pooh
01-28-2005, 04:57 AM
Link (http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/218060-4166-179.html)
Despite it all, Pacers have shot to be a factor
Bob Kravitz - Indystar.com
January 28, 2005
The schedule says they've played just 41 games, just half of an NBA season, but with the suspensions and injuries and illnesses, it feels like the Indiana Pacers have entered the dog days of March.
Has a team ever needed the All-Star break more than this group?
If you were brave enough to stay with the Pacers' 88-76 loss Thursday to the Detroit Pistons, you saw an Indiana team that has had its competitive spirit and energy beaten out of it by circumstance.
By the Throwdown in Motown.
By injuries and suspensions and every malady this side of the bubonic plague.
By the harsh realization that in one bad moment, they went from title contenders to just another team.
By nearly three months of never knowing:
Who will be in the lineup? How will the judge rule? How and when will the arbitrator rule? Can Stephen Jackson come back and play small forward? Will Jamaal Tinsley, a noncontributor Thursday night, ever get over the crud? When will the Jonathan Bender Era begin? When will there ever be some continuity, some normalcy?
After another sluggish effort, coach Rick Carlisle was asked if his team has been affected by the madness.
"I guess I'd be lying if I said no," he said. ". . . But I know this team will get better."
Just look at the Pacers' record in the second game of back-to-backs -- 4-10, including a recent 0-5 mark. It's a sure sign of a team already running on physical and emotional fumes.
Here's the Indiana season in microcosm: On Tuesday, Carlisle hoped to use the day off to practice and incorporate Jackson back into the lineup. Except on Tuesday, five Pacers were in a Rochester Hills, Mich., courtroom.
The calendar says late January.
The Pacers' play, and their body language, say late March.
The strangest and most disturbing half-season in team history has taken a major toll.
At one level, it's a physical thing. Secondary players such as Fred Jones and James Jones have gotten more time in a half-season than they might ordinarily get in a full season. And while you would expect that Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal would have fresher legs after all the time off, they also appear to be laboring. O'Neal, for one, has taken on too much of the offensive load -- mostly because he has no choice and feels an obligation to carry this team. Jackson, who played his second game back Thursday night, hasn't yet found his legs or his game.
More of it, though, seems emotional. There's only so much weight a group can carry. Almost since the start, when Ron Artest was carrying on about taking time off, this has been a season of unfortunate events.
But there really is some good news. Well, decent news.
Despite everything -- and there's been a lot -- the reeling Pacers have a favorable schedule coming up and are still in position to make a second-half run in the Central Division.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are in first place, but they are likely to choke on the rarefied air. Fact is, they haven't seen this ZIP code since Mark Price was bombing 3-pointers.
The Pistons? They had their chance to run away and hide after the brawl. But they've been playing like a team that has nothing left to prove. Plus there's Larry Brown, who's been driving his players crazy and has been mentioned, again, as the next coach in New York.
The Chicago Bulls? A nice story after years of ineptitude, but they'll return to earth in the second half.
Even now, even at 20-21, the Pacers are still in the vicinity of contention. If they can stay healthy and get a second wind, they still have a chance to become The Team Nobody Wants To See In The Playoffs.
A championship team? Heavens, no. Artest was a top-15 player. Take a top-15 guy out of the lineup, everything changes, and not for the better. But in the Eastern Conference, where only the Miami Heat look particularly imposing, the Pacers are still part of the equation.
When Jackson checked out the league standings in the newspaper a couple of days ago, he was blown away.
"I am surprised," Jackson said before Thursday night's game. "After we beat the Heat the other night, I looked at the standings and they were just 29-12. Then I saw our record and thought, 'We're not that far off.'
"It's really amazing that after all this, we're still in it. That alone should give us confidence."
It should, and it should be a point of pride for the entire organization. Carlisle, in particular, has maintained the right kind of demeanor, never wavering, never using excuses.
"Chuck Daly used to tell me one of his favorite parts of coaching was crisis management," Carlisle said. "I like it, too."
Good thing, because he's been fed an almost daily diet of crisis management.
After years of good health, the basketball gods have exacted karmic retribution. Not only do the Pacers know the other shoe will drop, but they know it's going to fall on somebody's head, forcing him out of the lineup with a concussion.
It isn't late March yet.
