There was a lot to like about last night’s overtime loss to the Sixers. The announced attendance of 17,701 didn’t look like much of an exaggeration to my eyes. It was a large, enthusiastic, wholly pro-Pacer crowd.

And they were treated to a pretty good game…Lots of action…Lots of momentum swings…Some great play by David West and a big game from Tyler Hansbrough.

But, at the end, it still was a loss. In the grand scheme of things, that probably doesn’t matter all that much, but I have to wonder how many more converts to Pacerland would have been made…if Paul George had hit a thrilling game winner…or if the Pacers could have closed out the overtime when they had the lead.

It was a fun-ugly game. It was 48 minutes of playoff intensity, with another five minutes thrown in as a bonus. Both teams scrapped and clawed as if this was an elimination game.

The Pacers made big plays and big shots, but Philly made more. After the game, I told George Hill that it felt to me that the Sixers had hit an inordinate amount of “difficult” – read: “bad” – shots, and if he agreed.

He shrugged his un-iced right shoulder, and said, “That’s what desperate teams do. A desperate team is going to try and claw its way out. They played with great desperation, and they made some big plays down the stretch, and we couldn’t make a couple.”

And that’s really both the difference in the game, and why we watch. Not just watch, but invest in watching the Pacers, and sports in general. The passion. The effort. The desperation.

Ugly game. Fun game. Playoff game.

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, PF 36 MIN | 13-22 FG | 6-6 FT | 12 REB | 32 PTS Beginning to assert himself as the playoffs approach, scoring 14 of the Pacers last 24 points, but just wasn’t quite enough.
	Danny Granger, SF 41 MIN | 2-12 FG | 0-0 FT | 11 REB | 4 PTS Needed more scoring from Danny, but still a positive sign that he collected 11 boards. Most troubling was the zero free throw attempts in on one of the more ineptly officiated games I’ve seen in quite some time.
	Roy Hibbert, 34 MIN | 2-10 FG | 7-10 FT | 7 REB | 3 AST | 11 PTS Poor shooting night, but did get to the line 10 times. It was disturbing to watch a post up at the 4 minute mark of the third, where he couldn’t budge the 6-9, 225-pound Lavoy Allen an inch, and settled for a half-hook from three or four feet outside of its effective range.
	George Hill, SG 37 MIN | 4-11 FG | 2-4 FT | 5 AST | 10 PTS In the post-game locker room, Hill sat at his locker with his shoulder iced, cutting of the tape on his ankle. When finished, he threw the wadded tape at a large plastic trash can sitting about 20-feet from his chair. When the tape hit the side of the can just below the lip, he said, “Just like every shot tonight.” Pretty much.
	Paul George, SG 44 MIN | 6-13 FG | 7 REB | 3 AST | 16 PTS Strong line in his newly expanded role, but still needs to grow overall. Didn’t get a good shot at the end of regulation, and, of course, the 5-second turnover. Still, I’m not convinced that any of the 9 guys taken in front of are going to have better careers than he does.

	Leandro Barbosa, SG 21 MIN | 2-9 FG | 5 REB | 4 AST | 4 PTS Need more points and better shooting from him, but nice to see the 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
	Louis Amundson, C 12 MIN | 2-3 FG | 2 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS Solid game from Lou, but nothing overtly noticeable. Ran that one fast break like Magic Johnson.
	Tyler Hansbrough, PF 24 MIN | 8-14 FG | 1-1 FT | 3 REB | 17 PTS Tyler’s ability to succeed in the NBA is entirely predicated on his decisiveness, and his ability to consistently hit 18-foot jumpers. The former drives the latter. Tonight, he had both.
	Darren Collison, PG 16 MIN | 3-3 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 AST | 8 PTS Nice shooting night, but we’ll have to see how he plays with the second unit. A big question mark heading towards the playoffs.

In a 66-game season, it’s easy to miss the normal mile markers for success. For example, the Pacers picked up their 40th win tonight. While that’s a pedestrian number in an 82-game season, it actually prorates to just shy of the equivalent of 50 wins in a 66-game season.

Also by beating Philadelphia in Philly, the Pacers finished the season with a 19-14 record on the road – the equivalent of between 23 & 24 wins in a full season. In their 35-year NBA history, Indiana has only won a higher percentage of games away from home three times: 2004, 1998, and 1999.

