I'm posting this now because I will not be available tomorrow or later tonight.
'sVS
'sGame will be played at Conseco Fieldhouse. Yay! I hear that Pacer tickets are $6 a seat. You dudes in Indiana better be there!!!
Starting Line-ups These are based on what have been previous starting lineups for both teams or what I think will be the lineups. I'm doing this early so I don't know exact lineups.
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As you can see, Baron Davis is considerably bigger and ten times more swole diesel. TJ Ford has been stinking it up this year. I think a lot of us would trade TJ Ford for Baron Davis' beard @ this point. Anyway, Baron has been struggling the last two games connecting on only 4 of his last 22 shots for a total of 14 points (one of those games was against lowly Minnesota). These two games come after a string of 3 straight 20+ point games. He does, however, play better on the road averaging 19.7 and shooting 44% as opposed to the 11.7 and 32% at Staples. Let's hope Baron continues his slump. As for TJ....ah TJ. You owe us a breakout game!
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Al Thornton is coming off a career game against Minny. He exploded for 31 and 10 on 11 of 16 from the field. Given the minutes, Thornton can be a very effective and efficient scorer (he is shooting 49%). He will have a 3 inch height advantage against Dahntay. This can possibly set up a plethora of hilarious "pulling the chair" techniques that Dahntay attempts at least 28 times a game. Or, Jones can refer to his post-defense flop that almost never works. Either way, not good for Indiana. Thornton might be in trouble as well as Jones has proved that he can be a potent offensive weapon. He is averaging almost 18 on 48% shooting. Also, is it me, or does Dahntay lead the league in and-ones? Ultimately, I'm looking for Thornton to ride the momentum of his latest performances to outperform Jones. I don't want it to happen, but that's just my prediction.
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Rasual Butler is a hit or miss type of guy. He can score 25 one game and come out with 6 the next. Reason being--dude shoots a lot of three balls. With Granger and Rush guarding him, I don't see him doing much this game. Speaking of Granger, He hasn't been shooting well the last two games (not counting game @ Raptors because I'm typing this before the game). I reckon he has only hit 13 field goals since his monstrous first half against New York. That needs to change. Get aggressive Granger!
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Kaman is the league leader in points for Centers. He's a pretty good shooter than can hit you with a post move or a jumper. He's also an aggressive rebounder. I think this matchup will be pretty damn awesome if it happens. Murph is still coming back from his back injury, and from the looks of it he hasn't recovered 100%. Most of his misses are falling short...signaling that his back isn't where it's supposed to be. I'm giving this matchup to Kaman.
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Rooooy Hibbert. I think Roy Hibbert is going to get stopped. Camby is too long and from what I've seen, Hibbert struggles against big centers. He struggled mightily when Haywood guarded him, and didn't do much against Garnett and Wallace length. Although Camby's rebound numbers have gone down, I see him taking this matchup.
Relevant Reserves:
I read dunleavy was coming back Wednesday, therefore, i will add him to our reserves.
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The rest of their bench sucks.
Bench match-up goes to the Pacers. I like Craig Smith for the Clippers, but that's about it. I think if he has a good game coming off the bench then the Pacers will have big problems.
Other important Match-ups!
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Classic father vs son battle. Too bad it is spoiled by Coach Dunleavy being a crappy coach and son dunleavy being hurt. Draw.
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Clippers broadcast crew Michael Smith and Ralph Lawler were recently suspended a game for comments made about Iranian player Hamed Haddadi.
"I guess those Iranians can pass the ball." -clippers broadcast.
Whether that warrants suspension is not up to me, but Buckner and Denari take this one. Plus, we have Stacy Paetz!
Also!!
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Now, one can assume with the ungodly amount of sexy women in LA, that the Clippers Spirit Team would be better than the Pacemates.....
but I would argue that we are all winners. I call it a tie. Hooray for the invention of cheer-leading and mini-skirts!
Moving on....Inactive or Injured list oh no
OH YES!
Indiana Pacers Inactive :
Travis Diener-Out with athletes foot. Or blue balls.
Josh McRoberts-Out due to lack of basketball skills.
Clippers Injury Status:
Blake Griffin-He's hurting by a lot.
Kareem Rush
Eric Gordon-Too bad he's hurt. He's on 2 of my fantasy teams. He's good.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Although the individual match-ups seem to favor the Clippers (IMO) I think the Pacers are better team wise. We've got to get Danny Granger going. He's been shooting like Jacque Vaughn the past few games. Let's just hope he doesn't go 0-27 like Vaughn did!
The Pacers also need to gel better now that Foster, Murph, and possibly Dunleavy are back from injury. The transition period will be tough, but if we can stay near .500 that'd be awesome.
GO PACERS!
Tradition!
This is where I post pics of chicks, right?
Did I do it right?
