What a great way to end 2012.

Playing like a turd spread over stale bread all season, DJ Augustin got the call to start at PG tonight over George Hill, who sat out with a groin/leg problem, apparently. The move must have sent chills down the spines of every Pacers fan, because Augustin hadn't even scored more than 8 points in a single this season going into the game, and was shooting less than 27% from the field. That's right, 27%.

Perhaps Augustin's New Year's resolution is to simply "be awesome," because he certainly produced tonight against the Grizzlies with 17 points and 6 assists on 4-9 shooting as the Pacers came from 7 points down at the end of the third to pull out an 88-83 win. The Pacers move back atop the Central Division at 18-13, two games behind Atlanta for the no. 3 seed and 4 games behind Eastern Conference leaders the Miami Heat.

One of their best wins of the season and a crucial one against a winning team for once, and it was all because of DJ. Well, not exactly, as Paul George had 21, 6 and 5, David West had 13 and 9 and Lance Stephenson had 10 and 7, but on this night let's just say it was all DJ. Finally.

Let's hope he can keep it up in 2013 because the Pacers can really use it.

You could tell from the way the Pacers have been playing that they needed a bit of a wake up call. They've been getting it done against poor teams, but just barely.

Against a team like the Atlanta Hawks, missing Josh Smith or not, the Pacers were going to be in for a rough night. And I was right. The Pacers got within 3 in the fourth quarter but it felt like the Hawks were never seriously threatened as the Hawks overpowered the Pacers to a 109-100 win.

The loss snapped a 4-game winning streak for the Pacers and put them back to 17-13 for the season.

It was ugly. The Hawks scored their 109 points on 55% shooting. David West did all he could to keep the Pacers in the game with 29 points, including two 3-pointers for some reason, and Paul George again flirted with a triple-double with 18, 9 and 8, but he also had 5 turnovers.

The big news was Roy 'Max Contract' Hibbert, who...wait for it...had 0 points and 1 rebound in 21 minutes while getting dominated by Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia. Wrist injury or not, it was embarrassing, and Roy didn't even play down the stretch as Frank Vogel favored Tyler Hansbrough, who took out about 6 players from both sides, including teammate Lance Stephenson. Lance had been playing well (13 points, 5 rebounds) until Psycho-T elbowed him in the head in the fourth quarter, sending him straight to the locker room.

Anyway, I'm sure this is a game the Pacers would like to forget. Their next game is on New Year's Eve against the Memphis Grizzlies. Time to step it up a notch.

Not much to say. Pacers were killing the Suns early, racing out to a 14-point lead at the half. Then they fell asleep and the Suns came roaring back. But Pacers eventually hold on for a 97-91 victory.

Again, lots of problems but enough to get it done against a lottery team. That's 4 in a row and 17-12 for the season.

George Hill led the way with 22 points, Paul George had 15 and David West 14. Lance Stephenson chipped in with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in a solid effort.

This type of effort isn't going to be enough against a good team like the Hawks, whom the Pacers will face tomorrow night.

Dang. I was looking forward to this one.

But the weather gods have not been kind to Indiana, as the Pacers' Boxing Day game against the Chicago Bulls has been canceled due to a monstrous snowstorm.

A tough break for the Pacers because they are rested and have been playing relatively well, while the Bulls are coming off two straight blowout losses and were on the second night of a back-to-back. Luol Deng also apparently sprained his ankle in their loss to the Rockets on Christmas Day. Not that a win was guaranteed, because they never are with this Pacers team, but conditions were about as favorable as they were going to get.

It's not clear when the game will be moved to, but Derrick Rose could be back by then and the Bulls will likely be playing a lot better than they are now.

What this postponement means is that the Pacers will next play on Friday at home against the Suns, making it a whole week since their last game against the Hornets. Let's hope they'll be well rested and sharp.

No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis is already a good player and, barring injury, will probably one day become one of the best players in the entire NBA.

But in the last 3:40 of the Pacers' 81-75 win over the Hornets on Saturday night he was merely David West's bitch. West, who only had 5 points in the first half as the Hornets raced to a 46-29 lead at the break, scored 20 more in the second half, including 8 points on 4-4 shooting in the final 4 minutes, all over the outstretched hands of Davis.

It was the same thing over and over. Catch the ball on the block. Drive, create contact, contested fadeaway, jumper or baby hook. Worked every time no matter how tightly he was being guarded by his former team.

Thanks to David West beast mode, which has saved the Pacers in probably half a dozen games already this season, the Pacers were able to come all the way back from a 22-point deficit to secure their 7th win in 8 games, moving up to 16-12 for the year.

The other big contributor of the night was Lance Stephenson, who scored 6 of his 10 points in the last 5 minutes, including massive putback from a Paul George miss that put the Pacers up by 4 with less than a minute to go.

George Hill was again solid. He had 12 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists but hit some big shots during the Pacers comeback. Roy Hibbert had 5 blocks but only had 6 points as he was frequently embarrassed by Robin Lopez, who led the Hornets with 24 points, at the other end. Yes, Robin Lopez.

Paul George had 17 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, but he was clearly tired towards the end of the game and missed a bunch of shots badly -- though he did hit two big free throws to ice the game. In fact, the entire Pacers team was probably feeling a bit of fatigue on the second night of a back-to-back and apparently being stranded in Cleveland overnight.

Gerald Green missed the game with a sprainked ankle and the bench didn't do a whole lot. Mahinmi had 6 points, while Tyler Hansbrough had 4. DJ Augustin hit a free throw and that was it.

The Pacers get a bit of a break now as they don't play again until Wednesday night at home against the Bulls. It will be a HUGE game because they are currently tied for the lead in Central, with the Bulls holding the edge in percentage points. The last time the two teams met Paul George scored 34 points in an 80-76 win for the Pacers in Chicago, so no doubt the Bulls will be trying to get one back.