To quote the great Lloyd Bridges from the movie Airplane "Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue".
Ok, I actually for once get to leave early from work & the entire family is ready to go on time. We even get into town early enough to stop by & eat at Mr. Gyros (yes I love that place dirt & all) so all was good.
Then I even got to the game early enough that I was there prior to tipoff & since it is the beginning of the 40th season of Pacers basketball (God that means next year I'll be 40 ) we had a few pre-game extra's.
The highlight of the opening (& sadly ultimately of the entire night) was the introduction of five Pacers players from the very first opening night of the Indiana Pacers. Freddie Lewis being there was a real highlight for me but I know that Neto was the most popular.
Anyway it is always a real thrill seeing some of the old Pacers in the house. On a side note I hope that this is not the only night they plan on doing something to honor the franchises history because while it was great to see some of the old players the video clip they showed from each decade was way to short & really didn't paint a story.
Another interesting side note from the opening was that for the first time since way way back in the M.S.A. days (prior to the death of professional wrestler Owen Heart) did one of our mascots repel from the ceiling of the fieldhouse. I saw bowser come down & Diamond Dave said he saw Boomer come down from the other side. I found that to be very interesting because at the time Donnie Walsh made it clear that our mascots wouldn't be coming down ever again.
Now to answer some quick hitting questions so everybody knows right up front.
1. Did Peja get boo'ed? Suprisingly yes. I guess I just didn't think most people cared about him one way or another but the fans gave him a pretty healthy boo.
2. Did Jackson get boo'ed? Suprisingly very little. There were a few boo birds in during the opening but they were pretty well drowned out by the cheers. Other than that he got a couple of minor boo's when he shot what a lot of people thought were poor shots but he got no more than other players for the same thing. In fact I would say Jamaal got as many boo's if not more than Jackson did during the intro.
3. Did Al get the biggest cheers? I would say no, J.O. still got the loudest cheers during the opening.
Ok, now let's move onto the game.
I knew we were in for a long long long night when I looked out & saw Joey Crawford & Violet Palmer. Not because I felt they were going to screw us over per say but because both of them practice the "look at me" form of reffing so they would be inserting themselves into the game. Sure enough the first half was nothing but possesion after possesion of whislte blowing with I'd say about 90% of all calls called by either Palmer or Crawford. I don't think the other ref (who's name escapes me but IMO that's what made him a good ref.) called many fouls at all during the night.
As we all knew would happen the offense was ugly early & often. We either were throwing up junk three pointers or someone was attempting a fadeaway. There was no flow or rhytm at all. Some of that was due to light pressure applied by the Hornets but most of it was just due to our team being discombobulated.
Al Harrington was just forcing the issue early on & it was hurting his game. He tried to rebound & he did try & put a body on people but he was just out of sorts since the tipoff. Sadly he was our leading rebounder which does not say much because he had a whole whopping 7 rebounds.
In fact the one thing I hated the most about last night was the rebounding. In fact it was pretty disgusting. The offensive sets were were using had our front court away from the basket a lot & several of them still have the old habit of once the ball goes up they start running the other way and on the defensive end, well let's just say we managed to make Tyson Chandler look like Moses Malone on the boards.
So far I can't say that I'm thrilled with the Danny Al-Jermaine front court & again I can't help but think a lot of this is Jermaines fault. Now before all of Jermains fans come running at me please hear me out.
Jermaine is 6'11" tall. He is very well built & from what I've seen over the years isn't the weakest player in the world. But the man just will not play a physical game to save his life. So we have 6'9" (& I think that is being generous) Al Harrington who just three to four seasons ago was playing small forward down in the low post sumo wrestling players that are going to be 6'10" or better.
Sadly we have yet to play a real true big man or front line, I can't wait to see how badly Eddy Curry shreds us up tommorow.
Danny Granger is quickly becoming like Derrik McKey & I don't mean that as a compliment. Don't let that final 10 points he put on the board fool you. He had 4 points going into the last half of the fourth quarter but he hit two three pointers down the way to bring himself to double digits.
Now I understand that this is going to be a problem for him because Jermaine & Al are going to need their touches so there is going to be a problem of not enough shots to go around. However he has to be more aggresive on the court on the offensive end. Last season we saw times where he was to passive on the floor & in both games I've seen this season he has also only taken what has been blatantly open to him. He did have one nice drive to the basket tonight but we need that on a much more consistant basis from him if we are going to do anything this season.
While I'm at it let me make it a point right now to say this. We shoot to many d@mn three point shots. Now if we were hitting at 50%. from beyond the arc that would be one thing but 27% & to continue to chuck is just to many for my taste.
In this game Jackson, Granger, Saras & Armstrong all took more shots from beyond the arc than they did from inside the line, which I find repulsive.
Now not all was horrid btw. There were some good spots on the floor.
Darrell Armstrong was litterally a spark plug & rallied the crews to bring us back to take a slight lead for a short time. He really is an on the ball defender who can put pressure on the other teams point guards, which is something we haven't had here for a long long time.
Marquis Daniels also came to life in the second half as well applying both solid defense & smart offense as well as getting in on some rebounds.
