The Pacers Bright Duo

[jarrettjackfan]

Well, as I was watching the Indiana Pacers this past season, they seem to have found their two main players. Who are these guys? Brandon Rush and Danny Granger.

At the start of the season Rush went through a rough start to his NBA career. He just couldn’t seem to find his shot, and once he did every now and then, it would just be one game, then he would lose it again. As the season went on, Rush went through a period where he got benched by coach Jim O’Brien because of the lack of confidence that Rush had even come out and admitted publicly.

While watching on the side-line, it seemed as if Rush had learned something about the NBA when he came back. He still wasn’t having the best season, but then one night it all changed for him.

I turned on the TV, it was the game where the Pacers were in Boston to play the Celtics. From the very start of the game, Rush looked to take shots, and when he did take them they almost always went in. He had that look of confidence, such as dribbling the ball and taking a shot off the dribble, or coming of the Reggie screen for a three or a two pointer.

For the rest of the year after that game, Rush was playing great basketball, scoring in double figures more often than not. It seems as if Rush will be a big part of the Pacers 2009-10 team next season, and it also made Pacers fans much happier about the trade sending Jerryd Bayless to Portland.

Along with Rush this year was another pleasant surprise for Pacers fans. Danny Granger came out and finally laid claim to the title of team leader for the Indiana Pacers. Now, we really haven’t had one that actually came out and took the title since Reggie Miller retired. After he left, it was assumed that Jermaine O’Neal was the leader, although he never really took control like Danny did this year.

Not only did Danny take over by playing great basketball, he came out by actually talking to the media about his goals, and even continued going into the offseason with the closing press conference saying that the Pacers had underachieved, when most people thought that they had played better than expected.

Looking ahead to next year, I’m very excited about those two guys that I’ve mentioned before. They both are coming off great finishes to the season. The only unfortunate part of it is that Rush is probably going to start because Mike Dunleavy is once again going to be out for an extended period of time due to his knee surgery. Once he comes back, the Pacers will be much deeper off the bench, having either Dunleavy or Rush coming off the bench, I think it will be Dunleavy.

We’ll see what happens, but don’t be surprised if these two guys help lead the Pacers to their first playoff appearance in the last three seasons. Let’s go guys! Comments are appreciated.

Also posted at the forum below so that's me if you see it there.

[Dunthreevy]

As long as Brandon carries over his confidence from the tail end of last season, he'll be a stud. He has all the talent needed to be a 20 ppg scorer. He just has to realize that and not get so down on himself when he has an off night, because in his case that off night turns into an off week or even month.