By Johnnie Clay - Pacers Insider
November 25, 2003 - 11:30 pm
To all the “Nay Sayers” out there, the Indiana Pacers are for real. If tonight was any indication, the Pacers sent out a loud message to all the teams in the league, including the much-heralded Western Conference…”We’re coming for you.”
The Pacers dismantled the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-75 at Conseco Fieldhouse tonight. The win was the Pacers’ sixth in a row, and their 12-1 record is the best in the NBA.
Led by Ron Artest’s 20 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, the Pacers dominated the Timberwolves in every way possible, shooting 50% for most of the first half. As dominating as the Pacers were offensively, their defense was just as spectacular, completely shutting out the T-Wolves Latrell Sprewell, who failed to score a single point.
Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle praised his team’s fine performance tonight.
“I liked the defense. When you can hold a team like Minnesota under 40% shooting, that’s an honest effort. We had a lot of guys step up.” Carlisle said. “Sprewell was a little off tonight. He was a guy we talked a lot about. We were fortunate he missed some he normally makes. I thought the key to the game, more than anything, was Jermaine’s effort defensively. He’s showing why he’s the best big guy in the Eastern Conference.”
While Carlisle beamed about his teams play, he knows that there still is more work ahead.
“We’re making some improvement and that’s what it’s all about. It’s too early to talk about the west coast. We’ve got two more home games and we’ve got to make some headway with our home schedule.”
The Pacers jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it, leading 29-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Pacers’ lead was as big as 20 points by the end of the second quarter, their defense held the T-Wolves at bay for the rest of the quarter, leading 50-32 at halftime.
The T-Wolves, were led by All-Star Kevin Garnett, who scored 25 points and 16 rebounds and Sam Cassell, who chipped in as well with 25 points, 9 rebounds.
In the third quarter, the T-Wolves came out on fire, cutting the Pacers lead down to seven at 68-61, but a 10-0 run by the Pacers dashed any hopes of a T-Wolves victory.
Everyone of the Pacers knew that Garnett would get his points, the trick was being able to contain him throughout the evening, and in some aspects they did just that, keeping him and the rest of the T-Wolves off their game.
“Everybody played team ball tonight.” Ron Artest said. “I played a little better in the second half than I did in the first. Kevin Garnett is a great player and we knew they would make a run and cut the lead down. We were able to accept the challenge and Reggie (Miller) really stepped up big when he had to.”
Six Pacers were in double-figures for the evening. Jermaine O’Neal nearly matched Artest’s performance with an impressive one of his own, scoring 17 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.
Center Jeff Foster is slowly becoming a dominant force for the Pacers, in both offense and defense, scoring 10 points and 9 rebounds. With the sudden and unfortunate retirement of the Nets’ Alonzo Mourning, Foster looks like an almost sure bet for the February event.
The rest of the starting lineup for the Pacers did well too. Reggie Miller scored 13 points, 5 rebounds, and Kenny Anderson scored 11 points and 7 rebounds.
The Pacers bench of Al Harrington, Fred Jones, Austin Croshere and Anthony Johnson combined for a total of 27 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
With each passing game, the Pacers continue to grow and make strides as a team. The offense is slowly starting to come around, but it’s the defense that’s putting them on the map.
“Pride and hard work are driving this team.” Pacers guard Kenny Anderson explained. “As far as defense goes, we trust each other because we know if we get up on someone and the get by us, our teammate will pick it up and shut them down. We feel this is one of the strongest points on our team. We can run when we need to and we can go half court when we need to. It’s early; but I think we’re off to a pretty good start. Everybody is still willing to make sacrifices to make this team win."
The Pacers get a well-deserved night off as they prepare to face their old rivals the New York Knicks in a Thanksgiving Day show down at Conseco Fieldhouse. The two teams played back on November 15th at Madison Square Garden, as Reggie Miller lit up the Knicks for 31 points, en route to a thrilling 95-94 win.
nice article pooh, i truely believe the pacers are ready for any western conference team. Last night i got home from work and turned on the TV and the pacers were beating the t-wolves 34-13 in the 2nd quarter! The Pacers defense is unstoppable right now, the pacers are for real and you better believe it.
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