Category: Indiana Pacers Blog

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Indiana Pacers 107-88 on Sunday. Pacers center Roy Hibbert played just nine minutes in the game, finishing 0-of-5 for no points, rebounds or blocks — just one turnover. Here’s the Indianapolis Star on the Pacers coach Frank Vogel and the entire situation:

It was interesting, then, that in the midst of the Pacers’ humiliating 107-88 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks – winners of eight of their previous 29 games, by the way – Vogel channeled his inner Bird. With the Pacers trailing 17-3 and 6:05 remaining in a brutal first quarter, Vogel benched the entire starting five.

Hallelujah.

“They’re not getting it done,” Vogel said. “They’re not getting it done, we have to go to someone else, see if someone else can get it done.”

Vogel then did another un-Vogel-like thing to start the second half: He benched Roy Hibbert. Hallelujah, again. Hibbert was terrible, going 0-for-5 without a single rebound in 9 ½ minutes.

After the game, Vogel spun it by saying that he was thinking about resting Hibbert before the start of Sunday night’s game. Then, after watching Hibbert struggle – and watching somebody named Pero Antic light him up from the perimeter – Vogel pulled the plug.

Key word there being spun.

“I considered resting Roy before tonight’s game because he looks worn down,” Vogel said during a short, terse post-game press conference. “He’s a 7-2 player that’s played every game this year, which is very rare. He looks to me to be worn down. He’s giving good effort, but he looks to be to be worn down…I decided to play him, but when he got off to a slow start, I decided to rest him.”

Here’s the Indianapolis Star with a look at the Pacers, who have been less than spectacular for a while now:

A slump? A hiccup? No, it’s a whole lot more than that. After Monday night’s 103-77 blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Pacers have lost 10 of their last 16 games and six of their last eight. After that 33-7 start, when they were the toast of the NBA and had everybody lauding their selflessness, the Pacers have now gone 19-16. That’s not a slump. That’s a month-and-a-half, two months’ worth of mediocrity. That’s who they are now.

This is just like the 2002-03 Isiah Thomas-coached Pacers, who ran out to the league’s best record the first half of the season, then sleep-walked the rest of the season before getting eliminated in the first round by the Boston Celtics.

For too long, they’ve been acting like they actually accomplished something, like they should be entitled to officials’ calls and special treatment. Paul George’s play and his whining have been especially galling. Remember when we talked about him in the same sentence with MVP front runners LeBron James and Kevin Durant? That seems like a million years ago.

George has been ordinary, or worse, since the All-Star break. Hibbert has disappeared for long stretches of time. David West, the nominal leader of this team, has been inconsistent. Evan Turner, the late-season acquisition, has been miserable, especially on defense.

Monday night, Lance Stephenson was the only Pacer who played with urgency and energy.

Sitting in the last chair on Indiana’s bench, David West stared straight ahead, unable to look at the court.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock on another disheartening loss, West seemed dazed.

The Pacers’ promising season is unraveling

Dion Waiters scored 19 points, Luol Deng added 15 and the Cleveland Cavaliers kept their playoff push going with a 90-76 win Sunday over the skidding Pacers, who are losing their grip on the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Tristan Thompson had 16 rebounds as the Cavs snapped a nine-game losing streak against Indiana. Cleveland came in three games behind slumping, idle Atlanta for the conference’s final playoff spot. With seven games left — six against teams with losing records — the Cavs still have a chance.

The Pacers, meanwhile, are falling apart. They lost their fifth straight road game and now lead Miami by one game for the East’s top record and home-court advantage throughout the postseason.

— Associated Press

Indiana Pacers small forward Paul George had 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in a win against the Bulls Friday. Video highlights:

Center Andrew Bynum is alive. No longer sitting on the end of the Indiana Pacers bench watching basketball but not playing it, Bynum has finally stepped onto the court. Here’s how he started off:

Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting on center Andrew Bynum, who for now as a member of the Pacers has merely been an observer. But that could soon change:

Andrew Bynum could make his debut with the Indiana Pacers soon.

On Sunday, Bynum said that he hopes to be “cleared to play next week,” believing that he could be on the floor by Friday, March 14 when the Pacers play in Philadelphia. Pacers coach Frank Vogel said the team planned to re-evaluate Bynum after the road trip.

“We’ll see after (Sunday’s) game goes and then we’ll probably meet about it (Monday),” Vogel said, “and try to come up with a firmer plan.”

Through his career, Bynum, a 7-0 center, has shown flashes of dominance but has also been limited with knee problems.

Indiana Pacers point guard George Hill (bruised left shoulder) missed his fourth game of the season on Saturday night.

Hill was injured with less than 2 minutes remaining in the Pacers’ win over Milwaukee on Thursday night. Hill said that an MRI revealed “previous stuff,” referencing the sprained left shoulder injury from the 2011-12 lockout-shortened season that sidelined him for two games.

“Messing with ‘Psycho T’ (former teammate Tyler Hansbrough) in practice,” Hill said Saturday, recalling that original injury. “Got tangled up with him. I hurt it pretty bad … so I think it’s just a recurred injury that just opened back up just a little bit.”

— Indianapolis Star