Trail Blazers-Pacers Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Mar 12 2012 2:45PM

The Indiana Pacers haven't had any success against some of the Eastern Conference's top teams in the last week. A game against the struggling Portland Trail Blazers could help them break out of their funk.

The Pacers try to avoid their second five-game losing streak in the last month Tuesday night when they host the Trail Blazers, who hope to win back-to-back games for the first time in seven weeks.

Indiana (23-16) is in fifth place in the East, but isn't looking like much of a threat to make a postseason run considering its play against other top contenders. The Pacers are coming off consecutive losses to Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Orlando and have dropped their last nine games to teams that currently have winning records.

Their four-game skid came after they had won six in a row with all of the victories coming against sub-.500 teams, including two apiece over the worst in each conference - New Orleans and Charlotte.

Immediately prior to that winning streak, the Pacers lost five straight from Feb. 8-15.

"We've been here before," swingman Paul George said after a 107-94 loss to the Magic on Sunday. "At the same time, we're still in a good position. We're still a good team. Just keep working."

The offense needs to come around for Indiana to return to its winning ways. The Pacers are averaging 88.3 points and shooting 26.7 percent from 3-point range during their slide after averaging 104.0 points and 41.0 percent from beyond the arc during their winning streak.

All-Star center Roy Hibbert has averaged 7.5 points and 35.5 percent from the field in his last four after averaging 14.3 points and 60.0 percent in the previous five.

Indiana could have better luck against Portland (20-21), which has dropped five of seven with the two wins coming over New Orleans and Washington, two of the league's three worst teams. The Trail Blazers' defense was abysmal in the five defeats, as they allowed an average of 108.6 points and 46.9 percent from 3-point range.

Forward Danny Granger, Indiana's leader at 18.1 points per game, has also regularly been at his best offensively against Portland. In his last six games versus the Blazers, he's averaging 27.7 points - his second-highest average against any team.

Despite the outstanding efforts from Granger, Indiana hasn't enjoyed much success against Portland. The teams haven't met since the Pacers won 100-87 at home Feb. 4, 2011, to snap a five-game losing streak in the series.

The Blazers arrive in Indiana for the fourth game of a season-high seven-game road trip after a 110-99 win over the Wizards on Saturday - just their third victory in 12 games away from the Rose Garden. The win was an uplifting one for Portland, which hasn't earned back-to-back victories since Jan. 23 and 24, after it trailed by as much as 43 in a 104-86 loss to Boston on Friday.

"Whenever you lose, especially the way we lost, we're blessed to have an opportunity to come back the next night," said guard Jamal Crawford, who had 23 points against Washington.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the way with 30 points and shot 12 of 15 to go with 10 rebounds. The All-Star forward has averaged 24.7 points and shot 68.2 percent in his last three games after totaling 24 points in his previous two.

Amundson leads Pacers past Trail Blazers

By CLIFF BRUNT
Posted Mar 13 2012 10:55PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The collective voice rang out suddenly and unexpectedly: "Louuuuuu!!"

A few minutes later, it happened again. For a while, every time Lou Amundson touched the ball in the fourth quarter, the Pacers' reserve heard that same encouragement from the crowd.

He delivered, scoring a career-high 21 points to help Indiana beat the Portland Trail Blazers 92-75 on Tuesday night

Amundson shot 10 for 11 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. His previous season high in scoring was 11, but he had 13 points in the fourth quarter alone. It was just his second time scoring in double figures this season.

"Everybody was finding me under the basket wide open, so I was just trying to finish plays and make the most out of my opportunities," he said.

Pacers fans couldn't get enough. While Amundson was shooting free throws, "M-V-P" chants rang out from Area 55, home to the loudest, most rowdy group of Pacers fans. Amundson played 23 minutes, just the second time this season he's played more than 20.

Paul George, Danny Granger and George Hill each added 11 points for the Pacers. Hill returned after missing two games with a sprained left shoulder.

Indiana led by as many as 29 points and snapped a four-game losing streak. The performance was a good setup for Wednesday's game against Atlantic Division leader Philadelphia.

"It was great just to get a win," Pacers center Roy Hibbert said. "Any win right now was good, and now, we have a tough game ahead of us against Philadelphia. We're just going to get mentally prepared and ready to go."

It was one of Indiana's best defensive efforts of the season. Portland's five assists were the fewest by an NBA team this season. In fact, just once since the start of the 1986-87 season has a team had fewer assists in a game - the New Orleans Hornets had four on Dec. 12, 2010.

"Communication, I think, was the key to the game," Hill said. "We talked on the defensive end all the time and relied on each other and helped each other out. Any time we do that, we're going to be a tough team."

Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 points, but he made just 5 of 15 field goals. Hibbert, who guarded Aldridge often during the game, said the Pacers played him well.

"The team defense was good," Hibbert said. "We were just trying to help out as much as possible. We tried to make things difficult for him. He's a great player."

Nolan Smith scored 10 points for the Trail Blazers, who shot a season-low 31.3 percent from the field and made a season-low 20 field goals.

Indiana shot 54 percent to lead 48-38 at halftime. Hill led the Pacers with 11 points and David West had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Aldridge led Portland with 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting in the first half while the rest of the team went 4 for 19.

"The missing shots definitely hurt us," Smith said. "We obviously shot badly, and we let that affect our defense. As a team, you never let offense affect defense. But we did, and it just snowballed from there."