The win puts Indy 3-1/2 games ahead of Boston, Atlanta, and Orlando for the third seed in the East. Those three teams each have 25 losses, so the Pacers’ magic number for locking up the third seed is two. Win two of their remaining four home games, and that’s it.

Danny Granger delivered 24 points while hitting six of his eight three-point attempts. In the 29 games since the All Star break, Granger has averaged 19.9 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting an eFG% of .532.

In April, Granger has upped that to 23.5 points and 5.3 rebounds on .577 eFG%. The Pacers have gone 10-1 during the month.

At this point, it must be said that – as far as the regular season goes – Frank Vogel and his Pacers have met the highest possible reasonable expectations in terms of accomplishments. They have a job of work ahead of them in the playoffs, but they have done a job of work to get to this point. That should not be dismissed.

Plus, they overcame the yellow jerseys.

As a minor side note, this is actually the 1,000th post on 8p9s, so that’s kinda cool, too.

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, PF 33 MIN | 5-16 FG | 3-5 FT | 3 REB | 13 PTS | -2 Shot wasn’t falling tonight, despite a ton of good looks, but still made enough plays late to remind you of how important he is to this team.
	Danny Granger, SF 35 MIN | 8-19 FG | 6 REB | 3 AST | 24 PTS | -3 Hammered away at Philly’s D by hitting six of his eight three point attempts, added 6 boards and 3 assists to his 24 points. Granger has firmly reestablished his bona fides as the team’s best player with All Star-level play since the break.
	Roy Hibbert, C 32 MIN | 6-14 FG | 3-3 FT | 13 REB | 15 PTS | -3 Good game with 15 & 13, and a big three-point play late.
	George Hill, SG 37 MIN | 4-11 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 7 AST | 12 PTS | 0 Gets at least a half of a letter grade just for that old school pivot reverse bucket that completely fooled the Philly defenders…12 points and 7 assists in yet another solid performance.
	Paul George, SG 27 MIN | 3-5 FG | 7 REB | 5 AST | 9 PTS | -1 Best overall performance in quite some time, seemed to be more comfortable in allowing the game to come to him. Big defensive presence in the first half, despite going scoreless, then delivered some timely threes in the second half. Exactly what the Pacers need from him heading into the playoffs.

	Dahntay Jones, SG 14 MIN | 3-4 FG | 2-3 FT | 3 REB | 9 PTS | +8 Great energy and a few signature plays from Dahntay tonight.
	Leandro Barbosa, SG 21 MIN | 4-9 FG | 3 AST | 9 PTS | +6 Giving what the Pacers need – points off the bench, though his shooting touch has been a bit off lately.
	Louis Amundson, C 11 MIN | 0-2 FG | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 PTS | +3 Quiet game statistically, but team was still positive while he was on the floor.
	A.J. Price, G 11 MIN | 1-3 FG | 1 REB | 2 PTS | +5 Looked less for his shot, which is a plus…but not much of one.
	Tyler Hansbrough, PF 20 MIN | 3-6 FG | 3-3 FT | 4 REB | 9 PTS | +12 Very active game for Tyler tonight, particularly in the late third, early fourth, when the Pacers turn the tables a bit on the Sixers after struggling at the start of the third.

Doubt had begun to creep into the community around the Indiana Pacers. Though they had broken a 4-game overall losing streak on Tuesday night against Portland, the boys in Blue-and-Gold were still working a more troubling streak. Indy had lost eight in a row against teams with a winning record.

After Wednesday’s 111-94 victory over the (now) 25-18 Philadelphia 76ers ended that unfortunate streak, and did so in impressive fashion. Starting with a 76-75 lead late in the third, Indy outscored the Sixers 31-13 over the next 11 minutes of game time to seal the victory.

Leading the way were George Hill and the bench. Hill scored 17 points – 13 in the second half – as the Pacer reserves delivered 47 points on the night. That more than doubled the highly regarded Sixers bench output of 21.

While Hill provided the second half fireworks with some big threes, Tyler Hansbrough put in the first half work. Buckaroo scored 10 points during a crucial stretch at the end of the first, beginning of the second quarters to help the Pacers close with a hot-shooting Philly squad.