So the Dallas connection played very well for us for a short time frame.
Other than way to many three point shots I thought Jackson was ok. Not a great game but didn't stink the place up either, other than his shot selection. But he did leave the refs alone & I only saw him & Carlisle conversing once but it looked cordial to me so I don't think there was a problem there.
Harrison was in for 3 min. & just did not accomplish much but then again didn't have time to do much either. When we start facing some real centers I wonder how his min. will be?
Foster was just Foster which is to say he didn't hurt the team but I'm just not sure helped the team either. The front court of O'Neal & Foster offends me to my very core so I know that once we do switch back over to Jeff Al-Jermaine I will be in for a very long season. BTW, I wouldn't be suprised if we don't see a change in the lineup as early as tonight.
Now I'm going to offend everybody with my next statement & I hope you won't hold it against me & trust me I know that it will never happen but here is what I'd like to see.
Instead of benching Danny, which we all know is going to happen, I would like to see them bench O'Neal.
No, seriously I'd much rather have Danny Al & Jeff than I would O'neal & Foster ever on the floor together.
I think that part of the proble with the front five is that they all are trying to defer to Jermaine to much & he is getting to many touches. The second unit has a hard time scoring so I think J.O. would be better with the backups.
Oh, trust me I know it will never happen but if you ever really & truely want to break out of this half court funk we get into then letting Danny & Al be the focus in the front court during the opening is your best bet.
Besides I'd be willing to tell O'Neal that he wasn't getting off of the bench until he learned to box out on the boards, but that's just the hatred in me talking so please ignore that.
Saras was great, beyond great in North Carolina. Sadly he left all of that at the airport apperantly. But hey, what the heck he was no worse than anybody else really.
Marshall just wasn't out there enough to make an impression on me one way or the other.
Now here is my dissapointment for Carlisle for the night. I thought Baston would be perfect to play against the Hornets. His leaping ability I thought would prove usefull but for whatever reason he could not get off of the bench.
Speaking of bench, I really wish they would not have put Powell on the inactive list. My God our team lacks a true big man so bad right now I wanted to ask Darnell Hillman to suit up & play for us right now.
Needless to say the Pacers did themselves a real favor in offering $4.00 tickets as the place was mostly packed. However their lackluster play did not win them any new fans out of those seats.
We have to give this team about 20 games to truely know where they stand & it would be nice to see them play vs. a top tier team.
But just from the first two games I've seen I can only quote the great Roaming Gnome as we left the building. "it's going to be a long season".
I think patience is called for & not to read to much into these early season games.
Ok, I actually for once get to leave early from work & the entire family is ready to go on time. We even get into town early enough to stop by & eat at Mr. Gyros (yes I love that place dirt & all) so all was good.
Then I even got to the game early enough that I was there prior to tipoff & since it is the beginning of the 40th season of Pacers basketball (God that means next year I'll be 40 ) we had a few pre-game extra's.
The highlight of the opening (& sadly ultimately of the entire night) was the introduction of five Pacers players from the very first opening night of the Indiana Pacers. Freddie Lewis being there was a real highlight for me but I know that Neto was the most popular.
Anyway it is always a real thrill seeing some of the old Pacers in the house. On a side note I hope that this is not the only night they plan on doing something to honor the franchises history because while it was great to see some of the old players the video clip they showed from each decade was way to short & really didn't paint a story.
Another interesting side note from the opening was that for the first time since way way back in the M.S.A. days (prior to the death of professional wrestler Owen Heart) did one of our mascots repel from the ceiling of the fieldhouse. I saw bowser come down & Diamond Dave said he saw Boomer come down from the other side. I found that to be very interesting because at the time Donnie Walsh made it clear that our mascots wouldn't be coming down ever again.
Now to answer some quick hitting questions so everybody knows right up front.
1. Did Peja get boo'ed? Suprisingly yes. I guess I just didn't think most people cared about him one way or another but the fans gave him a pretty healthy boo.
2. Did Jackson get boo'ed? Suprisingly very little. There were a few boo birds in during the opening but they were pretty well drowned out by the cheers. Other than that he got a couple of minor boo's when he shot what a lot of people thought were poor shots but he got no more than other players for the same thing. In fact I would say Jamaal got as many boo's if not more than Jackson did during the intro.
3. Did Al get the biggest cheers? I would say no, J.O. still got the loudest cheers during the opening.
Ok, now let's move onto the game.
I knew we were in for a long long long night when I looked out & saw Joey Crawford & Violet Palmer. Not because I felt they were going to screw us over per say but because both of them practice the "look at me" form of reffing so they would be inserting themselves into the game. Sure enough the first half was nothing but possesion after possesion of whislte blowing with I'd say about 90% of all calls called by either Palmer or Crawford. I don't think the other ref (who's name escapes me but IMO that's what made him a good ref.) called many fouls at all during the night.
As we all knew would happen the offense was ugly early & often. We either were throwing up junk three pointers or someone was attempting a fadeaway. There was no flow or rhytm at all. Some of that was due to light pressure applied by the Hornets but most of it was just due to our team being discombobulated.
