MORE THAN ONE WAY
TO SKIN THESE CATS...
TO SKIN THESE CATS...
-VS-
Game Time Start: 7:00 PM EST
Where: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
Officials: R. Garretson, J. Orr, L. Richardson
Media Notes: Indiana Notes, Charlotte Notes
Television: FSIN
Local Radio: WIBC 93.1 FM
NBA Feeds:
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PACERS Danny Granger - sore left knee (out indefinitely) George Hill - hip pointer (day-to-day) RAPTORS Ben Gordon - right ankle strain (day-to-day) Byron Mullens - right knee bruise (day-to-day) Tyrus Thomas - right heel bruise (day-to-day) |
Jared Wade: West’s Heroics, Hill’s Game Winner Lift Pacers... I suppose the only downside is that this might be the best Pacers’ game of the year. Oh, they will certainly play better. (Let’s hope so anyway. It’s gonna be a loooong season covering such slop otherwise.) But in terms of excitement, drama and good times, this was about as good as it gets on the opening night for most of the National Basketball Association. The Pacers seemed in control early before the turnovers multiplied and the defensive rotations disappeared. Time after time, drivers and cutters got to the secondary defender only to make a simple interior pass that checkmated the rim. Or worse, the Pacers allowed easy looks from behind the arc that allowed Toronto’s point guards to build confidence and energize an, at times, raucous crowd. Fortunately, the Raptors couldn’t make much of anything, hitting just 33-of-91 (36.3%) from the field and failing to fully exploit their 24 offensive rebounds or the Pacers’ 18 turnovers (5 in the first quarter, 6 in the second, 6 in the third, 1 in the fourth). Regardless, Indiana’s third-quarter offense became so ineffective that Toronto was able to quickly build a double-digit lead anyway. And as they did, there was David West, lurking with the potential energy of the Yellowstone Caldera supervolcano. He scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including 14 of the team’s final 20 points. That’s impressive enough on its own and the team needed every one of his buckets to complete its comeback win. But it was more the way he went about it. It was like there was no real question that he needed to be the one to take over. Part of this was naturally the matchups: when you see a steam shovel like West being “contained” by the chain link fence that is Andrea Bargnani, you get him the ball. Sometimes professional basketball is as strategically simple as the two-on-two games played in driveways across America everyday. Just find out which of your opponents is the most outmatched physically and give the guy he is guarding the ball every time it until it stops working. West was more than happy to oblige and he took it upon himself to make sure the deficit was dwindling as the clock did. For a few minutes in the fourth quarter, he and Paul George looked like they had been playing together since grade school. It’s been a while and the cobwebs build up more quickly in my head than they used to, but I can’t recall seeing them have that type of chemistry before. They ran a two-man game with such precise timing and unspoken communication that West was not only getting makable looks out of well-orchestrated pick-and-rolls or post-ups fueled by excellent entry passes, he was on occasion getting comically easy shots for him to knock down. Again, some of this was the Raptors keystone cops defense. But there was also something there that I haven’t seen before, with West slipping screens that George knew he was slip and battling for position then finding the ball hitting him right in the exact location to allow him to face up and punish his defender. As aggressive and impressive as West was in making shots from his favorite spots onthe floor, it was also great...CONTINUE READING AT 8p9s |
Bobcats vs Pacers- 3-on-3 Preview Tonight the Bobcats finally open their season at home against the Indiana Pacers, a team who pushed the Heat to a six game series just last season in the eastern conference semifinals. Tonight, the Pacers will be without their proverbial leader Danny Granger. Granger has suffered a knee injury during the pre-season and is out indefinitely. The Bobcats, on the other hand, are a mystery to everyone. Most of the fan base will be laying their first eyes on the team for the first time this year since none of the pre-season games were aired in the Carolinas. Charlotte will have 2 new starters from one season ago in rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and veteran center Brendan Haywood. The Bobcats will also unveil many new faces such as Ben Gordon, Ramon Sessions and Jeffery Taylor. Nobody knows quite what to expect from this team out of the gates, but be rest assured that this new Bobcats team will provide more defensive pressure, sharing of the basketball, up-tempo style play, and overall a higher energy product. That’s going to lead to some really high high’s and some really low low’s to begin the season. Tim Donohue from the Indiana Pacers ESPN TrueHoop Network blog ’8pts,9sec’ joins us to answer some questions leading up to tonight’s game in the Cable Box. 1- OPINION. In Danny Granger’s absence David West carried Indiana on Wednesday night in Toronto with 25 points on 12-19 shooting. Tonight, West will have a favorable match-up with Mullens defending him- Mully has improved with the headiness aspect of being a defender, but we’re all expecting him to have his way against Lord Byron, right? Spencer Percy: I can’t jump on the bandwagon that suggests Mullens has drastically improved defensively until I have a large sample to prove it. If the Pacers feed West like they did the other night in Toronto, then yes, I do believe West will have his way. If West gets going early expect Dunlap to throw some different defensive looks at him such as Biyombo and Tyrus. Side note- it will be interesting to see just how much full court pressure Dunlap throws at Indiana tonight. Brett Hainline: David West is going to have a good night. His strength will be tough for Bryon to match, his veteran, savvy offensive game will cause problems for Bismack, and until Tyrus proves otherwise, he’ll just foul too often to stay on the floor. But it will be interesting to see if Byron puts forth more effort defensively – too often last season, Byron played token defense. Tim Donohue: I expect West to have success when the Pacers go to him, but it’s an option question as to the frequency of that. A side effect of the Pacers’ touted “balance” is that players will occasionally be “forgotten.” That being said, I could see what played out last night becoming a recurring scenario – Paul George and Roy Hibbert being the top options through 3, but the fourth quarter offense revolving around West in the post and PnR. I like his chances against Mullens in these scenarios. 2- FACT or FICTION. The Pacers were 47.4% from the floor on Wednesday night in Toronto. That number will rise to 50% or above tonight against a team that was worst in the league in defensive efficiency last season. Spencer: FACT. I mean how can I say that they won’t improve on a 47.4% mark that they put up on defensive guru Dwayne Casey. It’s only one game though, and tonight’s game is likely going to be more up-tempo. We’ll see if that plays into the favor of Charlotte or not. If the Bobcats are able to play some full court press and not give up easy baskets, forcing Indiana to work with short shot clocks then they have a chance...CONTINUE READING AT QUEEN CITY HOOPS |
Pacers Mike Wells @MikeWellsNBA Jared Wade @8pts9secs Tim Donahue @TimDonahue8p9s Tom Lewis @indycornrows |
Bobcats Rick Bonnell @rick_bonnell Ben Swanson @CardboardGerald Spencer Percy @QCsportscrave Brett Hainline @BrettQCHoops |
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