Tag: Indiana Pacers (Page 5 of 6)

Tip Time

October 29, 2013 / DB

It’s time. The Pacers kick off their regular season and KU plays their first exhibition game tonight. Two teams with huge expectations begin their journeys to hopefully joyful spring endings.

More about the Jayhawks next week, when their real season begins.

For now, the focus is on the Pacers.

I heard one national radio blowhard¹ say he expected the Pacers to, far and away, have the best regular season record in the league this year. He thought they would be closer to 60 wins than 50. Which seems a little nutty to me. Sure, they made some strong moves to strengthen their anemic bench, you have to figure all the young cats will improve at least a little, and the experience of pushing Miami to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals will help make the Pacers stronger than their streaky 2012-13 regular season version. In theory.

I want to believe. But I’m not sure I can see them as a team that threatens the 60-win plateau.

For starters, Derrick Rose is healthy, making Chicago arguably a more complete team than Indiana. The Bulls are a sexy pick to get out of the East. Brooklyn is stronger than a year ago. Strong enough to pass the Pacers? That I don’t know, but still it’s another top four team that will challenge the Pacers for wins in the regular season.

While all the bench moves appear to be good, you never know how players will adjust to new systems and different roles. Chris Copeland, Luis Scola, and C.J. Watson should be big improvements over Tyler Hansbrough, Gerald Green, and D.J. Augustin. But how many more wins that translates to is uncertain.

Everyone expects Danny Granger to provide some kind of boost to the team after missing almost all of last season with a variety of leg injuries. Some do worry, though, that the former gunner and unquestioned #1 option will have a hard time fitting into a rotation where Paul George is clearly the top dog, Lance Stephenson has earned starting minutes, and David West and Roy Hibbert demand touches as well. Even if Granger comes off the bench, will that sit well with him?

Like clockwork, all those questions were put on pause last week when Granger tweaked his calf. He will now miss the first three weeks of the season. It seems more likely that the question about Granger this year will be how often, if at all, can he play and how many minutes will he be good for when he can get on the court.

And, as much as I love Paul George’s game, is he really ready to ascend to superstar status? He played wonderfully in parts of the Miami series last June. But he also cratered in some big moments. Has he rounded out his game where he can be good for 25 every night, and 30 or more each time the Pacers need it as the Thunder can count on from Kevin Durant or the Heat from LeBron?

There are also questions at the point. I love local guy George Hill, but is he really the guy best suited to run the point for a title contender? And will Roy Hibbert be able to repeat his awesome performance from the Heat series? Can West keep age at bay for another year? Can Stephenson keep his head on straight and continue to improve without stepping on the toes of his teammates?

The Pacers had to work hard to win 49 games last year, and harder still to get by a decent but not great Knicks team in the second round of the playoffs. I think the truth of this year’s squad is closer to that than how they played against Miami in the conference finals. They are certainly a contender, perhaps the best suited in the East to knock off Miami because of their size and experience. But I see them as a very good, but not great, team.

The more I think about them, the more I think they’re a team more built for the post-season than the regular season. There will be struggles between now and April. I think 50-52 wins is the most likely regular season outcome. But it won’t be until the playoffs begin that we see the best of the Pacers. That is when we’ll see if the money spent building the bench, the work George and Hill and Stephenson and West and Hibbert did in the off-season is enough to get four wins against New York or Brooklyn or Chicago, and then four more against Miami.

The only sure thing about the franchise is that it is back after the dark, post-brawl years. They are fun and interesting to watch again. They matter when ranking the top teams in the league. They have one of the brightest young players in the game. Which means that on the nights when I’m not out covering a high school game, or when KU isn’t playing, I will look forward to there being a Pacers game scheduled so I can watch them develop.

Colin Cowherd ↩

Sports Notes

July 9, 2013 / DB

The promised thoughts on a few of the biggest sports news of the holiday week.

Brad Stevens to the Boston Celtics.

I was walking into a local brewery to fill growlers for the weekend last Wednesday when I got a text asking what I thought about the move. My first response was “Holy shit!” There were no rumbles here in Indy that Stevens was interested in, or talking to someone about, an NBA job. Since his rise a few years ago, he’s turned down Oregon, Missouri, and most notably UCLA, who he actually had contract discussions with. It seemed like he was happy sticking at Butler until either the Indiana job opened up one day, or until he was ready to retire. After all, at only 36 he could bide his time until Tom Crean moved on from Bloomington and still have a nice, long career as the Hoosiers coach even if it doesn’t happen for another ten years.

