As expected, the Indiana Pacers broke their 6-game losing streak today agaisnt the lowly New Jersey Nets, who had been playing arguably better basketball than the Pacers as of late.  However, the surprising thing was that the Pacers won in dramatic fashion, pounding the Nets 124-92 without both Tyler Hansbrough (pneumonia) and Brandon Rush (ankle).

A few interesting points in this one.  First of all, Roy Hibbert finally played a decent game, putting up 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 25 minutes while shooting 7-12 from the field and 6-7 from the line.  Hopefully this is a sign that Hibbert has finally turned the corner and will revert back to his earlier season form, or at least something a little closer.

Secondly, the Pacers kept the Nets to 92 points.  Sure, the Nets aren't the greatest scoring team in the NBA, with the game blown wide open in the second half, it's good to see that the Pacers still played good defense for the rest of the game and kept an opponent to under 100 points.

Thirdly, Dunleavy was red hot, finishing with a game high 30 points and hitting 12-16 shots, including 6-7 from downtown.  When Dunleavy is shooting like this, he is the most lethal weapon the team.  No one expects this from him every night, but it's up to him to find more consistency because when he's off, he's really off.

Fourthly, Paul George continued to play strongly, tabulating 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists on 6-7 shooting in 24 minutes.  Please, JOB, play this guy as much as you can.  Let him make some mistakes, but at least he'll learn from them.

Ok -- next game tomorrow against the Chicago Bulls, who have already beaten the Pacers a couple of times this season, both comfortably.  Not expecting the Pacers to win, but with Noah still out and Rose battling two stomach ulcers, and the fact that the Bulls are also played a back-to-back game, the Pacers will at least have a chance.

If they can pull out of the victory then they'll have a chance to go for their first 3-game winning streak against the Toronto Raptors, and after that, a potential 4-game streak as their next opponent is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Just a short update that I wrote an Indiana Pacers Mid-Season Review on SeatGeek's Blog. 

You can find your Indiana Pacers tickets for the rest of the NBA season on SeatGeek, the leading ticket search engine that enables fans to discover the best deals for sports and concerts.

The Indiana Pacers lost their sixth straight game today, going down 111-96 to a hot shooting Orlando Magic team.

Let's forget about how the game went because it's always the same old story.  Bad decisions, horrendous defense, shots not falling.  What is more interesting is that the discontent in Pacer country is really starting to boil over.

There are articles all over the net about how to fix the Pacers' myriad of problems, starting with firing coach Jim O'Brien (according to Bob Kravitz of IndyStar) and getting Bird or someone else to coach the remainder of the season.  There are rumors that former All-Star Danny Granger is in danger of being traded, and everyone is wondering how Roy Hibbert (and while we're at it, Solomon Jones and Brandon Rush -- who is out for 2 weeks) can ever regain his earlier season form.

Truth is, the Pacers are struggling and will continue to struggle for the rest of the season.  Right now, I don't have a big problem with the Pacers trading Granger as long as they can get value in return.  I think Collison is starting to emerge as the leader and the team's 'big time' player, as long as he can start to defend people the way he needs to be.  With the team on target to finish 32-50 (like they did last season) and miss the playoffs again, I'd like to see them play Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough as many minutes as possible.  Whenever these young guys have been on the court, I've liked what I've seen.  They are inconsistent and mistake prone, but why lot leave them out there and let them learn if the team is going to lose anyway?

The Indiana Pacers, as expected, went ahead and lost two more games in consecutive nights on their West coast road trip -- first to the Portland Trailblazers, then to the Denver Nuggets, 121-107.

Most people remember that historic game against the Nuggest in November, when the Pacers put up 144 points, including that 54 point third quarter where they shot 20 of 21 from the field.  But as I said in an earlier post, those November Pacers are long gone, and what's left is not pretty.

These Pacers gave up a 16 point lead to lose to the Blazers, and were gradually blown away completely by the Nuggets after the first quarter.  There was no real sense of urgency, no confidence, no belief that they could win. 

The loss puts the Pacers down to 16-25, and what do you know -- out of playoff position.  The losing streak will probably continue in their next game against the Orlando Magic, before they get a good chance to snap the streak (which will be 5 at the time) against the lowly New Jersey Nets.

The funniest thing I've read recently comes from Chris Broussard (Truehoop) -- you can check out the article here.  According to unnamed sources, Indiana bosses are not happy with coach Jim O'Brien's performance, and part of the reason is because of O'Brien's bizarre, nonsensical rotations.  Example:

Tyler Hansbrough plays 36 minutes one night, posting 23 points and 12 rebounds, and just 23 minutes the next; Paul George plays 21 minutes one night, four the next.

Also don't forget, certain guys like Hansbrough, McRoberts, Price and George have all gone from starter/role player to the inactive list and vice versa for no obvious reason and without real explanation throughout the course of the season.

However, the source also said that O'Brien is unlikely to be fired because they don't believe anyone else on the current coaching staff can do a better job.  In other words, Indy will be stuck with him until at least the end of the year.

That's just hilarious.  You're telling me that after three years of doing exactly the same thing with his rotations, of missing the playoffs, of having near identical (or worsening) records, the owners FINALLY realized that O'Brien is not getting the job done?  No wonder the Pacers have not gotten any better!

Time to pull their heads out of the sand.
 
The biggest problem (apart from the coach, the defense, the offense, the energy, the effort, the cohesion and everything else) is that the Pacers have no guys that can make plays when the team needs a basket or a defensive stop.  Contrary to popular belief, Danny Granger is NOT that guy, at least not right now.  Hibbert works hard, but at the moment he's just tossing up shots praying they'd go in, and the prayers aren't working.  Collison is probably the closest thing the Pacers have, but he's still too inconsistent and O'Brien doesn't seem to have enough faith to set up plays for him.

I'm so sick of watching opposing players (sometimes not even very good ones) make play after play against the Pacers while the Pacers keep tossing up weak-ass shots on the other end, throwing the ball away and missing at the rim.

Something needs to change, and starting with Jim O'Brien is the most logical thing to do.

And so the frustrating trend continues.  The Indiana Pacers went into Golden State hoping to snap a two-game losing streak -- but again, choked down the stretch as Monta Ellis (who dropped 36) and Stephon Curry put the game away with big baskets.  Final score 110-108. 

Interestingly, on the last play, with 0.6 seconds left, O'Brien tried what Andrew Bogut did to the Pacers (remember that alley tip at the buzzer?) -- but Tyler Hansbrough couldn't get a handle on the ball.  Game.  Set.  Match.  Pacers drop to 16-23 and the confidence continues to drop.

Where do I start with this one?  This was one of those games where no matter how much the Pacers were leading by, I just knew -- I just knew the Warriors were going to come back and win the game.  The Pacers did get some bad calls in the fourth quarter but they threw the ball away so many times on crucial possessions or took impossibly bad shots.  This is a team that plays well in spurts, but rarely when it counts.

Granger had 32 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists on a decent shooting night (11-19) but failed to get the job done when it mattered.  Seven turnovers, including a big one when the Pacers were going for the win.  There was a time when Granger was considered one of the most underrated players in the game, but is he now overrated?

Guys like Monta Ellis stepped up when it counted and hit the big game winner over a very good defender in Brandon Rush.  That is one big time player.  He was unstoppable and made plays when he had to.  Look at the Pacers' last few opponents.  Clippers -- Blake Griffin, Baron Davis, Eric Gordon -- big time players.  Bulls -- Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer -- big time players.  The Pacers count on Granger to be that guy but he isn't.  But who else can they count on?

Excuse me while I go tear my hair out.