http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...anger/1949021/
It was a little moment that wouldn't mean much to many, but it carried significant weight for Indiana Pacers swingman Danny Granger.
As his teammates cracked jokes inside the packed locker room at the Palace of Auburn Hills after their fourth straight victory on Saturday, Granger soaked in the moment.
He chimed in with his two cents every now and then, but for the most part, he sat back and enjoyed himself.
"It feels good to be back," he said. "I missed all of this."
Granger will make his home debut Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.
Granger won't save the box score from his first game of the season — 1-of-10 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench against the Detroit Pistons.
It wasn't an ideal shooting performance for anybody, but for Granger it was a matter of getting over the initial nervousness of playing his first meaningful game in nine months.
He knew he would be back at some point this season, but he never knew when that time would come. There were many days he became frustrated with the pain in his left knee.
"It was really hard and I was frustrated with my knee," Granger said in his first extensive interview of the season. "I was constantly playing and having pain and more pain. It's getting better, but you still have your doubt in your mind. On the good side, the team was doing really well. It was frustrating because I wasn't part of the success we had so far.
"I watched all the games and I'd give as much input as I could. But when you're out and not playing and you can't practice, it was kind of depressing."
Granger's knee, in which he got an injection in November, still isn't 100 percent. It's uncertain when it'll be completely healthy. He must get to a point where he's playing and not frequently thinking about the knee every time he makes a hard cut or jumps.
That's easier said than done, considering he thought he would be ready for the start of the regular season. It became obvious he wasn't healthy during the preseason finale in October.
"It's such a process," Granger said. "You go back three weeks when I started practicing, it would get sore, then the next week it was less sore and last week it was less sore. They say it'll eventually go away. We have all the MRIs to back it up. It's a matter of getting my knee acclimated to playing at a high speed."
Getting acclimated will be one of key phrases thrown around by Granger and the Pacers for the rest of the season.
The Pacers need Granger just as much as he wants to fit in.
At some point, he'll provide extra scoring punch to a team that remains near the bottom of the league in scoring.
"He has size and his IQ and has the ability to play the game at a high level," Pacers power forward David West said. "Once he gets his timing and rhythm, he's going to make us that much stronger."
It's going to take sacrifices by all the parties involved to make things work, with the goal being to go as deep as possible in the playoffs.
Granger has to realize that, even though he led the Pacers in scoring in each of the past five seasons, the team has changed. All-Star Paul George is the primary scoring threat and West is the backbone of the team.
The Pacers are taking a game-to-game approach in determining how many minutes Granger will play.
"As far as leading the team in scoring, that doesn't matter to me," Granger said. "I've done that. I just want to win. It doesn't matter how I score. David and Paul have been hand in and hand together in leading the team. We started off slow, but David kind of carried us, then Paul carried us up through the All-Star Game. You can't say enough about what they've done."
The Pacers, who have been rock solid with their chemistry over the past month, face the challenge of trying to get Granger up to speed, keeping the chemistry and maintaining their spot as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. A three-game gap separates the second and sixth seed in the East.
"I'm mildly worried," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "I think it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment period. Not much. Certainly when you're playing as well as we're playing right now, you always have concern. It's going to be an easy transition."
Mike Wells writes for the Indianapolis Star
It was a little moment that wouldn't mean much to many, but it carried significant weight for Indiana Pacers swingman Danny Granger.
As his teammates cracked jokes inside the packed locker room at the Palace of Auburn Hills after their fourth straight victory on Saturday, Granger soaked in the moment.
He chimed in with his two cents every now and then, but for the most part, he sat back and enjoyed himself.
"It feels good to be back," he said. "I missed all of this."
Granger will make his home debut Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.
Granger won't save the box score from his first game of the season — 1-of-10 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench against the Detroit Pistons.
It wasn't an ideal shooting performance for anybody, but for Granger it was a matter of getting over the initial nervousness of playing his first meaningful game in nine months.
He knew he would be back at some point this season, but he never knew when that time would come. There were many days he became frustrated with the pain in his left knee.
"It was really hard and I was frustrated with my knee," Granger said in his first extensive interview of the season. "I was constantly playing and having pain and more pain. It's getting better, but you still have your doubt in your mind. On the good side, the team was doing really well. It was frustrating because I wasn't part of the success we had so far.
"I watched all the games and I'd give as much input as I could. But when you're out and not playing and you can't practice, it was kind of depressing."
Granger's knee, in which he got an injection in November, still isn't 100 percent. It's uncertain when it'll be completely healthy. He must get to a point where he's playing and not frequently thinking about the knee every time he makes a hard cut or jumps.
That's easier said than done, considering he thought he would be ready for the start of the regular season. It became obvious he wasn't healthy during the preseason finale in October.
"It's such a process," Granger said. "You go back three weeks when I started practicing, it would get sore, then the next week it was less sore and last week it was less sore. They say it'll eventually go away. We have all the MRIs to back it up. It's a matter of getting my knee acclimated to playing at a high speed."
Getting acclimated will be one of key phrases thrown around by Granger and the Pacers for the rest of the season.
The Pacers need Granger just as much as he wants to fit in.
At some point, he'll provide extra scoring punch to a team that remains near the bottom of the league in scoring.
"He has size and his IQ and has the ability to play the game at a high level," Pacers power forward David West said. "Once he gets his timing and rhythm, he's going to make us that much stronger."
It's going to take sacrifices by all the parties involved to make things work, with the goal being to go as deep as possible in the playoffs.
Granger has to realize that, even though he led the Pacers in scoring in each of the past five seasons, the team has changed. All-Star Paul George is the primary scoring threat and West is the backbone of the team.
The Pacers are taking a game-to-game approach in determining how many minutes Granger will play.
"As far as leading the team in scoring, that doesn't matter to me," Granger said. "I've done that. I just want to win. It doesn't matter how I score. David and Paul have been hand in and hand together in leading the team. We started off slow, but David kind of carried us, then Paul carried us up through the All-Star Game. You can't say enough about what they've done."
The Pacers, who have been rock solid with their chemistry over the past month, face the challenge of trying to get Granger up to speed, keeping the chemistry and maintaining their spot as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. A three-game gap separates the second and sixth seed in the East.
"I'm mildly worried," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "I think it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment period. Not much. Certainly when you're playing as well as we're playing right now, you always have concern. It's going to be an easy transition."
Mike Wells writes for the Indianapolis Star
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