But after the shock wore off and I thought about it more,, the more taking an NBA job made sense. The rumor has always been that Stevens doesn’t like the recruiting side of college basketball. That may well be true, but if/when he did chose to take a BCS-level job, that task would become much easier than it is at Butler, where he still has to wait for IU, Purdue, Ohio State, Louisville, Michigan State, and Michigan to pick through the top local talent each year. But maybe there’s more truth to it than I originally thought.

And as many have noted, his analytic interests are more in line with the direction the NBA is moving. I’m not expert on the advanced statistics that several organizations are using, but it seems like there is more opportunity to implement that coaching/team building style at the professional level than in college, due both to the longer season and the ability to build a roster that will stay together for an extended run.

There’s also a big difference in what coaches do at each level. You run the whole thing in college, from recruiting to teaching to managing a roster full of late teenagers/early 20-somethings. In the NBA, you may still play an integral role in building the roster in the off-season, but much more of your efforts are spent installing plays, scouting, building game plans, and then managing the game. I think Stevens views the NBA as a series of riddles that can be cracked with the proper amount of study and preparation and attention to detail. The NBA game fits how his mind works and where his interests are better than the college game. Or at least he views it as more of a challenge, I think. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be super successful, or never coach in college again. But it does, perhaps, explain why he politely turned down every program that has offered him a job since he took Butler to its first title game appearance in 2010.

I love the enthusiasm of a few KU fans who pointed out how this could work out perfectly for KU. Stevens goes to Boston, tries to build a winner, but fails. Gregg Popovich retires in San Antonio while Stevens is in Boston. Bill Self’s buddy RC Burford, the GM in San Antonio, hires Self to replace Pop. Stevens is fired by the Celtics just as KU needs a new coach. I give those folks credit for thinking waaaaay ahead.

Pacers Summer Moves

Since we’re talking NBA, a quick look at the moves the Indiana Pacers have made so far. They entered the off-season needing to re-sign David West and strengthen their bench, which was pretty putrid last year. They got the D-West deal done quickly, which was the most important thing.

The bench will get an automatic lift if Danny Granger is healthy next year. Granger will either be a super-sub and give the bench a starter-level talent, or Lance Stephenson will move back to the second unit and boost them after his terrific 2012-13 season. I think having Granger on the bench is the best way to ensure Paul George takes the next step to superstar next year, but either option makes the bench better.

Last week the Pacers shored up the backup point guard position by signing CJ Watson. He’s not great, but he should be an improvement over DJ Augustin. Then they snatched Chris Copeland away from the Knicks. Copeland killed the Pacers in a couple games of their playoff series with the Knicks. If he can keep shooting the way he did last year, over 45% from three-point range, it’s a good signing. But I always worry about guys with a lot of size who become perimeter focused. Then again, the Pacers had no bench shooting last year, so it’s a risk they had to take.

Finally, they rescinded their qualifying offer to Tyler Hansbrough. Psycho-T plays hard, and still surprises me by having some decent moments. But for the most part he’s overmatched and hurts the team more than he helps. Last year’s #1 pick Miles Plumlee should slide into Hansbrough’s spot. I don’t expect much from Plumlee, but he’s taller and a better athlete. So perhaps he can fill those minutes more effectively than Psycho did.

All-in-all, nothing dramatic but pretty solid moves by the Pacers. They kept the starting unit intact by re-signing West, have added some bench depth, and should get a lift if Granger can get healthy. Is it enough to win game seven in Miami? Hopefully we’ll find out next June.

KC All-Stars

Finally, kudos to Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez for making the American League All-Star team. I know I was shocked when I saw two Royals position players were selected. Gordon absolutely deserves it, despite tailing off a bit in June. Sal is a little more debatable, but it’s not a complete travesty he made it or anything.

With under a week until the All-Star break, the Royals are sitting at two games under .500, only six games out of first place. I think making a run at Detroit is silly to hope for. But maybe staying in shouting distance of .500 isn’t that crazy to wish for. I’m checking scores more than I was three weeks ago. If they can keep it together this week and not lose four of six or something like that, I may have to start watching games again after the break.

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Coming Up Short

June 4, 2013 / DB

I guess the Heat responded Monday night. They played like the team they were all regular season, like the team they were constructed to be, and after a sloppy first quarter, methodically took control and blew the Pacers out.

Before the game, I told my buddy E-bro in ATX that logic dictated the Heat would win. The odds were far greater that LeBron either had a huge game plus help from his supporting cast, or just a really solid game and big contributions from his teammates, than Paul George going off and getting big lifts from the people around him. It didn’t take some great basketball IQ to make that prediction, but it turned out to be absolutely the case.