This was as close to a complete team victory as the Pacers are likely to ever see. Besides the outstanding bench play, Indy’s starting frontline was dominant – scoring 52 points on 61% shooting.

David West combined with Hansbrough during the first half for 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the power forward slot. Frank Vogel and the Pacers used Roy Hibbert beautifully, getting him the ball in fantastic post position, where he seemingly scored or drew a foul each time. Danny Granger provided a game-high 20 points in the type of all around performance that make Pacer fans’ mouths water.

This was both Indy’s best offensive performance of the season, and Philly’s worst. The 135.1 offensive efficiency and .612 eFG% for the Pacers was no mean feat against a Sixer team that leads the league in both categories (97.4 & .449, respectively) defensively.

As things stand now, this would be the 4-5 matchup in the East, and oh, what a matchup it is shaping up to be. Two teams that are built on the strength of the unit – not the star – but do it in contrasting manners. Philly is quick and athletic, and though they are a very slow-paced team, they are very active. The theme is constant movement at both ends. In Philly’s win – and early last night – they made this Pacer team look a step slow.

The Pacers have more size and are considerably more formidable inside. It was the difference on Wednesday, as the Pacers 4/5 position (Hibbert, West, Hansbrough, Amundson) outscored their 76er counterparts (Hawes, Brand, Vucevic, Young) 52-34, outrebounded them 18-13, and outshot them .667 to .457.

These two squads play two more times in mid-April (17th & 21st), and maybe a few more times in later April. Should be fun.

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, PF 29 MIN | 8-12 FG | 3 REB | 4 AST | 18 PTS | +12 I’d seen these efficient-scoring, smartly-played games from players in other uniforms. I cannot tell you how nice it is to see it from someone in the Blue-and-Gold.
	Danny Granger, SF 33 MIN | 8-13 FG | 3-3 FT | 7 REB | 20 PTS | +9 A complete, efficient game for Danny – at both ends. Dare I say, a David-West-ian game where he looked more like a guy trying to be the foundation for a good team than a guy trying to be the star. This could be a very, very good thing.
	Roy Hibbert, C 31 MIN | 3-6 FG | 8-10 FT | 9 REB | 5 AST | 14 PTS | +9 It seems unlikely that there is anyone covering the Pacers who is more consistently critical of Roy Hibbert, but I loved his game last night – both the way he was used and the way he played. According to mySynergySports, in 8 post finishes last night, Hibbert made 3-of-3 baskets, drew 4 fouls while committing only one turnover.
	Darren Collison, PG 21 MIN | 2-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 AST | 4 PTS | 0 Darren and his backcourt mate Paul George were largely non-factors last night, as the Pacer frontcourt and bench were the focus.
	Paul George, SG 19 MIN | 3-8 FG | 2 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | +3 As noted above, the starting backcourt for the Pacers didn’t have much impact, but with so many other players delivering quality games, they weren’t needed.

	Dahntay Jones, SG 15 MIN | 2-3 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 AST | 7 PTS | +8 Like Lou and A.J. below, it’s hard to single out many individual moments for Dahntay, but he was part of a bench unit that faced down the best reserves in the league – and outscored them 47-21. A’s all around.
	Louis Amundson, C 11 MIN | 3-3 FG | 3 REB | 6 PTS | +3 Sure, this line looks bad when compared to his 21 & 8 from Wednesday night, but it was clearly an effort to keep his teammates from being intimidated by his innate greatness.
	A.J. Price, G 27 MIN | 1-5 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 AST | 3 PTS | +17 Solidifying his spot in the rotation simply by playing his game. Basic point guard skills take a lot of pressure off of George Hill, allowing Hill to focus on scoring.
	George Hill, SG 29 MIN | 7-10 FG | 7 REB | 4 AST | 17 PTS | +14 He, along with Tyler, each earn an A+ as the leaders and offensive firepower for the bench unit that really won the game. Hill scored 6 points and dished two assists during the decisive 12-0 fourth quarter run.
	Tyler Hansbrough, PF 25 MIN | 6-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 14 PTS | +10 While Hill applied the knockout punch with 13 second-half points, Tyler Hansbrough’s 10-point first half kept the Pacers off the ropes and toe-to-toe with a strong Philly team.

