Reply With Quoteare you a reporter for the pacers or do you just copy and paste quotes you get from other stories?
By Johnnie Clay - Pacers Insider.
February 27, 2004 - 11:30 PM.
A little over a week ago, the Indiana Pacers "took one on the chin", so to speak against the New Orleans Hornets. In that game, the Pacers lost their emotional leader, Ron Artest for perhaps the remainder of the season that night. The Pacers fell in that game, 89-75.
Flash ahead to tonight. The Pacers, riding a three-game winning streak without their leader in Artest, faced a hungry and determined Hornets team, just eager to put another whipping on them. Ironcially for the Pacers, "lightening did strike twice" as once again, the Hornets out-muscled the Pacers tonight, defeating them 89-77 at the New Orleans Arena.
Tough defense defined the opening half as both offenses had trouble getting inside. New Orleans didn't get its shooting percentage over 40% until the end of the half, and Indiana shot only 35% percent.
The two real "highlights" of the night occured during the final seconds of the first half, when the Hornets Jamal Mashburn found Baron Davis cutting through the lane for a one-handed dunk over Jermaine O'Neal that will surely put him on several trading cards, and on ESPN's SportsCenter.
The second "hightlight" occurred several seconds later when after a jump ball, Austin Croshere made a shot from beyond halfcourt at the buzzer. The shot initially was called good, but after a video review, the call was overturned as the Hornets maintained a 46-34 lead.
Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle spoke afterwards about that horrible first half.
"Our undoing was really the first half. We got outrebounded by a lot and the second chance points were 10-1." Carlisle said. "We were down 12 and it seemed like a lot more. We played better in the second half. We played more aggressively in the second half, but not nearly where we need to be to beat a team like this in their building.”
In that second half, the Pacers made two strong attempts to get back into the contest, only to be thwarted by the Hornets. The Pacers put together an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 54-49 midway through the third period, but the Hornets responded by going on a 16-4 run that included a 3-pointer by Baron Davis in transition, a 3-pointer by Darrell Armstrong. After two offensive rebounds, and a tip-in by Jamaal Magloire, the carried a 17-point lead (70-53) towards the end of the quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Pacers put in their reserves, who managed to chop away at the Hornets' big lead. With over four minutes remaining, it appeared as if the Pacers could possibly pull one out as Austin Croshere buried a 3-pointer to pull them to within eight points, 78-70.
But Baron Davis would make sure there would be no comeback tonight for the Pacers. Davis nailed a 3-pointer of his own, drew a charge on Al Harrington, and then dished out an assist to P.J. Brown for a slam dunk, putting the Hornets up 83-72 with three minutes remaining.
A Jamaal Mashburn jump shot with 2:16 left, finished off the Pacers for the night.
Mashburn's 22 points was a real dagger in any hopes of a Pacers victory tonight, something that didn't go un-noticed by Rick Carlisle.
“They were good before, but now with Mashburn, they’re better. To me, Mashburn is an all-star player." Carlisle said. "He’s that good. He brings them another dimension in shot making and playmaking. It’s tougher to play them. You’ve got to play at a very high level in terms of playing physical with these guys. You can’t get outrebounded by an average of 17 in two straight games and expect to win.”
When looking at the stats, the game appeared to be closer than one thought, but there was one glaring stat that held the key to tonights' loss...rebounds. The Pacers were out-rebounded 52-36 tonight, a stat that was all too familar to the Pacers' Coach and players for that matter.
“They really dominated the paint on the inside again and outrebounded us by 18 in Indianapolis and tonight by 16." Carlisle said. "That kind of deficit…those are 16-18 possessions. Those are extra chances for them to score and we don’t. That’s a problem. They’re an unusual team. They have a lot of size and lot of strength on the inside.”
Even Center Jeff Foster agreed that rebounds where the difference tonight.
“That’s pretty much what they did to us the last game. They manhandled us on the glass." Foster said. "They played a good game. We had trouble scoring. They took care of us on the glass and scored opportune points at opportune times."
The Pacers shot 36% (28-78) from the floor and 74% (17-23) from the free-throw line. Jermaine O'Neal led the Pacers with 15-points, but was 5-14 from the field. O'Neal had a team-high 8 rebounds. Jamaal Tinsley scored 14 points, 3 assists and 2 steals. Fred Jones led the reserves with 10 points as the bench outscored the Hornets' bench 34-9. The Pacers' starters however, were outscored 80-43 and outrebounded 38-20.
But there's no time to think about this loss for the Pacers as they hit the floor again tomorrow night to face the Philadelphia 76'ers at Conseco Fieldhouse. This is the first back-to-back set for the Pacers since February 2nd and 3rd. The Pacers are 2-0 against the Sixers this season, holding them to an average of just 75.5 points while outrebounding them by an average margin of 15 (45.5 to 30.5). Though the Pacers will miss Ron Artest, who has averaged 25.0 points against the Sixers this season, Philadelphia will be without its top scorer, Allen Iverson (right shoulder).
Game Time Saturday is at 8pm (EST).
are you a reporter for the pacers or do you just copy and paste quotes you get from other stories?
He is Not a reporter, he just plays one.are you a reporter for the pacers or do you just copy and paste quotes you get from other stories?
Be sure to look out for his book, it should be out some time this year.
Not for them no...but I follow the game via Yahoo's boxscores, then afterwards I get the quotes from the lockerroom via the Pacers website then I get all of my information together and then write my own verison of the game.
As for my book, yes...it is now in the final stages of editing and should be release early next year.
Do you have a Pacers site?
Yes I do
what is the address?
Shut the **** up, you copy and paste 80% of your .then afterwards I get the quotes from the lockerroom via the Pacers website then I get all of my information together and then write my own verison of the game.
I believe that is you Zombie who do that, not me. I do "cut and paste" quotes and stats...other than that it's all my words.
I hate cut and paste, so you are very wrong!
If I did cut and paste something, I never tried to act like it was my words.
so how does this make you a "pacers insider?"
the same information you have, anyone else can have?
I'm sure someone else knows more on here and other places, but since I only write about them I consider myself that.
oh
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