The Trail Blazers outscored Indiana 19-3 from the free-throw line in the first half to stay in the game.

Indiana began extending the lead early in the second half. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Granger put the Pacers up 58-41.

A three-point play by Tyler Hansbrough after the Pacers won a jump ball gave the Pacers a 66-47 lead, and an acrobatic layup by Darren Collison on a broken play pushed Indiana's lead to 20 points. A left-handed fastbreak layup by Collison bumped the lead to 72-50, and a 3 by George helped the Pacers take a 75-52 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Back-to-back layups by Amundson pushed the lead to 79-54 and forced Portland to call timeout.

An alley-oop from A.J. Price to Dahntay Jones increased Indiana's lead to 87-60.

"We were playing good `D,' and that enabled us to get out and break a little bit and speed up the tempo," Amundson said. "I think that was good for us."

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NOTES: Indianapolis native Greg Oden was with Portland and was on crutches on the sideline. Oden, Indiana's Mr. Basketball in 2006, is out with a left knee injury. ... The Pacers observed a moment of silence for former assistant coach Dick Harter, who died Monday in South Carolina at age 81. Harter coached the defense under Larry Bird when the Pacers made the NBA Finals in 2000. .... Pacers C Jeff Foster was not with the team because of a lingering back issue. ... Portland made 2 of 15 shots in the first quarter. The total was the fewest Indiana has allowed in a first quarter since last March 17 against Portland. It was the fewest field goals Portland has made in a first quarter since STATS, Inc. began tracking the statistic in 2002-03.

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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbruntap

Notebook: Pacers 92, Blazers 75

Posted Tuesday March 13, 2012 10:47PM

By Conrad Brunner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The last time the Indiana Pacers took the floor in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, they heard an unfamiliar sound: boos from the home crowd as they fell behind early and lost to Atlanta. Tuesday night, they heard a similarly unusual chant, but this time it had an entirely different meaning: "Loooooooooo." With the crowd calling his name whenever he touched the ball, journeyman Lou Amundson racked up a career-high 21 points and shot 10-of-11 as the Pacers routed Portland 92-75 to snap a four-game losing streak. With Amundson providing a major spark, the second unit opened an 18-point lead in the second quarter. The starters then blew it open in the third, pushing the advantage to 25 and the rout was on. The Pacers (24-16) led by as many as 29 and held Portland to .313 shooting. The Blazers (20-22) dropped to 1-3 on their seven-game road trip.

QUOTABLE: "Our bench was spectacular. They took charge in the second quarter and Lou Amundson was MVP. It was a really good team effort all the way around."
-- Pacers Coach Frank Vogel

THE STAT: With Amundson, George Hill (11) and Tyler Hansbrough (eight) doing most of the damage, the Indiana bench racked up 44 points, 22 rebounds and 15 assists.

TURNING POINT: Though Portland was ice-cold early, shooting 2-of-15 in the first quarter, the Pacers led just 19-15 as the Blazers made a steady procession to the free-throw line. That stopped when the second unit hit the floor in the second quarter as Amundson scored twice in an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 12 and later scored to extend it to 44-26. Portland cut it to 10 at halftime but the starters quickly took control with a 10-2 run early in the third.

QUOTABLE II: "I'm really feeling confident and tonight it felt really good out there. I feel I'm getting a lot more comfortable in our system and with the players' and coaches' encouragement." - Amundson

HOT: Amundson made his first nine shots before missing and continued his recent surge. In the last eight games, he has averaged 6.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and .564 shooting off the bench, perhaps easing the pressure on the Pacers front office to make a deal for another big man before Thursday's trading deadline.

NOT: There were several notable stat lines from the Blazers, who had just two players score in double figures. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 but shot 5-of-15. Raymond Felton was 2-of-8, Gerald Wallace 1-of-4 and Jamal Crawford 2-of-7. The Blazers were 5-of-22 from the 3-point line and had just five assists against 15 turnovers.

QUOTABLE III: "I know Coach (Dick) Harter would be proud of our 31 percent field goal defense tonight."
-- Vogel, referring to the former Pacers assistant who passed away Monday night.

GOOD MOVE: With the second unit playing well, Vogel let them stay in the game much longer than usual in the second quarter, riding their energy wave to an 18-point lead before they obviously tired and the starters were brought back.

BAD MOVE: Marcus Camby was healthy for exactly one possession, tweaking his left shoulder and leaving shortly thereafter. Without their primary interior defensive presence, the Blazers were shredded 50-16 on points in the paint and outrebounded 50-38.

NOTABLE: The Pacers have won seven in a row against teams with losing records, but have dropped their last eight against opponents with winning marks. They'll try to snap that streak Wednesday at home against Philadelphia. ... Jeff Foster missed his sixth straight game with a sore back. He'll be out at least the rest of this week before being re-evaluated next week. ... The Blazers went 8:21 without a field goal in the first half, missing eight shots in a row spanning the first and second periods.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, Friday @ New York, Saturday vs. New York. For the Blazers, Wednesday @ New York, Friday @ Chicago, Sunday @ Oklahoma City.

• Trail Blazers: Oden, Williams
• Pacers: --

• Trail Blazers: --
• Pacers: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #8 Marc Davis, #16 David Guthrie, #44 Eli Roe
• Attendance: 10933
• Duration: 2:08