Two steps forward. One step back — and that was even without the guy usually taking the step-backs, Danny Granger, in the lineup. It’s hard to capture the putridity of this offensive performance in a few sentences. The Pacers lost to the Sixers 96-86, but it felt a lot more one-sided. Indy did well on the offensive glass and forced a ton of turnovers early (11 in the first half), but were still unable to convert much of anything on what should have been easy opportunities. They shot a gross 36.6% from the floor, which is unacceptable even without Granger, who sat out with food poisoning, and George Hill, who dressed but was only an emergency body since he was still sore from falling on his back in Saturday’s win over Charlotte.

Not a lot more to say about this one. The under-manned Pacers were run off the floor on the road. The team looked unorganized, chaotic and like a bunch of players taking turns trying to make plays as opposed to a cohesive NBA offense. If I was coach Frank Vogel, I’m not even sure I would save the game film other than to show the perimeter players, who were the anchor hurting the squad tonight, how many good things can happen if you get the big guys, specifically Roy Hibbert, the ball down low.

Here is how each Pacer played during the win.

Agree? Disagree?

Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me on Twitter @8pts9secs.

Indiana Pacers 86 – Philadelphia 76ers 96

DARREN COLLISON   2/11 FG | 14 PTS | 4 AST | 3 TO Yikes. DC has looked especially good over the last few games but this was backsliding. He couldn’t get the ball into the post where Hibbert had a clear advantage and never made much effort to encourage any Paul George touches on the block either.
DAHNTAY JONES  34 MIN | 5/10 FG | 12 PTS | 2 BLK The numbers weren’t bad but his game was. His penchant for iso play and over-dribbling can provide a spark in the second unit but his ball-stalling wasn’t helpful and his defensive performance was uncharacteristically weak.
PAUL GEORGE   44 MIN | 4/16 FG | 13 PTS | 7 REB | 5 TO Granger may have sat out, but George filled the scuffling, pressing SF role perfectly. The resemblance was uncanny: needless fadeaways near the hoop, overzealous offensive fouls while driving, JV ball-handling. He even missed a layup (the dunk to end the 3rd quarter).
DAVID WEST   33 MIN | 6/14 FG | 15 PTS | 11 REB | 3 AST Encouraging to see West make some jumpers and a double-double is cool, but his inability to make layups has gone from quizzical oddity to downright troubling. He missed at least 4 shots from point-blank range tonight.
ROY HIBBERT  30 MIN | 7/12 FG (9 FTA) | 19 PTS | 8 REB Roy’s only real problem tonight was that nobody would get him the ball consistently. He continually got deep post position on Spencer Hawes and good things happened when he had the ball. He displayed various effective moves and ran an especially nice two-man game sequence with George to create an easy dunk.

TYLER HANSBROUGH  19 MIN | 3/6 FG | 10 PTS | 2 AST Along with Roy and West, Tyler was pretty much the only reason the Pacers were in this one. His 2 assists were his first 2 of the year. Bad news: He took an elbow to the head at the end of the third quarter and didn’t return. Obviously concerning given his injury/vertigo history.
JEFF FOSTER   14 MIN | 1/1 FG | 3 PT | 4 REB | 2 STL Had almost no effect on the game.
AJ PRICE  15 MIN | 1/7 FG | 4 PTS | 2 TO | 2 STL If you make a turnover on a 4-1 fast-break by attempting to make the hardest possible pass, it pretty much cancels out anything positive you may have done.
LANCE STEPHENSON  14 MIN | 1/5 FG | 2 PTS | -12  Rarely can you read much into single-game plus/minus numbers. But -12 in 14 minutes? Looks like the first game of the year in which Born Ready scored a FG was also his worst.

I still prefer his LeBron impression from last year, but it is nice that the team finally has a guy who can unleash some fury on the rim every once in a while — “very Tom Chambers-esque” indeed.

UPDATE: Forgot to note that Darren Collison will dunk on your head, also.

Nice little week.

But that’s not all. Following up on the highly successful Fan Jam yesterday (check videos of the afternoon here), the Pacers have a few other events planned as well, as they laid out on their Facebook page. Sounds like a bunch of good times for Pacers fans.