LeBron was magnificent, as he was during most of the series. Ray Allen hit some big shots during the Heat’s early run that put the game away. Chris Anderson brought his energy and changed the board battle in his return from suspension. Chris Bosh actually showed up on both ends of the court. And, amazingly, Dwyane Wade looked good for the first time in ages. Put all that together and the Pacers would have needed a perfect game to steal game seven away.

They somehow had the lead after an ugly first quarter. But the moment Miami ratcheted their defense up further and began hitting shots in the second quarter, the Pacers wilted and were done. Paul George wasn’t hitting, and neither was anyone else. For the first time all series Miami was controlling Roy Hibbert in the paint. Hyper Lance Stephenson showed up. And the turnover prone Pacers were extra sloppy with the ball. Miami played great but Indiana did themselves no favors all night.

There were two difference in the series. LeBron is unmatchable as an individual talent. When he’s on, he’s unstoppable. Paul George is fantastic, but still young and disappeared for stretches. LBJ will never fade.

The benches of each team are drastically different, too. The Heat are made up of highly accomplished specialists. Allen and Mike Miller are two of the best deep shooters in recent memory. Anderson is as good an energy and board crasher as you will find in the NBA. Norris Cole is a backup guard they absolutely trust in any situation. The Pacers, on the other hand, are a bunch of young guys looking to find their niche. Some nights they find it. But Tyler Hansbrough, DJ Augustin, Sam Young, Ian Mahinmi, etc. are no where near the class of the Heat’s role players.

And that brought a great series to an end. As a fan, whether interested in the outcome or not, you always feel a little cheated when a tight series comes down to a game seven and it’s decided before halftime. You want to suck every last ounce of drama from the teams. Win or lose, you want to talk about the series 20, 30 years down the road and say, “Man, do you remember that war between the Pacers and Heat back in ’13? That was some great basketball.” This will still be remembered as a great series. But the fizzle of an end takes away from its historical value.

I don’t feel like the TNT crew talked enough about how the Pacers were clearly constructed to give the Heat fits. In fact, I didn’t hear much national talk about that. Sure, we kept hearing about how the Pacers were huge inside and presented match up issues for the Heat. But I didn’t hear much credit-giving to the Pacers front office who clearly assembled their package of players with that exact goal in mind. It might be tough to get through the regular season. But come a seven game series with the Heat in May/June, the Pacers would be as well-equipped as any team to deal with them. Don’t forget, when you throw in the regular season results, the Pacers and Heat split ten games evenly. I don’t think another team in the NBA could have matched that.

A few big decisions ahead for the Pacers. Do they resign David West, who was as important as any player in their success but getting older. If he takes another two-year offer, I say yes. Beyond that, resigning him gets worrisome. What do you do with Danny Granger? He’s owed about $15 million in the final year of his contract, but hasn’t been healthy the last two years. With George’s ascent, Granger is clearly not the #1 option anymore. Do you keep him for a year and hope he can stay on the court and create room for PG to do his thing, then get the cap space next summer? Do you move him in hopes of getting another piece or two for the rotation, or to clear that cap space now and grab a free agent this summer? Finally, what is the future of Lance Stephenson? Do they really trust him to keep his head together and continue to improve and be a starter? Or is he a piece you sell high on and let someone worry about managing his risk?

Worst commercial, but far, of the playoffs is that commercial for, well I’m not even sure what it’s for. But it’s the one where the dad transforms into Kevin Durant overnight after watching too much hoops. While his son calls him out, mom fingers her wedding room and says, “Go play. Mommy’s got some things for Daddy to do.” Sure, moments later he’s changing light bulbs or cleaning gutters. But the implication is that he’s cleaning something else entirely. Creepy, weird, and in poor taste.

Finally, during last night’s game I was thinking about the difference between the NCAA Tournament and the NBA Playoffs. If your team loses, which is harder to take? KU fans will think for years about the 50 things that could have changed the outcome of the Michigan game and what happens beyond that if KU wins. Pacers fans will do the same with this series, but needing to win four games out of seven seems to change the pain of losing. NBA series have a more epic feel to them. There are chances to ebb and flow. React and counter-react. Pauses between games to recharge and rethink. An NCAA game is one night, one shot to win.

Your center has the flu and can’t play? Tough. Your point guard twists an ankle but is fine two days later? Too bad. Winning an NBA series is clearly harder but also less prone to flukey results. That doesn’t mean they aren’t filled with controversial endings, moments for goats and heroes, or the losers are filled with regret after. But at least you have a shot to correct and overcome bad moments in the NBA. The pain of losing in March is much worse than losing in the NBA Playoffs.

