As I watched the Indiana Pacers take on the LA Lakers tonight, a few things became crystal clear.

One, the Lakers were just better.  Taller, stronger, more skilled, more confident, significantly superior defensively, and a better star player.

Two, the Pacers were sporadically good but mostly bad.  Poor decision making, carelessness with the ball, and terrible defense just doesn't make up for occasional good ball rotation and shooting.

Three, there was no way the Pacers were going to win this one.

After taking a one-point lead in the first quarter (28-27) and only down by six at the half (60-54), the Lakers blew the game wide open mid-way through the third.  It all went according to script, with the Lakers starting to click and the Pacers falling apart.  Final score: 122-99.  Pacers are now 20-40.

I knew things weren't looking good when the Pacers, led by Josh McRoberts, played inspiring ball right out of the gate but couldn't pull away from the Lakers, who appeared as though they were bored and still half-asleep.  This meant that when the Lakers inevitably got their act together, the game was going to be over very quickly.

In my rival-banter with Don from With-Malice, I made the following predictions:

• Pacers will lose by 20+ (check; Pacers lost by 23)
• Troy Murphy will get dunked on (check; I'm sure this happened a few times, but I distinctively recall in the first quarter when he tried to guard Bynum, who just bulldozed Murphy out of the way and threw it down over his head)
• Danny Granger will shoot less than 40% from the field (check; Danny shot just 2/9 (22%), had zero boards and 4 turnovers)
• Roy Hibbert will be in foul trouble (check; of course, Big Roy picked up fouls right from the get go, missed a large chunk of the game, but played through with 5 fouls in garbage time and ended up playing 22 minutes)
• TJ Ford will have less than 3 assists (no check; TJ had 5 assists, thanks to a few easy ones in garbage time)

Huge news.

Forward/Center Solomon Jones has been suspended for one game and will miss the Pacers' game against the LA Lakers tonight.

The reason disclosed by the team was "conduct detrimental to the team", but that's just silly.  Tell us what the knucklehead did.  Let's be honest here.  On any given night, by simply playing for the Pacers, there will be several players who are engaging in conduct detrimental to the team (not to mention any names...cough cough, TJ Ford).

Jones is averaging 4.1 points in 13.2 minutes over 40 games this season, but his playing time has been sporadic.  Take a look at his minutes over the last 11 games:

0, 6, 0, 8, 7, 0, 20, 20, 6, 4, 0

I'd be pretty frustrated too.

He probably wouldn't have even played tonight anyway.

About time! 

The Indiana Pacers snapped a 3-game losing streak by beating the Chicago Bulls, 100-90.  They also avoided a regular season sweep by the Bulls.

Danny Granger top scored with 30 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals, but had ZERO assists.  Troy Murphy had 17 points but only 4 rebounds.  Dahntay Jones had 17 off the bench.

Brandon Rush started and get this - 5 points in 36 minutes.  Earl Watson was even more impressive, starting, playing 34 minutes, and scoring 2 points without a field goal.  TJ Ford started as well (sadly, this probably means the shit sandwich lineup of Watson and Ford is here to stay), and had 9 points and 6 turnovers in 41 minutes.

How does a guy go from no playing time at all jus a few games ago to playing 41 minutes a game?

The most amazing thing of all is that despite all these problematic performances, the Pacers still managed to win.

Cra.Zy.

"We just want to play for each other," Roy Hibbert said. "I think we did a great job of that tonight. Maybe we can make a run. You never know what happens in this league."

Stop it.

I just finished reading the sensational and hilarious The Book of Basketball by "The Sports Guy", Bill Simmons (my full review of the book can be found here).

Naturally, The Book of Basketball discusses the legacies of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and of course, Larry Bird (Simmons' idol), but what does it say about the greatest Indiana Pacer of all-time, Reggie Miller?

Find out after the jump!

The Indiana Pacers are racking up losses faster than I can post about them.

Yesterday, the Pacers completed their 3-game road trip with a 120-110 loss to the Chicago Bulls.  Today, they went home and lost to the Bucks, 112-110.

Really no point in acting surprised, is there?  The Pacers have fallen to 19-39! Nineteen wins and thirty-nine losses!

And to cap it off, AJ Price is still not playing, and TJ Ford is playing more minutes.  Ford actually started in the back court today with Earl Watson.  Talk about a shit sandwich.