Indiana Pacers Blog – Page 51 – NBA Blog

Rose scores 36, Bulls top Pacers 96-90 in Game 2

The AP reports:

Rose scores 36 as Bulls top Pacers 96-90 in Game 2

Two playoff games, two dramatic victories for the favored Chicago Bulls, and all is right in Carlos Boozer’s eyes.

Derrick Rose scored 36 points, Boozer added 17 points and 16 rebounds, and top-seeded Chicago escaped with another comeback victory over Indiana, beating the Pacers 96-90 on Monday night in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series…

Rose went wild again, scoring eight points over the final 4 minutes. Kyle Korver, who made a tiebreaking 3-pointer in Chicago’s opening 104-99 victory Saturday, connected from long range to make it 90-85 with just over a minute left.

The Pacers still wouldn’t go away.

A.J. Price drew a foul on Rose and hit three free throws to get Indiana within two with 23.4 seconds remaining. But Luol Deng made two free throws, Mike Dunleavy missed a 3-point attempt at the other end and Ronnie Brewer hit two foul shots to help the Bulls hold on…

The Pacers were right there even though they lost Darren Collison to a sprained left ankle late in the first half. Collison said X-rays were negative but he isn’t sure if he will be available for Thursday night’s Game 3 at Conseco Fieldhouse…

Granger led Indiana with 19 points, but Tyler Hansbrough struggled, finishing with just six points on 2-of-12 shooting after scoring 22 points in the opener.

Rose scores 39, Bulls beat Pacers 104-99 in Game 1

The AP reports:

Derrick Rose scored 39 points and found Kyle Korver for a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 48 seconds left, helping top-seeded Chicago stage a late rally to beat the Pacers 104-99 in their playoff opener on Saturday.

“We knew it was going to be a hard game,” Rose said. “From the beginning I guess we weren’t prepared for it. Next time I think we’ll be ready.” …

Rose again showed why he is an MVP favorite even though he was off target. He missed each of his nine 3-point attempts but made 19 of 21 at the foul line and finished with six rebounds and six assists.

Luol Deng added 18 points and Korver finished with 13, no shot bigger than that 3…

Granger led Indiana with 24 points, and Tyler Hansbrough shook off an elbow from Kurt Thomas to finish with 22. Darren Collison scored 17, but had just two in the second half, and the Pacers came up just short in their first playoff game in five years.

2011 NBA Playoffs first round schedule

The 2010-11 NBA regular season is in the books, with all 30 teams in action Wednesday night. The NBA playoffs begin Saturday.

The first round matchups in the East are: Bulls vs Pacers, Heat vs 76ers, Celtics vs Knicks, and Magic vs Hawks.

The West’s first round matchups are: Spurs vs Grizzlies, Lakers vs Hornets, Mavericks vs Blazers, and Thunder vs Nuggets.

The complete first round series-by-series NBA playoffs schedule is here.

Pacers guard Lance Stephenson demoted for violating team rules

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports:

Lance Stephenson’s ongoing immaturity issues could be pushing him closer to the door with the Indiana Pacers.

Any chance of Stephenson playing in the final two regular-season games or the playoffs ended Saturday, when coach Frank Vogel said Stephenson was demoted for violating team rules.

“He’ll be the fourth point guard through the playoffs,” Vogel said. “This is being done for disciplinary reasons. T.J. (Ford) will be our third point guard.”

Stephenson had been expected to play in the final two games but will assume the role formerly held by Ford, who has not played since Jan. 28.

Vogel declined to say what Stephenson did to warrant those actions. He did say, though, that there are no legal issues involved with Stephenson.

Pacers score 136, clinch playoff spot

The AP reports:

Granger helps Pacers clinch playoff berth

Danny Granger scored 25 points, and the Indiana Pacers clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2006 with a 136-112 victory against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.

The Pacers needed a win and a Charlotte loss to Orlando to clinch a spot in the postseason. As the Pacers’ game ended, the Orlando-Charlotte game was in overtime, and the Conseco Fieldhouse staff put the game on the Jumbotron. Many fans stayed to cheer to the Magic on to a 111-102 win.

Paul George scored a career-high 23 points and Darren Collison added 15 points and 11 assists for the Pacers, who posted their second-highest point total of the season.

