Indiana Pacers Blog – Page 52 – NBA Blog

Pacers are firing coach Jim O`Brien

The Indiana Pacers have reportedly decided that their time with head coach Jim O’Brien is due to come to an end.

According to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star, the Pacers on Sunday fired O’Brien and will name Frank Vogel interim coach.

Wells also reported that although Vogel will run the show for the time being, Pacers president Larry Bird will have some say as to which players get time on the court.

The 17-27 Pacers are currently 10th in the Eastern conference and have won just three of their last 10 games.

Roy Hibbert lost weight, now wants it back

Usually, losing weight is a good thing. Especially in today’s world of fattening, unhealthy foods. General advice for the average person is, if you manage to be thin, do what you can to stay that way.

For pro athletes, though, things aren’t always so simple.

Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports:

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert spent the summer cutting all “bad foods” out of his diet and living in the gym so that he could get in the best shape of his life.

Now Hibbert, who has struggled for almost two months, is about to bring back some of those “bad foods” so that he can put on weight.

“I talked to (strength and conditioning coach) Shawn Windle, and he said I need to start drinking a lot of protein shakes and eat more throughout the day,” Hibbert said. “I had been trying to eat healthy the whole year, but he said I can mix in some bad food sometimes, too, just to put some more weight on.” …

Hibbert said he weighs about 248 pounds and would like to get back to about 260.

Hibbert this season is averaging 12.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game for the 16-26 Pacers.

Melo hits six threes, drops 36 on Pacers

The Indiana Pacers today learned the hard way that Carmelo Anthony is still on the Denver Nuggets.

The AP reports:

Carmelo Anthony gave the home crowd nothing to boo about Sunday night, scoring 36 points in the Denver Nuggets’ 121-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who lost their fifth straight.

Anthony had been subjected to jeers by the home crowd as trade talk intensified last week, but on this night, the Denver fans showed him plenty of love, especially when he was raining 3s from all over the court as he put on a spectacular 23-point show in the third quarter.

Anthony’s career-best six 3-pointers all came in the third period as the Nuggets turned a close game into a laugher—a reversal of their game in November when the Pacers made their first 20 shots of the third quarter and rolled to a 144-113 win in Indianapolis.

Anthony’s previous high was five 3-pointers back in 2003, his rookie season.

Nene added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets, who led by 25 and improved to 20-5 at the Pepsi Center, where they haven’t lost consecutive games all season. Tyler Hansbrough had 27 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana, which trailed 59-51 at halftime.

The Nuggets are still likely to send Melo, who has still refused to sign Denver’s contract extension offer, to another team before February’s trade deadline.

Blake Griffin drops 47 and 14 on Pacers

Frank Burlison of the Los Angeles Daily News reports:

Griffin scored a career-high 47 points in just 36 minutes as the Clippers held off the Pacers 114-107 in front of 15,863 on Monday at Staples Center that seemed almost sluggish before Griffin began unleashing his ever-expanding scoring repertoire.

Griffin was whistled for charging into the Pacers’ Tyler Hansbrough just 44 seconds after the opening tip.

That proved to be one of the few times something good didn’t happen for coach Vinny Del Negro’s team when the ball was in Griffin’s hands.

Griffin, who grabbed 14 rebounds for his 27 th consecutive double-double, hit a 10-foot jump hook on the Clippers’ next possession and he was off and running – even if, at least until the fourth quarter, his team wasn’t.

In just eight minutes and 10 seconds on the floor, he went 5 of 7 from the field and made each of his three free throws for 13 points in a first quarter that ended with the Pacers ahead 31-26, largely because of former UCLA guard Darren Collison’s 17 points.

Pacers stepping up defensively

The Indianapolis Star reports:

The Pacers, who host Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse, are having their best defensive season under coach Jim O’Brien.

They are sixth in the league in field goal defense at 43.5 percent, which O’Brien feels will be good enough to get them into the playoffs. They are seventh in the league in points allowed at 95.5 a game.

And they are second in blocks at 6.7 a game.

“We’re actually focusing on it now,” forward Danny Granger said. “We’re not scoring like we have in the past as far as points a game, but we’re putting a lot of work in on the defensive end. We’re stepping up, we’re rebounding well and doing things we haven’t done in the past.” …

Center Roy Hibbert has more of an intimidating presence in the paint because he’s quicker and doesn’t foul as much. Hibbert is sixth in the league in blocks at 2.3 a game.

Awful Clippers now 1-12

Wednesday in Indianapolis the Pacers, despite missing a few key players, beat the Los Angeles Clippers 107-80.

The Clippers have now lost eight straight games and have one win, 12 losses. They’re a mess.

Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times reports:

The Clippers’ rookies, as well as Craig Smith and Eric Gordon — another Indiana homecoming ruined — had the glazed look of survivors who had stumbled away from a car crash, wondering where to go next.”

Something has got to change,” said Blake Griffin, who had 12 points and eight rebounds. “After a while, you can’t just say — we do have to keep working — but you can’t just keep working and keep losing. It comes down to who wants it more, a little bit of heart. We just need to find that.”

He wants to be an agent of change. The most obvious form of assistance, of course, would be getting center Chris Kaman back in the lineup. Griffin can do many things, but he’s not a medical miracle worker.

Any other suggestions?

“We’ll work on it tomorrow,” Griffin said. “I’ve got some ideas.”

The problem here is, I’m not sure what there is to change. Aside from Griffin, Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman, there’s simply not a lot of talent on the roster. Rookie guard Eric Bledsoe has looked good, stepping up while Baron Davis sits around being old and washed up, but that’s about it. The struggles may continue.

But, on the bright side, there’s individual players worth keeping an eye on here. Griffin, Gordon and Bledsoe should only keep improving and are worth attention.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh has hip surgery

Howard Beck of the New York Times reports:

Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ team president, had surgery to repair his right hip Tuesday morning and is expected to spend a few days in the hospital before starting a rehabilitation program at home.

The Knicks did not provide a timetable for Walsh’s return, but he said last week that he planned to work from his Manhattan apartment during his recovery, which he figured would last about two weeks.

Glen Grunwald, the Knicks’ senior vice president for basketball operations, is with the team this week for its four-game trip through the Western Conference.

Connections between Rockets and Pacers

Connections between Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers:

Houston forward Jared Jeffries averaged 14.4 points and 7.2 rebounds over 70 games in two seasons at Indiana University.

Rockets guard/forward Courtney Lee was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Houston center/forward Brad Miller was a collegiate standout at Purdue and played over the course of two seasons with the Pacers (2001-03).

Indiana guard T.J. Ford attended Willowridge High School in Houston prior to his standout career at the University of Texas.

Pacers forward James Posey played in 58 games with 47 starts in his lone season with the Rockets (2002-03).

Pacers exercise Brandon Rush option

The Indiana Pacers announced Friday they have picked up the fourth-year option on Brandon Rush’s contract. Per club policy no details of the contract are released.

Rush, a third-year player out of Kansas, was drafted 13th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. In his three seasons with the Pacers, Rush has career averages of 8.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Pacers waive Magnum Rolle

The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have waived Magnum Rolle, a 6-11, 235-pound center/forward.

Rolle, a 2010 second-round pick (51st overall) acquired by the Pacers from Oklahoma City in a draft night trade of picks, played in five preseason games, averaging 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

The Pacers’ roster is now at the league-mandated 15 players.

“Unfortunately for Magnum, it’s a numbers game and we had to get down to 15 players,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “We like Magnum, he played well for us and we’ll continue to scout him throughout the year.”