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Big Day

May 30, 2013 / DB

So I drafted this earlier today, before the news that the Royals have replaced their hitting coaches with George Brett and Pedro Grifo. So I guess something did happen. Whether that’s big news or not is another story.

It feels like a big day for sports.

Tonight, the Pacers take on the Heat in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. With the series tied 2-2. Huge game. The Pacers have to win a game in Miami to snatch the series away, but I don’t think that happens tonight. After LeBron “fouled out” at the end of game four, I sent my buddy E-bro a message saying LBJ would go for 47-20-12 tonight. You don’t piss off the King. He’s not letting them lose tonight.

I still maintain this is the Heat’s series. But three games have gone down to the final minute and the Pacers could easily be up 3-1 right now. Or down 3-1. Or swept, since Miami won the lone blowout of the series. The Pacers are right there in it. Their size gives Miami fits, their bench hasn’t matched Miami’s but has provided some nice lifts in key moments. Lance Stephenson has had two big games. Roy Hibbert has been an absolute man in all four games. Paul George, though, has faded after two stellar games to begin the series and must to find his legs if the Pacers want to extend/win the series.

Less important is the game in St. Louis between the Cardinals and Royals. The Cardinals are on fire and the Royals, losers of nine straight and 13 of 16, are turning this into another disastrous campaign. Adding insult to injury is last week’s Sports Illustrated cover story on the Cardinals, which pointed out how they’re over a decade into a cycle of being almost perfect with personnel decisions. They’ve pulled off the very difficult feat of being very good on the field, winning two World Series and losing another, and putting together an outstanding minor league system. The Royals can’t even manage to do the second part right, with the most recent crop of phenoms all dropping into the Bust column.

It feels like a big game because, between the losing and some dumb media comments by members of the organization and growing anger in the fan base, this could be the point when something will happen with manager Ned Yost. I doubt owner David Glass will dump General Manager Dayton Moore mid-season, especially with the draft around the corner. But the moment seems ripe for making a change in the clubhouse.

Not that firing Ned will make a difference. I don’t think he’s a good manager, but this mess isn’t entirely his fault. Removing him isn’t going to turn this team into a squad that plays .600 baseball for six weeks and gets back in the race.

It’s another lost year in Kansas City, which is a freaking shame. True die-hard fans¹ have waited patiently for far too long for the franchise to get its act together. The organization has sold promise since Moore’s arrival, and the delivery on that promise was supposed to have begun by now. Instead, it looks more-and-more like the prime of the players who have panned out, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler in particular, will be wasted as the organization goes through another cycle of rebuilding from the front office down. Meanwhile a dynasty is budding across the state and there’s really no compelling reason for kids from the western half of Missouri and across Kansas to not choose the Cards over the Royals.

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I freely admit that does not include me. Although I’ve followed them closely again for nearly a decade now, I did abandon them through most of the 90s. ↩

Ain’t That America

May 28, 2013 / DB

We spent the long holiday weekend as most Indiana residents who don’t go to the Speedway did: sitting near a body of water, listening to the Indy 500 on the radio¹ while drinking beer with friends and waiting for some food that was slowly roasting on the grill to be ready. The weather was not ideal; it was unseasonably cool Saturday, overcast most of Sunday, and didn’t warm up until Monday afternoon. So there was no swimming or floating. But it was warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, light a fire early in the afternoon, and enjoy the pleasantness, knowing the oppressiveness of the Midwestern summer isn’t too far off.

And you can cast a line into the water, which we did. Each of the girls caught fish, and M. caught two. L. got her first-ever fish while M. and C. had each caught one last summer. Hell, I even caught a fish, only the third of my life and first since 1981 if I remember correctly. Lest any of my old-school friends think I’ve become some kind of outdoorsman, the girls only fish when we have an expert around to help them get their gear in proper shape and then can help when they land a fish. I’m cool with getting bait on the hook, helping to cast, reeling the catch in, etc. But I don’t know how to tie a knot, attach sinkers and bobbers in the proper way, or how to get a hook out of a fish. I suppose I should learn so the girls can always fish even if one of our resident experts isn’t around.

We all caught bluegill, which are plentiful and breeding right now. L. caught a pretty solid looking one which shot its fins out in defiance when I pulled him in. “He’s an angry one, L.!” I told her. Turned out he damn near swallowed the hook, and we had some issues getting him unhooked. When we tossed him back, he just floated for awhile. L.’s a smart kid and despite our attempts to deflect her attention, she decided that Jake II² was dead. Moments later, he either shook it off, popped up, and swam away, or something bigger from the deeper water came up and claimed him. I just heard a splash and thought I saw the shadow of something bigger swimming away. But if I insisted that was true, I’d start to sound like a real fisherman, wouldn’t I?