Should be a “[sic] Rick Smits Meet-and-Great.”

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In lieu of the old familiar, game-story-style recap, we’re just going with some game notes today. So you don’t get bored, we try to mix it up. DJ Pauly D style on the ones and two.

Beatin’ up the beat. Pure creep mode.

But let’s just get down to the biz-ness.

Game Notes

1st Quarter

O’Brien went with Watson, Head, Rush, Granger and Murphy to start? Have we seen that one before? No … I don’t think we have. You know what that means? Starting lineup number 18 number 17. *blue lights start flashing and confetti falls from the ceiling* Looks like you guys are our secret shoppers. Tell em what they’ve won, Chuck.

Danny just took a really terrible running bank shot that missed badly. But at least it was a bad shot from 12 feet instead of 28. Progress

The Pacers tried and failed to find Danny for like 10 seconds while he had AI sealed on the block. But the possession still led to a slick crossover by Brandon Rush who got all the way to the cup on a drive that he finished plus the harm, so it’s all good. Sorta. Either way, nice to see Brandon being aggressive off the dribble. Especially this early.

Troy Murphy just set a nice pick on a left-wing screen/roll with Luther Head. Luther’s guy was late to recover, and he got by him with a nice hesitation dribble that he took all the way to the rim for an easy layup. What’s going on? Penetrators? On the Pacers? I don’t know about this, guys. Seems like a risky strategy. Worth a shot though, I guess.

Roy just checked in and quickly got his first touch on the block. He tried his “Screw a post move — I’m just going right through this little guy” move, which he has been employing with increasing frequency. It didn’t work this time, as he missed a little half hook, but he got his own board. And he missed the follow up attempt, which was frustrating, but he still battled for the offensive board yet again — enough so to draw a (dubious) loose ball foul on Brand. Nothing came out of that either, as MDJ missed a jumper after the inbounds pass. This all probably sounds bad. But the takeaway is that Roy came into the game after 9 minutes sitting on the bench and immediately played about as aggressively as you’ll ever see him play. That’s a good thing.

About two minutes later, Hibbert caught a pass mid-paint about 3 feet from the hoop while flashing and effortlessly hooked one in for a deuce. No hesitation at all. Nice.

AJ Price checked in and just got really badly embarrassed by Allen Iverson on his first possession. AI has been killing it anyway with 4 FGs and 4 assists, which means he has been responsible for 8 of the Philly’s first 12 FGs, but this one was classic Answer. He crossed up AJ like he was still at Georgetown. Philly’s broadcasters on AJ’s first possession on the court: “Iverson greets him rather rudely.”

After one quarter, the Pacers trailed 25-29. They played really bad defense, but at least they scored for a change.

2nd Quarter

Hibbert got deep post position again and made an easy-as-your-mom-on-Sunday-morning hook.

Roy followed that up by allowing two straight little men to make layups right in his grill. Poor perimeter defense let them get through, it should also be noted.

….and he followed that up with an 18-foot jumper. Say what you want about the guy’s overall effectiveness early on, but he certainly has been involved.

Wow. Marreese Speights just squashed whatever was left of AJ’s manhood post-AI cross when he Dwight Howarded his layup attempt out onto I-95.

AJ apparently didn’t much care about his earlier emasculation and just drilled a three. That kid is aggressive. The Pacers predictably gave those three points right back on the ensuing possession when Wilie Green his a trey, which made Philly 5/5 from the field in the quarter. “Sixers having their way with the Pacers on both ends,” says the Philly announcer. No word on whether or not the double entendre was intended.

Philly CSN’s sideline reporter Jamie Maggio looks like she’s on the way to the club right after this game. Sweet sequins.

Dahntay Jones inexplicably just took over the game for like 2 minutes on both ends. First, he found a cutting Granger under the hoop for a lay-in, then he hit a jumper, then he forced a turnover by pulling the chair on a posting-up Thaddeus Young and then he fed Watson under the hoop on a mini-fast-break. Watson not-so-uncharacteristically missed the gimme, but Murphy was there for the tip-in, so Dahntay’s nice look didn’t go for not.

Back-to-back Rush and Granger treys cut Philly’s lead to 1. Could be a turning point. Working on at least half of all cylinders right now.