Al Harrington was just forcing the issue early on & it was hurting his game. He tried to rebound & he did try & put a body on people but he was just out of sorts since the tipoff. Sadly he was our leading rebounder which does not say much because he had a whole whopping 7 rebounds.
In fact the one thing I hated the most about last night was the rebounding. In fact it was pretty disgusting. The offensive sets were were using had our front court away from the basket a lot & several of them still have the old habit of once the ball goes up they start running the other way and on the defensive end, well let's just say we managed to make Tyson Chandler look like Moses Malone on the boards.
So far I can't say that I'm thrilled with the Danny Al-Jermaine front court & again I can't help but think a lot of this is Jermaines fault. Now before all of Jermains fans come running at me please hear me out.
Jermaine is 6'11" tall. He is very well built & from what I've seen over the years isn't the weakest player in the world. But the man just will not play a physical game to save his life. So we have 6'9" (& I think that is being generous) Al Harrington who just three to four seasons ago was playing small forward down in the low post sumo wrestling players that are going to be 6'10" or better.
Sadly we have yet to play a real true big man or front line, I can't wait to see how badly Eddy Curry shreds us up tommorow.
Danny Granger is quickly becoming like Derrik McKey & I don't mean that as a compliment. Don't let that final 10 points he put on the board fool you. He had 4 points going into the last half of the fourth quarter but he hit two three pointers down the way to bring himself to double digits.
Now I understand that this is going to be a problem for him because Jermaine & Al are going to need their touches so there is going to be a problem of not enough shots to go around. However he has to be more aggresive on the court on the offensive end. Last season we saw times where he was to passive on the floor & in both games I've seen this season he has also only taken what has been blatantly open to him. He did have one nice drive to the basket tonight but we need that on a much more consistant basis from him if we are going to do anything this season.
While I'm at it let me make it a point right now to say this. We shoot to many d@mn three point shots. Now if we were hitting at 50%. from beyond the arc that would be one thing but 27% & to continue to chuck is just to many for my taste.
In this game Jackson, Granger, Saras & Armstrong all took more shots from beyond the arc than they did from inside the line, which I find repulsive.
Now not all was horrid btw. There were some good spots on the floor.
Darrell Armstrong was litterally a spark plug & rallied the crews to bring us back to take a slight lead for a short time. He really is an on the ball defender who can put pressure on the other teams point guards, which is something we haven't had here for a long long time.
Marquis Daniels also came to life in the second half as well applying both solid defense & smart offense as well as getting in on some rebounds.
So the Dallas connection played very well for us for a short time frame.
Other than way to many three point shots I thought Jackson was ok. Not a great game but didn't stink the place up either, other than his shot selection. But he did leave the refs alone & I only saw him & Carlisle conversing once but it looked cordial to me so I don't think there was a problem there.
Harrison was in for 3 min. & just did not accomplish much but then again didn't have time to do much either. When we start facing some real centers I wonder how his min. will be?
Foster was just Foster which is to say he didn't hurt the team but I'm just not sure helped the team either. The front court of O'Neal & Foster offends me to my very core so I know that once we do switch back over to Jeff Al-Jermaine I will be in for a very long season. BTW, I wouldn't be suprised if we don't see a change in the lineup as early as tonight.
Now I'm going to offend everybody with my next statement & I hope you won't hold it against me & trust me I know that it will never happen but here is what I'd like to see.
Instead of benching Danny, which we all know is going to happen, I would like to see them bench O'Neal.
No, seriously I'd much rather have Danny Al & Jeff than I would O'neal & Foster ever on the floor together.
I think that part of the proble with the front five is that they all are trying to defer to Jermaine to much & he is getting to many touches. The second unit has a hard time scoring so I think J.O. would be better with the backups.
Oh, trust me I know it will never happen but if you ever really & truely want to break out of this half court funk we get into then letting Danny & Al be the focus in the front court during the opening is your best bet.
Besides I'd be willing to tell O'Neal that he wasn't getting off of the bench until he learned to box out on the boards, but that's just the hatred in me talking so please ignore that.
Saras was great, beyond great in North Carolina. Sadly he left all of that at the airport apperantly. But hey, what the heck he was no worse than anybody else really.
Marshall just wasn't out there enough to make an impression on me one way or the other.
Now here is my dissapointment for Carlisle for the night. I thought Baston would be perfect to play against the Hornets. His leaping ability I thought would prove usefull but for whatever reason he could not get off of the bench.
Speaking of bench, I really wish they would not have put Powell on the inactive list. My God our team lacks a true big man so bad right now I wanted to ask Darnell Hillman to suit up & play for us right now.
Needless to say the Pacers did themselves a real favor in offering $4.00 tickets as the place was mostly packed. However their lackluster play did not win them any new fans out of those seats.
We have to give this team about 20 games to truely know where they stand & it would be nice to see them play vs. a top tier team.
But just from the first two games I've seen I can only quote the great Roaming Gnome as we left the building. "it's going to be a long season".
I think patience is called for & not to read to much into these early season games.
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