Jordan Crawford scored 29 points and Andray Blatche added 23 for Washington.

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.

Pacers beat red-hot Bulls

The AP reports:

Tyler Hansbrough

tyler hansbrough

Not lousy

Tyler Hansbrough had 29 points and 12 rebounds to help the Indiana Pacers beat Chicago 115-108 in overtime on Friday night, snapping the Bulls’ eight-game winning streak.

Danny Granger scored 19 points and Darren Collison added 17 for the Pacers, who have won three of four.

Derrick Rose tied a career high with 42 points for the Bulls. He scored 19 in the fourth quarter and made three free throws with 1.2 seconds left to force overtime. Luol Deng added 21 points for the Bulls.

Chicago entered the game with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and could have been the first team in the East to win 50 games.

Chicago forward Carlos Boozer missed his fifth straight game with an injured left ankle.

Tyler Hansbrough on rise for Pacers

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star reports:

A star is being born in Indiana, Hansbrough going for a career-high 30 points in Tuesday night’s manic 119-117 victory over the New York Knicks. He got on this roll five games ago, and has now scored 26, 21, 20, 29 and 30 points, the most consecutive 20-plus point games by a Pacers player all season.

Two things have happened:

For one, he’s getting playing time. You wonder, if Jim O’Brien had stuck around, would Hansbrough have ever found the floor? Quick answer: No.

Two, he has gotten into NBA shape. Remember, he went more than eight months without working out, without playing basketball or jogging or doing much of anything besides waiting for the dizziness to subside. It wasn’t until roughly three weeks ago that Hansbrough started to feel like he did at North Carolina.

“You go all that time doing nothing, and now you’re playing against the best players in the world, you’re not going to be at your best,” Hansbrough said. “. . . To be honest, I didn’t even know if I was going to be ready for training camp. The doctors gave me the OK, I went from doing nothing to six-hour practices. It was miserable for a while. Then there were stretches when coach O’Brien wasn’t playing me, so I wasn’t getting any experience.”

Grizzlies almost traded O.J. Mayo to Pacers

Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports:

O.J. Mayo’s career with the Grizzlies figuratively ended and resumed in the amount of time it took to complete one phone call and make another.

The Grizzlies agreed to trade Mayo to the Indiana Pacers for forward/center Josh McRoberts and a 2011 first-round draft pick Thursday just before the NBA’s trade deadline.

The transaction was supposed to involve a third team but never got finalized because it was submitted to the league shortly after the 2 p.m. deadline. The deal was widely reported — and Griz owner Michael Heisley spoke to The Commercial Appeal of his sadness over parting with Mayo, a favorite of the owner. But then Griz general manager Chris Wallace, in a text to the newspaper, said, “Despite published reports, O.J. was not traded.”

Mike Dunleavy out with broken left thumb

The Indiana Pacers announced Wednesday that guard/forward Mike Dunleavy will be out indefinitely after sustaining a broken left thumb in the Pacers’ victory at Washington Tuesday night.

Dunleavy will meet with doctors Thursday and an update will be provided after those meetings.

Dunleavy had played in 54 of the Pacers’ 55 games this season, starting 44. He was averaging 11.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

Pacers now 7-1 under coach Frank Vogel

The Indiana Pacers are BALLIN now!

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports:

The message was written at the top of the dry erase board in the locker room, above the offensive and defensive schemes the Indiana Pacers needed to execute to get the victory. One phrase said it all.

“(Six) straight ends tonight. Our time is now.”

Message received.

The Pacers used a 14-0 run in the fourth quarter to end their losing streak to the Milwaukee Bucks, winning 103-97 at the Bradley Center on Saturday night.

“That was the only thing that was written on our board,” Pacers forward Danny Granger said. “They had beaten us six times in a row. It was good to get the win out here. We hadn’t won here in a long time.”

The victory kept the Pacers, who hadn’t beaten the Bucks since April 2009, two games up on Charlotte for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a game behind Philadelphia for seventh.

The Pacers are 7-1 under coach Frank Vogel and have scored at least 100 points in each game.

“It feels good,” center Roy Hibbert said. “It’s a team effort. What I like about this team is if we’re down, if we’re up, we stick together and find out a way to win.”

I’m convinced. The next Pacers game has been added to my DVR list.