The Phoenix Rises from the Ashes-Pacers Win

[owl]

Well after a horrible start and fallng behind by more than 20 the Pacers pull one out thanks to a team effort and AJ Price.

[Kaufman]

hoot hoot!!!
unbelievable watching the score ticker!

[judicata]

I love win, and really was impressed with Price.

I hate to be negative after a great win, but 31 Threes makes me a little nauseated.

Troy had a great game and grabbed 16 boards! He's going to earn us Hickson playing like that.

[owl]

I am really starting to like AJ Price's game. He is extremely cool under pressure and just has a sense about the game. He is very strong and shoots the 3 well. The Pacers have at least one point guard for the future.

[cchobot]

I like his ability to get into the lane. Seems like at some point he may be able to drive and dish to an open shooter or cutter for some easy buckets

[graphic-er]

Danny must have seen the NBA Defense commercial at half time. He totally shut Bosh down.

[Speed]

maybe in today's nba, Granger is a Power Forward.

[graphic-er]

Originally Posted by Speed

maybe in today's nba, Granger is a Power Forward.

Does make you wonder, he seems to play much better defense at the 4. I think its because at 6-9 its hard for him to play defense on the wing and get around all those screens and picks. For a player his size, strength and smarts, post up defense probably comes natural.

[Los Angeles]

Originally Posted by Speed

maybe in today's nba, Granger is a Power Forward.

Every time it's suggested, my face goes sour.

Danny is a fantastic 3. It's not his fault that we don't have a 4 that can guard Bosh.

[vnzla81]

Originally Posted by Speed

maybe in today's nba, Granger is a Power Forward.

And maybe Hibbert is a center...

[Speed]

i've been against it all along and Danny said it's really taxing to play a guy who's bigger, so it's not likely the answer, but he sure is effective there.

As for Price, he's clutch. I don't think you can teach that. He was clutch at Uconn, he's clutch now. Good things happen almost everytime he's on the court. Very impressive.

[McKeyFan]

Granger was the man tonight. I agree that he seemed to have the eye of the tiger tonight. Great defense. Smart decisions with the ball.

AJ price is a breath of fresh air. Several mistakes. Have to expect them. But it's the first time since Tinsley we've seen someone look effortless out there. He's got Tinsley's potential along with a fiery perimeter shot. Streaky, but perhaps he's better down the stretch?

I'm glad for the win, and proud these guys could come back and win. Watson was huge. But I still believe it is a huge strategic error to keep Hibbert and DJones on the bench. It's not winning basketball, although we did pull off a win against a struggling Raptors team tonight. If this crew that won tonight can start playing .500 basketball than I'll be less harsh on JOB. We'll see.

Meanwhile, excellent work by Tyler, great shooting by Murph in the first half, pressure free throws by Dun at the end, and just hard scrappy play like we always hope to see.

One comment: I think he was in street clothes, but I would have liked to see McBob play defense against Bosh.

[odeez]

Nice win by the team. Danny is still a bit rusty, but he had great game. I would like him to take it to the rim more often. Price is continuing to show promise. Murph, good job on the boards and the early threes.

I would have loved to see Roy out there more, I know Solo was playing well, but Hibbert has to play more.

[owl]

I think of AJ as the Anti-Tinsley. He kind of looks like and is built like Tinsley but plays a different(team) game.

[LoneGranger33]

Player of the game? Sonny Weems, for firing up Danny Granger.

As much as I'd like to heap praise on A.J. Price, Earl Watson made some really crucial plays in the 4th quarter to help us win it. Those two had ****ty first halves, but put it together when the game was on the line.

[McKeyFan]

Yeah, Earl punked Jack like three plays in a row.

[McKeyFan]

Originally Posted by LoneGranger33

Player of the game? Sonny Weems, for firing up Danny Granger.

Probably something to that.

[Justin Tyme]

It was a nice come back win. The thing after the game when looking in the box score was the FTA's again Toronto hit more than the Pacers shot. Just too much difference and has been all season.

I thought the Pacers got out rebounded by a large margin but it was just 2 in favor of Toronto.

The win was nice, but the 76'ers won as well against the Hornets.

[Speed]

I also should note Muphy was a weapon on offense and I thought he was good for him, defensively. Sure backhanded, but not meant to be. Murphy is really at the top of his game for what he can do. I wish the Pacers had a team that could utilize his skills and absorb his shortcomings, cuz all of the blame he's got, including me, is situational. It's based on the situation he's in, and not his potential value to a team in the right circumstances. I hope he goes to Cleveland because I think he'll show how important he can be to a good team in the right line up.

I'll not complain about Troy for awhile.

Things I that I find interesting. Roy not playing. D. Jones not playing. Hard to complain after a win, but no Roy at all in the second half? I guess I'm okay with it since before the game Obie said Roy is no longer a guy that won't start due to match ups, however, he also said Roy will get the ball in the low post to exploit his advantage, which did not happen. I'll give this one a pass for the moment, but eventually they have to start letting him get 15 looks a game to just well make the game easier for everyone.

Solo, nice D, nice numbers.

Dunleavy solid, he had zero assists which is strange since assist have been a strength of his in the past, but this year he's way off pace.

Earl is a pro. This means he does what you hope, not going to be a dominant player, not going to be a bonehead. Again sounds backhanded, but he did play well, but you expect him to. I personally would like to hand the keys to AJ in the next month and let Earl back him up, since he likely won't be here next year.

Luther is probably back to the bench and maybe not even playing. He's just cooled off and I'd rather have D Jones or Brandon get any of those minutes.

Love the fire from Danny, love the defense in the 4th. Danny's defense is the biggest reason they won.

Loved Hansbrough'a fire, love that he knocked people around, as always. One time Amir Johnson clobbered him and Amir ended up on the ground getting the worst of it. I know people get tired of the TH love, but you just can't put in a stat what being a physical presence does to the face of a game.

[vnzla81]

good 4th quarter for the pacers and nice win, first time I get to see AJ for a long period and he looks good maybe pg of the future? Troy Murphy's value is going up and even Dunleavy looked alive today(trade value is going up also)

[Trophy]

JOB, play Roy.

Great comeback win overall.

[Thingfish]

Originally Posted by McKeyFan

Yeah, Earl punked Jack like three plays in a row.

Yeah that was great, One of the highlights of the game for me as well. I think I can live with AJ and Earl at the point. I haven't seen the boys that fired up in a while. They were playing some great D there in the 4th, there were still a couple matador moments. But it was much better than I would have expected.

[d_c]

Originally Posted by Speed

Solo, nice D, nice numbers.

Dunleavy solid, he had zero assists which is strange since assist have been a strength of his in the past, but this year he's way off pace.

Dunleavy is a career 2.6 apg guy. Sure, he's off his pace this year, but it's not as if this has been a huge strength of his. He's a good passer. He just doesn't make that many that lead to baskets, which is what assists are defined as.

[joeyd]

It's a win like this that gives me hope that we can still make it back to .500 by year's end.

[joeyd]

Or at least close to .500.