When she was telling S. about her first catch later, L. kept it simple. “He was big and he was angry. He was bleeding and then he died.”

Well ok then.

I’d love to add that I was super-pumped about the Pacers after their big Game 2 win in the Eastern Conference Finals and spent Sunday evening in rapt attention in front of the TV, but that would only be partially correct. I was indeed pumped after the Pacers stole Game 2 Thursday. But I knew one win didn’t change the math and it was still LeBron’s series. And our get-away spot has no TV, so I couldn’t watch if I wanted to. I did sit by the fire and keep track of the score on my iPhone. But since Miami seemed in control the entire night, I only did that occasionally.

Anyway, that was the bulk of our Memorial Day weekend. We hung with friends, wished for warmer weather, but had a good time all around anyway. It’s the first weekend of what we hope is a great summer.

And now L. and I get four days of limbo. She ended school last week, but M. and C. had four more days of school: three scheduled and one to make up the first day after Spring Break when we were digging out of the biggest snowstorm of the year.

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Annual reminder to folks not from Indiana: the race is not on live TV in the Hoosier state. So to follow the race live you can either attend it or listen on the radio. Fortunately roughly 75% of the radio stations in Indiana carry the race, so it’s easy to tune-in. ↩
The girls were all naming the fish they caught after their Bettas at home. ↩

Double Pisser

May 23, 2013 / DB

Wednesday was a great sports night. And an awful one.

I spent most of the night covering a tremendous high school baseball playoff game.¹ I got home in time to catch the last out of the Royals’ dismal loss to Houston. Losing two of three to the worst team in baseball is not cool. At all. Especially when they blew another great start by James Shields. The next two weeks will likely determine the Royals’ fate this season. Their next 11 games are against the surging Angels, the red hot Cardinals, and the very good Rangers. They can’t do any worse than 5-6 in that stretch if they have real hopes of contending this season. It won’t matter whether Danny Duffy and Felix Paulino come back strong in July, or if the ice cold bats of half the team finally wake up if they’re 10 games back of the Tigers a week into June. I’m not optimistic and think it’s going to be an ugly summer in KC as the heat on Ned Yost and Dayton Moore gets cranked up.

After the Royals last out, I flipped over to the game one of the Pacers-Heat game. We had been casually following the score in the press box at my game, and I checked it several times on the way home. Each time the Pacers somehow had a 2-4 point lead. Miami finally got a little cushion right about the time I turned it on, but the Pacers made one more run, keyed by that ridiculous Paul George three that tied the game at the end of the fourth quarter.²

The Pacers had the game won at least twice in overtime, and managed to blow it each time. As crushing as the loss was – between a couple bad decisions by players, some awful turnovers in key situations, a key hustle play by Miami where the Pacers stood around and watched, and Frank Vogel choking on a two major coaching decisions – I don’t think the Pacers had a chance to beat the Heat four times in seven games. But this was a classic setup to steal game one on the road and change the complexion of the series.

Miami still has LeBron, though, who can do things no other human can do on the basketball court. It doesn’t matter that Paul George is turning into a top-tier star,³ that Roy Hibbert is living up to his contract, and the Pacers’ bench is performing well. Whatever they do, LeBron will always have a counter. His ascension to the top is complete. He may not yet have, or ever get, Jordan’s six rings. But he’s in the same place relative to the rest of the league that Jordan was at his peak. Between his skills and his will, he will always find a way to win.

Dumb loss. Multiple members of the Pacers had major mental vapor locks late. But this isn’t their series. It’s LeBron’s world and we’re all just living in it.

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More about that in my next Reporter’s Notebook entry. ↩
In my KU-heavy Twitter feed, there were plenty of references to Trey Burke’s ridiculous tying shot in Dallas in March. Coincidentally that was the last time I sat in my basement until nearly midnight watching hoops. ↩
Dude has to learn how to handle the ball better, though, if he wants to be elite. ↩

A Night At The Arena

February 6, 2013 / DB

We were invited to attend Monday’s Indiana Pacers – Chicago Bulls game by friends. They got tickets from a business associate that had messed up an important transaction at an especially inopportune time. Thus, we enjoyed a fine NBA game from the comfort of row six behind the Pacers bench. Row one is the seats that are on the court, equally close to the action as the bench. Rows two and three are actually the aisle behind the bench. Which makes row six just three rows off the floor. These were great seats.

