sounds. They can each be proud of those accomplishments.

But until they can do this (well … not this … but win) a few more times, they can’t think anything is better. This was essentially a no-win game: you lose to the Nets at home and you’re an even bigger laughingstock; you beat the Nets at home and of course you beat the Nets at home. They’re the Nets.

Tomorrow is another tough one in Chicago, but Derrick Rose is fortunately a little under the weather with some ulcers so maybe he will take the second night of a back-to-back off. Then it’s Toronto, @Cleveland, Portland, @New Jersey, @Miami, Charlotte, @Milwaukee, vs Miami and @Detroit leading into the All-Star break.

That’s not very daunting, and the team currently sits a game and half back of the 8th seed at 17-26.

If they can indeed start turning this around, they should go at least .500 over those next 1o games and maybe even win 6 out of 10. Who knows? After this blowout, I’m feeling irrationally generous.

The rough stretch of schedule is officially over.

Now we see what these guys are about.

No related posts.

Rahat Huq of Red94, Ryan Schwan of Hornets247, Sebastian Pruiti of Nets are Scorching and I all got together to provide assessments of the outgoing players from their respective ballclubs.

Rahat Huq of Red94 on Trevor Ariza

I’ve written a comprehensive series of essays on Trevor Ariza entitled ‘Assessing Ariza,’ evaluating his strengths, weaknesses, and player potential.  (Parts 1, 2, and 3)

In short, he’s an ideal role-player who thrives off the ball, spotting up or using his superior athleticism to slash to the basket.  Now having the benefit of playing next to Chris Paul, I expect Ariza to return to form from his playoff run with the Lakers – he really took off after the acquisition of Kevin Martin; Ariza is at his best playing next to dominant players.

If you’re hoping Trevor will grow into his physical gifts and emerge as a primary option, you’re going to be disappointed.  While a capable ball-handler against light pressure, he doesn’t have the handles to create for himself off the dribble.  He also has extremely poor footwork and body control.  Even worse, Ariza has an oddly inflated sense of entitlement–possibly due to his Lakers pedigree–leading him to force bad shots and make poor decisions; Ariza struggles when needing to think on the basketball court.

The issue of Ariza’s defense is a contentious one.  His reputation precedes him, but his is a reckless, instinctual approach, garnering him gaudy steals totals but often leaving his teammates scrambling to rotate after blown coverage.  Still, this manner can be conducive to forcing tempo if that’s your cup of tea.

All in all, assuming expectations remain reasonable, I think the Hornets will be very pleased next year with Trevor Ariza.  While his struggles with the Rockets are well documented, playing next to Chris Paul is a situation tailor-made for a player of Trevor’s skillset and abilities – in returning to his former role with the Lakers (next to a superstar guard), I think Trevor will really thrive.

Ryan Schwan of Hornets247 on Darren Collison

After watching him for a season, I’m comfortable claiming that Darren Collison is the proud owner of the “fastest man in the NBA” title.   When he played, the Hornets pace increased by five possessions, as he exploded up court every chance he could.  Considering the heavy-footed players he was dragging with him up the court, it is a pretty amazing feat.

Collison started off his rookie season pretty rough, shooting poorly from deep, and struggling valiantly to figure out how to score over the faster, taller athletes he met in the paint.  In fact, for the first month, a pick and roll run by Collison typically had very little going for it.  That all changed, however, when Chris Paul went down.  Given long minutes, constant coaching by Paul, and confidence that never seemed to waver, Collison started deploying a stutter step and mid-range pull up jumper that made him deadly on the pick and roll by the end of February.  His long-range shot, which was amazing in college, began to settle in, and soon he was deadly from three, both as a spot-up shooter, and as a guy who could pull up off the dribble and knock it down.

As a passer, Collison is excellent in the open court, solid at the pick and roll, but tends to struggle in the pick and pop.  He’s great at driving into the paint and laying the ball off to a big man for a dunk or finding the roller, but when he has to find the open men on the perimeter, he still can get into trouble.  As a result, though he gets a lot of assists, he also gets a lot of turnovers.  He also has the tendency to be called for a carry once or twice a game, though that was fading by the end of last season.

Defensively is where Collison has his biggest problems.  He makes Allen Iverson look fat – and unlike mighty mouse Chris Paul, he’s also not physically strong at all.  That leaves him to be exploited terribly in post ups, and because of his lightness, a good screen or series of screens can take him out the picture on defense despite his recovery speed.

As a team leader, Collison was remarkable.  He was barking commands to veterans like Okafor and David West from the start of the season.  On more than one occasion I saw him get on teammates for not being where they were supposed to be.  He’s intelligent, knows how to get a team into its offense, and it shows.  He’s also cold-blooded.  He had two game-winning shots last season, and another three that put a nail in a run the other team was making to come back.  He doesn’t shy from that big shot – and he has a decent track record of making it.

In the end, I feel Collison will be an exciting-as-hell, explosive scorer in the mold of Tony Parker, and most nights will outscore his opponent.  At the same time, I’d also expect his opponent to regularly score more than is usual.

Sebastian Pruiti of Nets are Scorching on Courtney Lee

Courtney Lee is a guy I like and with Avery Johnson coming to New Jersey, I thought he was the perfect Avery Johnson guy.  He shoots the three ok (last years numbers are too low for his shooting ability in my honest opinion), he can penetrate and get out and run, but where he is most valuable is on the defensive end.  Courtney is both a very good one on one and team defender, and he works very hard on that end.  Lee doesn’t have a high ceiling  (and that is why I suspect that the Nets held onto Terrence Williams), and the player he is now is the player he will be years from now.  That’s not a bad thing, but there is very little room for him to grow.

Me on Troy Murphy

Offensively: The short answer is that Murph is a 6’11″ Steve Kerr.  He is an extremely efficient scorer, and serves as a safety valve for the offense.  I can see him being a very nice player with your personnel, offensively, as he is a low-usage guy.  The Pacers use him to float at the top of the key, and he took all but like 10 of his three’s from the arc (very few corner threes).  He has no post game to speak of, and he’s a solid passer, but not a great high post guy.

He does a good job of reading his defender, and is very good at reading the closeout, putting the ball on the floor and finishing at the rim.  He doesn’t get many offensive rebounds because of (a) where he plays and (b) his lack of footspeed, but could get more if he played closer to the basket.  However, I think you’d be an absolute fool to play him — offensively — in any other way than the way O’Brien used him.  Look at his eFG and TS numbers the last three years under Obie vs. his time in GS.  He plays completely within his skill set (almost to a fault), and I have never — never — seen a guy with better shot selection than Troy.  Very, very nice complementary shooter to have on your team.

Defensively: He is definitely a liability, and that is because he’s slow and physically weak.  He gets lots of defensive rebounds, but he doesn’t really control the glass the way most guys who pull down the volume of boards he gets.  He is not a block out guy, but has a good nose for the ball.  One-on-one he will never be better than, well, bad, but he can learn and will follow team defensive concepts.  In other words, if the opponent decides to target him, then he’ll get beaten, but he won’t blow defensive team schemes.  Overall, your team’s defensive performance will drag when he’s on the floor.

Lockerroom and Fit: He appears likable enough, but not really a presence.  Seems to get along with everybody well enough.  There were rumors last year that he wasn’t happy about Hansbrough eating into his playing time, but they were way external to the organization and I never believed them.  As far as fitting with your big guys, he should be a great fit with both Lopez and Favors offensively, and probably a poor fit defensively with Lopez, but pretty good with Favors – assuming I’ve got a reasonable handle on their respective games.

Here’s the most important part – you can’t look at the 14 & 11 and think he’s that traditional double-double guy.  He is very much someone who accentuates his positives, but doesn’t improve on his negatives.  He is not a physical player, at all.  He is who he is, but that can be a good thing.  Assuming Avery doesn’t choke on his defense, I suspect he’ll love the guy because he is perhaps the most reliably consistent player I’ve seen in three-plus decades of watching the NBA.

He will hit shots, he will get some boards, and he will suck on defense.

He will score, but he is a safety valve – not a primary or secondary option.  It sounds strange, but I think coaches like that because it’s something they don’t have to worry about.  They put him out there, and work on everything else.   This is why he can have some big games and not really make a difference.  He’s kind of a like an offensive lineman.  He can have a great  individual game, but if the rest of the line sucks, it won’t matter.  At the same time, if he’s great and the rest of the line is great, nobody will notice him.

Related posts:

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2. 8p9s/Pacers TrueHoop Network Season Preview
3. Game Recap #37: Pacers Beat the Best National Basketball Association Team in Canada

And it looked like both teams were on the second night of a back-to-back.

No, it wasn’t sloppy, uninspired slog ball where neither team could score as we often see in this league. It was the exact opposite.

Both teams scored at will.

The tone of the evening was set just one minute in when Troy Murphy drove baseline and slammed home a power reverse dunk when no defender rotated over after he easily beat his man. Troy Murphy. Power reverse dunk. One minute into the game.

In fact, Troy was a beast all night, netting 10 of his 18 shots for 25 points in just 33 minutes, while grabbing 9 boards and throwing down at least three dunks that I counted.

But without taking anything away from Troy’s above-average outing, his efficiency didn’t exactly make him special in this one. At one point in the first quarter, the Nets were shooting 11/17 (64.7%) and Pacers were 9/14 (64.3%). The Roy Hibbert vs. Brook Lopez match-up, which was the only thing that had me mildly enthused for a Saturday night Pacers/Nets game in April, featured two bigs trading buckets easily early on, with the centers combining to go 8/12 shooting in the first.

Sebastian Pruiti of Nets Are Scorching summed it up best on Twitter: “This game is just running back and forth, try a lay-up…run back…wait for the other team to do the same then go again…”

Pretty much.

The Nets were able to out- … wait for it … pace the Pacers early on, however, taking a 34-25 lead after one that ended up as only a 60-56 advantage at the half. Still, and with all due respect to the terribleness of the T-Wolves, Indy nearly gave up a new season-high half-time total to the worst team in the league. (I believe that 61 is the best they’ve had at the half this year.)

Throw in an easy,  7/12 shooting night for Yi Jianlian (18 points) and a similarly unchallenged 7/11 evening for Mr. Courtney Lee and I don’t have to exactly point out the fact that that Dale Davis and Antonio Davis did not walk through that door last night.

But after the break, the real Nets showed up (or at least the ones who had just played an unusually competitive and high-energy double-overtime game the night before in New Jersey against Chicago), and the Pacers used their clearly-better-talent to take over. I imagine that is just as weird to read as it is to type, but, as talent-deficient as this Indy roster is, they out-class New Jersey by a wide margin and they used this to give the soon-to-be-Nyets a nice, friendly, little pat on the head and an “Awww, that’s cute … you guys thought you might come into our building and run out us the gym” look before subsequently taking over and running the kids from the Garden State out the building.

Indy dropped 59 in the second half and the out-of-gas Nets curled up fetal to the tune of just 42 (and only 19 in the third).

And that, as my boy Forrest … Forrest Gump … would say is all I have to say about that.

Except for these few notes:

• Roy’s 8/10 game (16 points) was nice to see. I always look forward to his match-ups with traditional centers, as he seems to usually make good on his footwork and back-to-the-basket game for efficient points. Compared to watching him face the Amar’es and Chris Bosh’s of the world, seeing him go against even good, old school big men like Brook or Tim Duncan is like watching a guy who grew up shooting straight pool but now usually — and begrudgingly — has to play 9-ball get an opportunity to go back to his roots. And, yes, this was a Fast Eddie Felson reference. Also, yes, Roy still only managed 5 boards and 2 free-throw attempts, so let’s not get all misty-eyed at his decent shooting evening. Big fella still has a lot to do this summer.

• Brandon Rush went 5/6. I didn’t really notice him on the court though. Which is, I guess, a good thing compared to the other option.

• Dahntay Jones must have had a turkey sandwich for dinner because he played this one like it was November again. He went hard at the hoop on nearly every touch and had that one dunk attempt that left him and Kris Humphries as a huddled mass yearning to breathe free on the floor in what was easy the most competitive play of the game. Like back in November, I’m not sure if Dahntay’s “I’m going rover” isos outside of the offense were helpful, per se, but it was nice to see someone go hard.

• Troy had 14 of his 25 in the third quarter.

• Mark Ginocchio of Nets Are Scorching had some good thoughts on the Nets inability to defend the paint: “A quick look at the box score and a big picture statistic sticks out like a sore thumb for the Nets. They allowed the Pacers to score 60 points in the pain on only 12 fast-break points. This just reflects extraordinarily bad interior defense for the Nets. There were just way too many baskets for Indiana throughout the game where it was a one-on-one match-up for their offensive player right under the rim.”

• Josh McRoberts looked good in his 17 minutes. Running around, making stuff happen, per usual, and he also had a nice follow tip-dunk.

• Mike Dunleavy reportedly played 15 minutes in this one. I don’t believe the box score.

• Early on, Danny had a few nice interior post-ups that led to points after uncharacteristically nice entry passes, and that was excellent. But a few nonchalant attempts in what was a rough second quarter (1/5 shooting) made me worry that dude was just going to mail this one in. Fortunately, he got back on his grind in the fourth, hitting four of his five attempts, and even though two of those makes were threes, he wasn’t chucking anymore and he was doing some good stuff with the ball to get looks for other guys. We saw both a little bit of bad Danny and a little bit of good Danny last night. Mostly, I’m just glad good Danny was standing there on the court as the final buzzer sounded.

If you haven’t seen the 60 Minutes piece on new New Jersey owner Mikhail Prokhorov, do yourself a favor and go watch it out now. (Image via Sweet Merciful Crap)

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2. Game #10 Recap: Defense and Danny’s Big Plays Can’t Outweigh a Late Offensive Drought
3. Game #42 Recap: Math Lessons, Fouling, Mike’s “Defense,” Guokas & Faux Comebacks

In the words of Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Leon, that’s how you dooz it, Larry.

Beating a bad team you’re supposed to beat on the road is never a given. Even when that team is 0-10. And especially when that team is 0-10, desperately looking for a win and features perhaps the best sub-25-year-old post scorer in the entire league.

But that’s what the Pacers did last night. They went into the IZod Center, smacked a hapless Nets team in the mouth at the opening tip and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire and really never giving New Jersey any hope, even on a night — another night — where they shot poorly. This was the fifth straight win for a once-oh-and-three Indy squad that looked fairly hopeless itself two weeks ago.

And, by and large, this streak has been created through defense.

Aside from the Boston game, during which the Pacers shot 40/76 from the field (and 9/18 from behind the arc), the defense has piggy-backed the offense. Overall, the team has shot 44.5% during the last five games and only 36.0% from three. For perspective’s sake, every team in the NBA aside from the Clippers and the Timberwolves shot 44.5% or better from the field last year. And all but nine teams shot better than 36% from three-point range.

This means that the Pacers have amassed a five-game winning streak while shooting poorly — and while the team’s second- and third-best players, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. and Troy Murphy, have been wearing suits on the sideline. And, oh yeah, doing so alongside Jeff Foster. I know that four of these wins have come against the Nets, Knicks, Wizards and Warriors, and that these teams are a combined 6-34 so far this year.

Still, just like last night, the team is winning with defense. And that statement is something that I would not have believed three weeks ago. We listened to Larry and Jimmy preach it all summer, but it’s been some time since Pacer fans saw any real commitment to defense, let alone actual results.

Nevertheless, guys like Earl Watson and Dahntay Jones have been difference-makers. Like he did last night in keeping Rafer Alston in front on him, Watson rarely allows his man to destroy the top of the defense. And like he did last night in forcing Chris Douglas-Roberts into a lot of bad shots, Dahntay has played good man-to-man D on the perimeter even while accepting a larger offensive role than expected. They have brought an aggressive mindset to that side of the court and helped empower even the more-offensively inclined perimeter players to dig in their heels.

Then there’s Roy Hibbert, and to a lesser extent Solomon Jones, backing up everyone. The bigs did a good job making Brook Lopez work hard for his points last night. His line of 26 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks is surely impressive, but he had to take more than a third of his teams shots to score 26 points. If it takes a guy 27 shots to score 26 points, you are definitely doing something right as a defender.

Last night, the success came from forcing a visibly tired Brook into long jumpers rather than letting him get position down low. Some of it was by New Jersey’s design as they brought him out on the perimeter for the pick-and-roll. And some of it was just Brook choosing to pick-and-pop rather than get back down to the paint. But Roy and Solomon definitely had something to do with him opting for jumpers rather than battling for spot on the block.

Even when Brook was getting good looks inside, Roy and Solomon were there to make even his dunks hard. Jones’ rejection of the big fella’s stuff attempt might have been the most emblematic play of the season to represent the team’s new “you might score a lot of points on us, but it won’t be easy” mentality. And while Roy still lacks the quickness and reaction time for me to proclaim him an elite shot-blocker in this league, let’s keep in mind that I’m saying that about a guy who is blocking 2.5 shots per night so far this year. And while Solomon is often caught out of position on defense, he is still managing to swat 1.3 per night in under 20 minutes a game.

More important than simply thwarting three or four possible field goals per night, however, is that these guys patrolling the paint give everyone else the license to stay close to their men on the perimeter, knowing that there is always someone that can bail them out if they get beat. Cause they did get beat at times. Like Brook, CDR definitely looked impressive at times, too, but he often faced tough help defense as well as good perimeter team defense that forced him into a lot of tough shots with the shot-clock running down. In the end, CDR’s night was almost the same story as Brook: 27 points on 25 shots. Coach O’Brien will take that every time.

Offensively, there wasn’t a lot the Pacers did worth talking about. Except, of course, Roy. Doc Hibbert was a beast on the block and punished Lopez. Finishing with 19 points on 11 shots and 5 offensive boards (of his 10 total rebounds), it was quite possibly the best offensive evening of the 23-year-old’s young and looking-more-promising-by-the-second career. He looks to be way ahead of schedule. This is a good thing. A very, very good thing.

Danny was back to his early-season poor shooting, something that is starting to get really annoying, but I’ll start getting actually concerned about this if it’s still going on closer to Christmas.

Brandon Rush? How could you not be concerned about his offense? He went 2/10 last night (perhaps as a tribute to his backcourt mate TJ Ford’s exact same 2/10 line?) and just continually looks indecisive, timid and confused out there on the offense. At this point, I’m not even sure you could put together a 30-second highlight tape of his offensive game this year, and nothing he did last night could possibly be included. This is worrisome. I had hoped that Luther Head would be able to step up and put a few points on the board given Brandon’s struggles, but he didn’t look much better in his limited time last night either.

But that game is over.

Tonight, the Knicks are on the schedule. And, as it so happens, the Knicks are another bad team.

Looks like the team has a little more business to attend to.

Better luck next time, Brook and CDR. And consider yourself lucky, Mr. Anderson.

Related posts:

1. Game #4 Recap: More Brick, But in a Good Way
2. Game #7 Recap: Making the Most of the Moment
3. Game #1 Recap: Hawks 120 – Pacers 109
   Actual Observations and Related, Possibly Stupid Conjectures