AI returned and immediately got Thad Young a wide-open look with a behind-the-back pass on a pick-and-pop. That was his 5th assist. Double-double?

Jrue Holiday, who looks like he’s wearing an eye patch given the giant bandaid that’s covering the 12 eyebrow stitches he got after diving on the floor on Saturday night, just threw an entry pass to a cutting Igoudala that exposed just how horribly out of position and/or athletically outmatched MDJ was/is in that matchup. After the catch, Iggy turned and scored easier than I could against my coffee table.

A Danny jumper with under a minute to play in the half pulled the Pacers within 2 and gave Granger 18 for the half on 7/11 shooting (3/4 from three) to go along with 5 boards. Nice little 24 minutes at the office the BatCave.

Half time.

Here’s what happened in the first two quarters:

3rd Quarter

A couple minutes into the second half, Murphy hit a trey from … wait for it … the top of the key to put Indy up 2 for their first lead of the game.

Luther Head tried a delayed alley-oop to Brandon on a 2-on-1 break after a steal, but it was a bad/unnecessary pass that Rush had no chance at really getting. Brandon grabbed it eventually but stepped out for the re-turnover. Next time down, Head launched a 28-footer with 20 seconds still on the shot clock. Philly color commentator: “WOW. Head’s really got the green light here.” Philly play-by-play guy: “I think everyone does. Remember O’Brien from his one year here?”

Murphy made a terrible turnover and tried to save it while it was going out. He threw it back inbounds and it caromed off one guy and drilled AI in square in his mug. The Philly announcer was like “He took it right in THE FACE” and then said something else I didn’t catch exactly but ended the sentence “IN THE FAAAACE” like Rob Riggle in The Hangover after the stun gun scene. IN. THE. FAAAAACE. I’m currently enjoying the surprisingly good announcers whose names I will not look up more so that the game play here — probably because I’m way to keenly aware of the DWade/LeBron shootout going on on the other channel that I would rather be watching.

Roy went right at Samuel Dalembert on his first post look of the half. Totally overpowered Sammy backing it down, turning and hooking it in. Hibbert has looked dominant so far in limited touches this evening.

Philly just had one of the ugliest possessions I’ve seen in a long time. Iggy dribbled around all ring-around-the-rosy style while a couple of Pacers chased him around Benny Hill style and the others crowded the paint. Andre missed a terrible, off-balance shot from 4 feet, a Sixer grabbed the offensive board in the scrum then got pushed and threw a 40-foot cross-court kick-out pass that was stolen by Dahntay Jones, who dribbled awkwardly up the floor before getting hammered at midcourt. The whole thing looked like two girls JV basketball teams trying to chase a butterfly.

4th Quarter

Granger finally recorded his 22nd point on a nice drive. He had 18 at the half. I missed his 19th and 20th points but my expert sleuthing tells me they came in the 3rd quarter.

Philly just had its best offensive possession in a while with some stellar ball movement that featured three passes around the perimeter and resulted in a wide-open three in the corner. Luckily, Young Thad couldn’t make it. Sucka.

MDJ has been relatively irrelevant most of this game but we just got a key reminder that he is still the team’s best entry passer — by far. Showed great patience there on the re-post of Hibbert on Brand. MDJ threw it in. Roy kicked it out. MDJ bought some time. Then threw it back in. No one else on the team would wait for that.

Whoa. Dunleavy followed that up with great defense on Young Thad in the post. He’s starting to do the lil things that Lil Dun does.

For an example of a terrible entry pass, look no further than that last one thrown by AJ to Dahntay. Made him move 5 feet to catch it.

Stats say Brandon Rush finishes 50% of shots at the rim, which is an embarrassingly low total. I say “No way it’s that high” after he got swatted badly on a layup attempt that should have been an uneventful dunk. Tim Donahue says: “That…that right there is what’s wrong with Brandon in a microcosm.”

A Granger/Murphy top-of-the-key PnR led to a nice Murphy lay-in at the hoop after he slipped the screen. Next play, they went right back to it, Murphy slipped the screen again and Danny dribbled hard right twice and pulled up for a 17-footer. All twine. Perhaps try this play more often.