As I said, it was a fine game recalling the good-old days of the NBA when teams routinely scored over 100 points. The Pacers were up 60-54 at halftime. They won 111-101. The Pacers rarely score that much, and the Bulls being one of the best defensive teams in the NBA made it even more unlikely. It was a good night to go.

We were directly behind the Pacers bench, so I spent a lot of the game geeking out. I stared down the coaches trying to hear their comments. I watched the players on the bench and how they interacted. During timeouts I paid attention to who was wandering around, staring into space (Gerald Green), who was encouraging the guys on the court and sitting next to the coaches (Jeff Pendergraph) and who was grinding his teeth, veins popping out, face turning red after his shitty turn on the court (Tyler Hansbrough).

When the action was in front of us, I tried to not just watch the ball, but pick out a part of the court, or a specific player, and keep my eyes there for the entire play. The amount of motion, the physical contact, the speed on even a routine play is ridiculous. There was 7’2″ Roy Hibbert wrestling with the bull-like Carlos Boozer in the post. There was 5’9″ Nate Robinson ducking into traffic, getting lost, and spinning out to space to get a shot off. There was Marco Belinelli using his Euro game to get free and drill jumpers. There was the ferocity of Lance Stevenson, a freakish player who is just now learning how to harness his physical abilities within a team concept. There was the grizzled veteran David West working his ass off on every play, always doing the fundamentally correct thing. And there was the budding superstar Paul George flicking between-his-legs, across-the-lane passes in traffic, throwing down a reverse alley-oop, and hitting a huge three late to snuff the final Bulls rally.

Man, it was fun to watch. It’s cliche to say that games of any kind are incredibly different on TV than up close and in person. But it’s also absolutely true. The speed and size of these plays isn’t something your brain can properly process on a TV screen. I’m not a huge fan of the NBA. But seeing these guys up close is a reminder than in a sports world filled with fantastic athletes, NBA players are probably the apex of that select group.

Some stray observations from court side.

The Bulls were missing a couple key players, and they were players I would have loved to have seen. Former KU great Kirk Hinrich is out with an elbow injury. I didn’t see him behind the Bulls bench. The always-entertaining Joakim Noah was also out, and wearing some funky clothes. During timeouts he would wander out and work the refs. It seems the NBA did not approve of his outfit.
It was interesting to watch the third, off-mic, man for the Pacers radio team. He spent most of the game monitoring Twitter and reading NBA news sites on his iPad. I think I could handle his job.
We could almost hear conversations on the court. It was tantalizing to hear a player or coach yelling at a referee but not hear the reply. Or watch a player explaining a previous play to coach Frank Vogel as he checked out. We could hear players calling out defensive switches, though, which probably only interested me.
There were no local celebrities in our section. There was a woman we thought might be a player’s significant other. But she was just a normal nice looking woman with a baby, not a super model or anything. On our way out Clark Kellogg was sitting a few rows behind us chatting up some folks. I don’t know if the club VP and CBS announcer was sitting that close to us the entire game, or if he just came down after it went final.
We debated what the grossest thing players did with their mouthpieces was. The Pacers had a plastic box at the scorer’s table with individual cases for each mouthpiece. I assume they were labeled, but there’s always the chance you pick up the wrong one. We noticed a couple Bulls just tucking them into their compression shorts when they came out of the game. I think that second one is the winner for grossest.

So it was a really fun night. The Pacers are surprisingly good this year. The win put them back into a tie for first with the Bulls and came on the heels of their beatdown of the Miami Heat last Friday. And this has all been done without Danny Granger, who is expected back from an injury around the All-Star break. It will be interesting to see how he fits in now that Paul George has clearly become the team’s alpha dog.

I don’t know that the city is completely in love with the team again, but most nights they have nice crowds and the team hasn’t lost a home game since mid-December. They’re not good enough to win a playoff series against Miami, but they’ve finally emerged from the post-brawl funk where they were always in the 7-8-9-10 range in the Eastern Conference.

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Whatever It Takes

February 20, 2012 / DB

There was a common theme to the basketball games I cared about over the weekend. Friday the team I covered won their game by 35 points. In an amazing comeback over the past three weeks, my teams are now up to a +7 TMF. I get to cover the #2 team in class 2A this week, so hopefully that improves some more.

Saturday KU won by 33.

And Sunday, in the first NBA game I’ve attended since 2003 (I think), the Pacers waxed Charlotte by 35.

I sense a common thread.

The Pacers game was fun. They kicked it off with a 21-2 spurt. Charlotte scored 10-straight points but after that, it was over. Charlotte is not a good team, but they really seemed to quit at a couple points in the game. The old man in me wants to say, “Play for pride. You’re making too much money to mail it in like this.” The realist in me sees a team that sucks playing a Sunday night road game and has some understanding for why they were just trying to get off the court as quickly as possible.

