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Starting Lineups


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Gilbert Arenas is back in full force with 27.6 PPG and 5.6 APG. TJ Ford began to look like his old self by hitting some solid jumpers in the 4th against the Knicks. However, he needs to start making consistent decisions throughout the whole game because good distribution and good penetration have been sorely missing in the Pacers' losses. TJ needs to clamp down on Gilbert and stop the hemorrhaging early, since Gilbert is basically guaranteed to destroy our defense, unless Earl Watson plays a lot of minutes, which he will.

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Rush and Foye have differing skillsets but both share youth. Foye doesn't need to score as much with Arenas and Butler on the team, but he definitely is able to. Rush has yet to shoot over 40% in a game since the season opener and is struggling to find his shot. He needs to be more confident and shoot in rhythm instead of hesitating while going up. On the sad plus side, he is leading the starters in assists at 2.3 a game.

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Dahntay Jones has scoring greatly for the team, which is not what he's here for, but is a welcome surprise and contributed to our one victory on Knicks. Caron Butler is already a great scorer, but is scoring one and a half less per game that Dahntay. This game Dahntay needs to keep Butler's scoring in check while continuing to take advantages of teams underestimating his offensive ability.

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Danny Granger might be better than Oberto. He also has a heel bruise that is causing all of his attempts to fall consistently short, resulting in .403 from the field.

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Roy Hibbert is a great young center, earning two straight double-doubles, basically wiping away any doubt that he can stay on the court for long. He has faced talented centers thus far, and Brendan Haywood is just another. Roy needs to keep staying out of foul trouble, and defend the paint. Both centers are averaging similar numbers, but this game will be another test for Hibbert to hang with the other big boys in the East.

The Key Reserves



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With Murphy and Foster out, the Pacers have been blindsided by the injury bug yet again. This game, however, Tyler Hansbrough might make his long-awaited NBA debut, albeit on limited minutes. Many people are eager to see what he can do for the team. Earl Watson has been key coming off the bench and spelling a struggling TJ Ford.

The Coaches



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With a focus on defense, Jim O'Brien has set the bar high for the Pacers this season. Flip Saunders is a proven winner, and the Wizards are off to a decent start. O'Brien needs to fix the offensive scheme from drive-kick-out-drive-kick-out to something more like score-score-score.

Injury Report



Pacers
Mike Dunleavy: Out (Knee)
Travis Diener: Game-time decision (Toe)
Tyler Hansbrough: Day-to-day (Shin)
Jeff Foster: Out (Ankle)
Troy Murphy: Out (Back)

Wizards
Javaris Crittenton - Out (Foot)
Antawn Jamison - Out (Shoulder)
Mike Miller - Out (Shoulder)

Final Points



-Clamp down early and keep the defense up for 48 minutes
-Play like a team on offense
-Close out the game if it's close. We're at home.

Tradition









BEAT THE WHIZARDS!

came to check if murphys playing, but had to say, great thread

Should be an interesting one. I'm a little fearful with our rotation being stretched with so many injuries, and a rejuvenated Wizards playing quite well. It's evened up fairly well by the absence of Miller and Jamison though.

Still, we're at home and need to get the ball rolling. Let's go Pacers!!

Decent start for Roy. Shame about the rest of the offense so far. But hey, we have the lead at least.

Being able to get to the line was huge that 1st quarter. Without the free throw differential we'd probably be trailing right now.

I'm impressed that we're staying on top in rebounding. Without Murphy or Foster it's quite surprising.

Nice to see Tyler finally get going.

We're doing very well in all the areas we've struggled in...turnovers, fouling, getting to the line.

And defense. Looks like we might actually keep a team under 100 for once.

Anyone else having trouble getting audio league pass working so far this season?

Also, c'mon Big Roy!

Hibbert is looking great let's hope he can keep it up! I thought Dantay and Watson were suppose to be defensive guys but they look good on offense too! I'm not really happy with TJ so far, though he's looking good tonight.

So much for Hansbro not getting to the line much in the pros.

So much for Hansbrough being useless in the pros. He's facing athletic bigs in Haywood and Blatche, but he's getting it done.

Miller4ever wrote:So much for Hansbrough being useless in the pros. He's facing athletic bigs in Haywood and Blatche, but he's getting it done.

Indeed. Assuming he doesn't come back, very nice 14min debut.

TJ Ford with the double-double. Hansbrough looking solid too.

Nice win for the Pacers. Looks like they're starting to play some better basketball.

nice win tonight. Hansborough taking 10 free throws is a good sign, but I did not get to see the game, so what happened with Brandon Rush? Did he just get benched because he has been playing poorly?

Ankle twist. He was doing a good job on defense, but his shooting was still subpar. Not bench-worthy though.

We really need Psycho T to give us games like this and then get T-Murda back! Hibbert played will too!

Miller4ever wrote:Ankle twist. He was doing a good job on defense, but his shooting was still subpar. Not bench-worthy though.

k thanks, yea I had thought benching would be extreme. hope his ankle is fine

Wow, print those playoff tickets.

Nice to see TJ have such a nice game, abusing Gilbert Arenas yet. Roy having another solid game against a very good defensive big, makes me wonder just how good he could be this year. Watching Hansbrough its hard to believe he won't be a solid player in this league. More importantly what better player could a soft team add from this draft.

Hopefully this isn't a case of putting it to a really bad team.

Has Hibbert looked as good as his numbers do?

I was pretty happy when Toronto drafted him only to see him get traded in the JO deal.