Inside Conseco Fieldhouse, though, it's looking and feeling that way.
Despite it all, Pacers have shot to be a factor
Bob Kravitz - Indystar.com
January 28, 2005
The schedule says they've played just 41 games, just half of an NBA season, but with the suspensions and injuries and illnesses, it feels like the Indiana Pacers have entered the dog days of March.
Has a team ever needed the All-Star break more than this group?
If you were brave enough to stay with the Pacers' 88-76 loss Thursday to the Detroit Pistons, you saw an Indiana team that has had its competitive spirit and energy beaten out of it by circumstance.
By the Throwdown in Motown.
By injuries and suspensions and every malady this side of the bubonic plague.
By the harsh realization that in one bad moment, they went from title contenders to just another team.
By nearly three months of never knowing:
Who will be in the lineup? How will the judge rule? How and when will the arbitrator rule? Can Stephen Jackson come back and play small forward? Will Jamaal Tinsley, a noncontributor Thursday night, ever get over the crud? When will the Jonathan Bender Era begin? When will there ever be some continuity, some normalcy?
After another sluggish effort, coach Rick Carlisle was asked if his team has been affected by the madness.
"I guess I'd be lying if I said no," he said. ". . . But I know this team will get better."
Just look at the Pacers' record in the second game of back-to-backs -- 4-10, including a recent 0-5 mark. It's a sure sign of a team already running on physical and emotional fumes.
Here's the Indiana season in microcosm: On Tuesday, Carlisle hoped to use the day off to practice and incorporate Jackson back into the lineup. Except on Tuesday, five Pacers were in a Rochester Hills, Mich., courtroom.
The calendar says late January.
The Pacers' play, and their body language, say late March.
The strangest and most disturbing half-season in team history has taken a major toll.
At one level, it's a physical thing. Secondary players such as Fred Jones and James Jones have gotten more time in a half-season than they might ordinarily get in a full season. And while you would expect that Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal would have fresher legs after all the time off, they also appear to be laboring. O'Neal, for one, has taken on too much of the offensive load -- mostly because he has no choice and feels an obligation to carry this team. Jackson, who played his second game back Thursday night, hasn't yet found his legs or his game.
More of it, though, seems emotional. There's only so much weight a group can carry. Almost since the start, when Ron Artest was carrying on about taking time off, this has been a season of unfortunate events.
But there really is some good news. Well, decent news.
Despite everything -- and there's been a lot -- the reeling Pacers have a favorable schedule coming up and are still in position to make a second-half run in the Central Division.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are in first place, but they are likely to choke on the rarefied air. Fact is, they haven't seen this ZIP code since Mark Price was bombing 3-pointers.
The Pistons? They had their chance to run away and hide after the brawl. But they've been playing like a team that has nothing left to prove. Plus there's Larry Brown, who's been driving his players crazy and has been mentioned, again, as the next coach in New York.
The Chicago Bulls? A nice story after years of ineptitude, but they'll return to earth in the second half.
Even now, even at 20-21, the Pacers are still in the vicinity of contention. If they can stay healthy and get a second wind, they still have a chance to become The Team Nobody Wants To See In The Playoffs.
A championship team? Heavens, no. Artest was a top-15 player. Take a top-15 guy out of the lineup, everything changes, and not for the better. But in the Eastern Conference, where only the Miami Heat look particularly imposing, the Pacers are still part of the equation.
When Jackson checked out the league standings in the newspaper a couple of days ago, he was blown away.
"I am surprised," Jackson said before Thursday night's game. "After we beat the Heat the other night, I looked at the standings and they were just 29-12. Then I saw our record and thought, 'We're not that far off.'
"It's really amazing that after all this, we're still in it. That alone should give us confidence."
It should, and it should be a point of pride for the entire organization. Carlisle, in particular, has maintained the right kind of demeanor, never wavering, never using excuses.
"Chuck Daly used to tell me one of his favorite parts of coaching was crisis management," Carlisle said. "I like it, too."
Good thing, because he's been fed an almost daily diet of crisis management.
After years of good health, the basketball gods have exacted karmic retribution. Not only do the Pacers know the other shoe will drop, but they know it's going to fall on somebody's head, forcing him out of the lineup with a concussion.
It isn't late March yet.
Inside Conseco Fieldhouse, though, it's looking and feeling that way.