I’ve been watching at least parts of Pacers games this year. They’re pretty young, full of (seemingly) good guys, and tend to play hard every night. Danny Granger is a third-tier NBA star. Paul George is a budding star who can be brilliant at times. Roy Hibbert is awkward and limited and likable.

But I most enjoy watching 12-year veteran David West. He still has some game, but relies mostly on old-man moves these days. He’s the perfect crafty veteran to lead this team of youngsters. In 22 minutes Sunday, he went for 14 points on 7-10 shooting, eight boards, three assists, three blocks. It’s fun to spend a few minutes just watching him. Focus on him working away from the ball, getting into the perfect help-defense positions, sneaking in for rebounds from the weak side. He’s a craftsman.

No real fun stories from the game. We were sitting in the upper deck, which felt a long way away after sitting in high school gyms most of the time. But it was still a good view. Banker’s Life Fieldhouse is a fine place to watch a game. We did see some scalpers screaming at each other before the game. One threatened to shoot the other, but pointed out that he wasn’t worth the bullet. That’s a fun conversation to walk through, believe me.

Official attendance was 11,600. I’m not sure it was quite that high. With the remake of the roster and them playing more competitive ball, the city is slowly re-embracing the franchise. But a Sunday night game against a bad opponent doesn’t fill the seats. While not in as bad of shape as New Orleans, this is still not a healthy franchise. It would be great if George, or some future draft pick, turned into a franchise cornerstone along the lines of Reggie Miller and the team could again be beloved and safe in Indy, rather than a prime prospect to end up in Seattle or Kansas City.

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Some Notes

November 22, 2010 / DB

It’s hoops season, bitches.

One more week of half-assed posting while I write my “novel.” 40,000 words down; 10,000 to go.

I hit a couple games in the county girls tournament last week. One was a blowout, as expected. It was 10-0 after a minute and never got closer. The other looked like a great match-up on paper. It was a dud. Both teams played like ass. The team that won has a lot of talent, but just play ugly. Their best player, who is a D1 recruit, fouls all the time. They have a couple good guards, another player who is above average at four spots on the court, and a couple shooters. But for some reason they can not run an attractive offense and are forced to win ugly. They ended up winning the tournament in another ugly game. I cover them again this week, and they play a team that was very good last year but lost a ton of talent. I feel an ugly loss coming on.

Speaking of Brandon Rush, I’ve actually watched a few minutes of Pacers basketball this year. It’s still hard to watch them, but the Darren Collison acquisition last summer was the first reasonable move they’ve made in years. It’s not enough to make them good, but at least it’s generated a little interest. My man Brandon got the year started off right with a five game suspension, earned for flunking a drug test three times. THREE TIMES. No one ever accused Brandon of being the smartest guy in the world, but once you get caught twice, don’t you put the weed down until the off-season? Not the best way to start off your make-or-break year in the league. Fortunately, he’s come out playing solid ball so far, and the Pacers even picked up his option for next year. I still contend he should focus on being a lock-down defender who can hit the open three. I just think he’s miscast as a scorer at this level. It’s just not his personality.

The big news of the weekend, at least from my perspective, was the NCAA finally offering a verdict on Josh Selby’s eligibility at KU. He has to sit out nine games and pay some money to charity for some “extra benefits,” but the dude gets to play. KU is going to be very good whether Selby was eligible or not. Not many teams are going to be able to guard the Morris twins, Tyshawn Taylor seems to have his head in the right place, and there are a lot of other pieces to work with. But Selby is a difference maker. The expectations just went up three or four notches, and my stomach began to hurt at the prospect of another Missouri Valley team in our bracket in March.

Oh, and I know every basketball columnist in the country is already working on the “KU deferred to Sherron Collins too much last year and they’re better without him” column. I expect to see them start trickling out in early January. There’s truth to that, but it ignores the fact KU would not have been 32-2 and the #1 overall seed going into the tournament without him.

A bad weekend for football. KU hung around long enough to get me stuck to the couch Saturday before the inevitable ass kicking began. Not looking forward to this weekend’s game. That seems like perfect Christmas tree putting up time to me. Colts go down at New England. I gave up when they went down by 17. I took the trash out and marveled that it was 65 at almost 7:00 on a late November night. I came in, did some things, and checked the score. Down three, with the ball, driving. As soon as I began paying attention, another pick for Peyton. I still don’t think the Colts are going deep in the playoffs – and with the AFC South falling apart I don’t think the Colts miss the postseason – but that performance should give the team some hope. If they can just get healthy and stay healthy for a couple weeks, they could win a game or two in the playoffs. And I watched my first Arsenal game of the year Saturday. Predictably, with a chance to go top of the table, they blew a 2-0 home lead to their bitter North London rivals and lost.