With the Pacers up 3 with 3 minutes to play, Dahntay Jones just scored beautifully in the post. (Wait? What happened? No way.) Next trip down, Dahntay hit a baseline 12-footer and got fouled. Three-point play. (I don’t believe you.) Yes. That happened. (Stop talking to yourself.) You’re not the boss of me.

Danny got Brand to switch over on him on the perimeter. Stared him down in an iso. Dribbled twice. Then settled for a pull-up fadeaway. It made me want to punch a baby. No, strike that. Babies. Luckily, Murphy got a hand on the offensive board and batted it out safely to the perimeter for the offense to set back up. All this led to a Rush trey in the corner. All net. All Indy. Pacers up 7.

That’ll do it.

Pacers W.

At first, Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows thought the Brandon Rush three was the nail in the coffin. On second though, he gave the credit to Murphy for the board. You can read the rest of his thoughts on the game here.

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As advertised, there’s no preview today. It’s only a half-hour until tip anyway, plus there was enough other stuff posted today that I would prefer you read instead of me rambling on about a Sixer team you just saw play two days ago. The Pacers have to play better interior defense, not turn the ball over and make more shots if they want to win. That’s the preview.

I do, however, want to relink this recommendation that you donate to Haiti in honor of Samuel Dalembert and because, ya know, you just should.

And also, I answered a few questions about the Pacers defense/offense and TJ Ford today over at Philadunkia, so be sure to check that out. They run a good Sixer site. Here’s a quick teaser of some stuff I said:

AJ is now the most dynamic point guard on the team — as you may have noticed in the 3^rd / 4^th quarters the other night. In part, that’s a big compliment to how well the rookie second-round pick has been playing.  But it’s also a big wag of the finger towards the other options O’Brien has on the bench.  Presuming the Pacers don’t make any trades, AJ will be starting by the end of the year.

That is all.

I Google image searched “that is all” and this was the 2nd result. Figured I’d run with it. It’s true, you know.

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It’s the weekend. I’m watching football. You’re watching football. What I’m getting at is that this recap will be pretty half-assed — much like the Pacers play last night.

Smoke Detroit on the road. Then lose to Philly at home. Makes perfect sense.

After getting down 6-0 to start, the Pacers actually played pretty darn good for about 12 straight minutes. The defense was forcing misses and Troy Murhpy was grabbing every rebound in sight (he had 10 boards in the first quarter). Earl Watson was making me rethink this whole “AJ should start” thing by running the offense rather well and even getting to the line himself for some points. Brandon Rush continued his solid play, going 6/9 from the field in the first half (and 2/3 from behind the arc.)

Then things slipped away. Thaddeus Young sparked Philly’s attack, and then Elton Brand, who was forced into several bad shots early and held to 3/9 shooting in the first quarter, started to abuse Troy and whoever else got in front of him. He started to look like 2005 Elton, which was probably just as surprising to Sixer fans as it was frustrating to Indy fans. Brand finished with 23 points and 4 offensive boards in the game, which combined with Samuel Dalembert’s 4 and some others gave Philly 16 offensive boards overall — compared to just 38 defensive boards for Indy. That’s a bad ratio.

By the time Troy made one of the dumbest inbounds passes I’ve ever seen (he cocked the ball back QB style and tried to make a three-quarters court pass upcourt so the Pacers could get another decent shot up before the half … but there were still 3-point-something seconds to go so there was no need for the Grant Hill-to-Christian Laettner-style heave — which got picked off and taken down the court for a layup by, I think, Marreese Speights), Philly was rolling. AI started playing rather well. Iggy was hitting threes (he went 3/4 in the game, which helped the Sixers go 7/11 from behind the arc as a team). And Young Thad (22 points on 16 shots) and Elton just kept getting easy baskets around the paint.

Indy would never get back in the game.

