A Familiar Face Slows Down The Pacers

It’s been a long time since the Pacers have won 5 games in a row. I believe is was the 2003-04 season, one of their last good seasons before what Pacers fans are experiencing now. The Knicks were on the rope during this game, but a very familiar face ended their winning streak Wednesday night. Al Harrington scored half of points in the 4th quarter to come in in this game and beat the Pacers 110-103.

You know coming into this game, it was going to be a shootout. Both of these teams like to run up-tempo offenses, but you had two very different teams once the 2nd half began. The Pacers and Knicks were very close to putting up single digit points in the 3rd quarter, after the Pacers scored 43 in the 2nd. The Pacers just hit a cold streak and could never recover. Al Harrington liked playing in Indiana and appears to love playing at Conseco Fieldhouse. He was the Knicks leading scorer with 26, but he didn’t even as many as Danny Granger did at halftime. He had 30, but only finished the game with 33. In a night that was primed up for him to lay down a double-nickel, it didn’t happen and the Pacers lost.

The Pacers have to win the games that they are favored in, because it won’t happen too often this year. The Pacers had this game won, but fell completely on their backsides in the 2nd half. They only score 34 points in the 2nd half, when the Knicks scored that exact amount just in the 4th quarter.

In a side note, Tyler Hansbrough got more minutes in this game, he played 21 minutes and scored 14 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. He did look a little lost out there defensively, but he should have some more help once Troy Murphy and Jeff Foster come back from injuries. Psycho T isn’t playing because the Pacers believe that he’s ready, he’s playing out of necessity. I’m sure if an injury happened to Earl Watson that A.J. Price would see action.

The Pacers are going to have their hands full when they play Cleveland in their next game on Friday. Lebron James has a banged-up wrist, Shaq and Big Z are ailing, so this could be the perfect time to beat them.

Tags: a.j. price, danny granger, jeff foster, troy murphy, tyler hansbrough