A quick baseball note: rumors are flying about the Royals listening to offers for Zach Greinke. If the offer is right, I say take it. One floated today had the Rangers sending a bushelful of players to KC for Zach. If there’s any truth to the offer, Dayton Moore should jump all over it. Greinke’s value is at its peak and the Royals aren’t going to contend in 2011. But getting the kind of prospects who will be ready in a year or two, and join the flood of young players nearly ready for the bigs, could be the final step in finally turning the Royals around. Which means it won’t happen.

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Hitting The Targets

December 11, 2009 / DB

Pulling out the blogging shotgun and trying to hit multiple targets in one post.

KU Football Coaching Search

I’ve remained quiet on this largely because it’s been mostly quiet from Lew Perkins’ office, which seems to be the way he likes it. But it seems like a decision is going to be made shortly, and Jim Harbaugh is the key. If he works out a deal to stay at Stanford, Lew starts working his list. If Stanford can’t match what KU can offer, the job in Lawrence appears to be his for the taking.

He would be huge. Arguably THE young, hot coach in the game. A national name already. An enthusiasm that is contagious. And while Gary Pinkel isn’t quite the foil that Pete Carroll is, I image Harbugh would find a way to piss off MU fans sooner rather than later, which is always a bonus.

But, I’ve worried all along that he’s more of a Houston Nutt-type candidate, using KU as leverage to improve his current situation.

I’ve been a big fan of Kevin Sumlin, but it sounds like he’s comfortable at Houston.

I’m big on Southern Miss’ Larry Fedora, as well. As a bonus it sounds like he’d bring back one of the best recruiters KU has had this decade.

While Turner Gill was the hot coach a year ago, people seemed to have cooled on him this year. After reading a lot about him this week, though, I think he’d be a fantastic hire.

And then there’s today’s KC Star story about former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who seems interested. When his name first came up a couple weeks ago, I wasn’t sold. While his Auburn teams were always competitive in the SEC, they also always seemed boring. While people are claiming that the Spread is fading from favor, I’m not convinced going to an old-school running attack is the way to win at KU, even with a name like Tuberville doing the recruiting. Plus he’s on the downside of his career. Will he have the energy and patience it’s going to take to turn KU into a consistent winner? But after reading the article, I’m intrigued.

So my list, as of today, of favorite potential hires would be like this:

1 – Harbaugh
2 – Fedora
3 – Gill
4 – Tuberville
5 – Skip Holtz. He’s a fine coach, but I’m not sure he has the experience recruiting in the Big 12’s fertile grounds the next coach needs.

Tiger

Surprised? Hell no. I hate to throw all wealthy, male athletes into the same group, but it’s not like that’s a demographic group known for its commitment to monogamy and fidelity. And the idea that golfers are different is laughable. I worked at a municipal golf course in high school. Even the lower level pros that were on staff there were knee-deep in attractive women.

So the fact he’s a cheater does not shock me. But the degree? Yeah, that’s a bit incredible. Has anyone crashed and burned as fast as Tiger? Think about the people and money that were out to get Bill Clinton in the 90s. And they could only come up with two women – Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky. I think we all figure there were more, but still. Nine years in the spotlight and only two women are identified. In two weeks Tiger’s already in double figures. An amazingly quick and deep fall from grace.

But the reaction from most commentators is way over-the-top. Tiger’s just another rich athlete who thinks he can get away with whatever he wants.

College Sports

The BCS is dumb.

The Heisman is a worthless award.

The idea of expanding the men’s basketball tournament is one of the dumbest, and most hypocritical, ideas the NCAA has ever come up with.

I’m ready for KU to get to the part of their schedule where they play good teams and get focused. Loving the potential of Xavier Henry, the development of the Morrises, and the steadiness of Collins and Aldrich. Tyshawn Taylor might want to switch to decaf. Baring injuries, they should roll through the regular season with no more than three losses. So I’m already watching other teams, getting an upset stomach thinking about what teams we won’t match up well with and hoping they’re in different brackets come March. Right now the teams I’d least like to play are Syracuse and West Virginia.

The Pacers

Hey, the Pacers suck again! After teasing us early in the season, they’ve fallen apart. Danny Granger is hurt, Brandon Rush is back to his passive ways and has been buried on the bench, and no one else on the team compels me to watch. Will they be playing in Kansas City in 2-3 years?

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