Danny actually had a really good third quarter himself (5/6 and a great-to-see 0/0 from three plus 4 boards and 3 dimes), but it was too late. No one else on the Pacers could do anything. Troy was particularly useless, finishing the game with an unimpressive 12 rebounds after recording 10 in the first quarter. Nice work in the opening period, dude, but you realize we play three more of these things, right? That was better than Roy Hibbert’s game at least, however, as he was a total no-show, shooting 1/6 with 4 rebounds. Yes, 4. According to the box score, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. also played in this game and supposedly took 9 shots, but I can’t really recall any of that happening. AJ Price eventually got into the groove (shot 5/8 for 17 points) and helped lead a nice faux-comeback with back-to-back threes on two possessions and just generally being productive with his dribble, but the Pacers couldn’t get any defensive stops so it probably wouldn’t have even helped if he was hitting 5-pointers. (It should be noted that AJ made a few really boneheaded plays in this game as well, as did Brandon, who had two obscene turnovers — one failing to catch a routine pass and another where he just inexplicably threw the ball directly out of bounds as if he was shaving points).

That’s all. Familiar story. Gross game.

Not even going to do the stats for this one. (Box score here, if you care.) Honestly, the only number you really need to see to know what happened is …

Interior Defense: 0

UPDATE: Just realized I failed to mention the 21 turnovers. Yeah, that happened, too. And, guess what? Didn’t help. Danny had 7 of em in this slopfest, but it was those two from Brandon and that one from Troy that provided the nice little microcosms for how well the offense valued the ball.

So, ummm, how bout them Colts?

————-

Samuel Dalembert comes to Indianapolis tonight, and a meaningless basketball game will hopefully provide him with a short distraction from real life. See, Samuel is Haitian and has struggled to sleep or concentrate on anything other than the tragedy that struck his country for the past 10 days, during which time he visited his country to see what he could do to help.

All this has pushed him to the front of the NBA’s admirable relief efforts since the quake (which TJ Ford and Josh McRoberts have contributed to), and his heartfelt remarks after his recent return from his demolished homeland provide the league with a first-hand account of the horror — and the unfathomable challenges facing those trying save lives and repair infrastructure.

“I’m doing my best,” he says. “I’ll take another trip with UNICEF. So we can try to get all those children out there … you know, we have parents who have been trying to adopt for two or three years.”

At this point, tears are streaming down Dalembert’s face. “You know and … that’s frustrating me … you’re asking people to help. And kids have parents over there who want to adopt them. I’ve got a hundred parents, and you have a bunch of guys sitting down with the freaking papers. All it takes is one hour to go over everything, you know what I’m saying?

“I saw somebody’s leg amputated in front of me. Surgeries performed on a kitchen table … I’m talking about a folding kitchen table … I have some disturbing pictures. And it hurts. … There was no surgery room … You heard him screaming. … Not enough alcohol. Things we take for granted, you know. They try to make one bottle of alcohol last …

“And I’m going to do something in Philly. I will have a plane come in here, in Philly, and collect stuff next week … and I will have the plane take the stuff over there. Also I will let people know that if doctors want to give their time, that plane can go over there bringing doctors over there. Hopefully we’ll make huge progress. Hopefully we’ll save more lives.”

Samuel’s ongoing efforts are truly noble.

And they make all efforts into anything related to sports and entertainment inconsequential. Even as I type this, for example, I feel worthless for spending so much time over the past two weeks going on about my merry life and putting time into writing about the Pacers while millions suffer unthinkable calamities.

But this is what I do, so it is what I have done.

In fact, last week marked the six-month anniversary of this blog’s existence and me having been doing this. I didn’t even notice until just now, and while six months certainly isn’t that big of a deal, it does present a small opportunity for me to urge you to help people in dire need of help.

I know we haven’t always provided the timeliest or greatest or funniest or consistentest or [insert superlative here] coverage of the Pacers. We’re still learning the ropes and have made a lot of mistakes over the half-year. But we have put in a lot of effort and, presumably, at least a few of you have enjoyed our coverage — our coverage that is free to you and for which I don’t get paid.

I’m fine with that. I would never ask for payment from readers for this drivel.

But if you have ever even for a quick second wanted to give us thanks for any of the content we’ve created for the Pacers community thus far, please give $10 to the relief efforts in Haiti. All you have to do is text “Haiti” to 90999 and $10 will go to the Red Cross and be added to your next phone bill. Or even if you think we are doing terrible, terrible work here — or have know idea who I am — and are for some reason reading this sentence anyway, please, still send $10.

It’s literally the least we can do.

Thanks for reading, and please watch the video below that shows how President Clinton has partnered with the NBA for relief efforts, which are also being greatly advanced by Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning.