MVN - Most Valuable Network

Pacers need to play a full 48 minutes

Another quarter or half of not showing up leads to another loss for the Pacers as they go from 3-0 to 3-3 in just a week.

The Pacers looked like a completely different team in the first half compared to the second half. The Pacers came out firing in the first quarter scoring 46 points to give the Pacers a 46-31 lead over the Denver Nuggets. A 28-point second quarter and the Pacers had a 74-56 lead at halftime.

74 points at halftime.

How about after halftime?

32. That’s right- 32 points in the third and fourth quarters. Combined.

The same thing happened Friday night vs. the Charlotte Bobcats. The Pacers held a 73-65 lead heading into the 4th quarter. The Pacers ultimately got outscored by the Bobcats 31-14 in that frame and lost 96-87.

The Pacers get off to hot starts but cannot sustain it for a full game. “A story of two halves,”said Pacers head coach Jim O’Brien after the loss Saturday. Jamaal Tinsley, Jermaine O’Neal and Danny Granger all went cold in the second half which led to the demise and the fall to .500.

Maybe it’s O’Brien’s conditioning in practice that tires the players at the end of games. Maybe it’s players just going cold. Or maybe the opponents are getting hot at the right time. Who knows what it is at this point.

All that’s known is that the Pacers better fix the problem or they won’t be fighting for a playoff spot.

—–

At 3-3, it’s time to see “Who’s Hot & Who’s Not”

Hot:
- Mike Dunleavy: Dunleavy shot 7-11 for 17 points against Denver and is putting together a nice start to the season. It remains to be seen if he can sustain it for the whole season but right now he’s averaging 17.7 PPG and shooting 49%.
- Shawne Williams: Williams played well in only 17 minutes vs. Denver. He shot 5-8 for 12 points and 2 steals. He needs to cut down on fouls (5 tonight). He’s averaging 10.5 PPG in 3 games- missed first 3 due to suspension.
- Troy Murphy: Murphy showed no signs of his achilles injury- 18 points, 10 rebounds vs. the Nuggets. He’s averaging 15.5 PPG and 7.2 RPG in three games this season. He’s another outside shooitng threat.

Not:
- Travis Diener: Diener only played 4 minutes on Saturday. He’s only averaging 3.2 PPG this season; he was expected to be the backup point guard but hasn’t produced yet. Maybe he needs more minutes.
- David Harrison: Harrison as well only played 4 minutes. He only grabbed 1 rebound and received a technical foul for arguing. He scored 13 in the first game but only 10 in the last 5.
- The Pacers: The team needs to play a whole game. They started off 3-0 but now are at 3-3. O’Brien needs to get the team back on track.

It doesn’t get easier for the Pacers: they host the new-look Boston Celtics Tuesday Night.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Indiana Pacers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.