Pacers seek consistency in final tuneups
 Roy Hibbert and Danny Granger battle for a rebound Saturday in New Orleans. (NBAE/Getty Images) |
When they've been good, the Pacers have been very, very good.
Then there are the other three games.
With two preseason games remaining this week, Wednesday in Orlando and Friday against San Antonio at Indiana University's Assembly Hall, the Pacers are seeking to level out the peaks and valleys and find some consistency.
"I think we make daily strides and we are not consistent at either end right now," said Coach Jim O'Brien. "Some games we pressure the ball the way we want. Against Houston, we had great defensive disposition. We did that without fouling. Sometimes, we run our offense crisply without turning the ball over. Sometimes, we foul too much and turn the ball over. I don't think any team is going to be consistent right now but I see almost daily strides with our basketball team."
The Pacers looked like playoff contenders in dominating Denver 126-104 on Oct. 8 in Taipei and routing Houston 119-104 this past Friday in Conseco Fieldhouse. In those two games, they limited their opponents to .372 shooting from the field and produced 51 steals and blocked shots.
They've lost their other three preseason outings, most recently a 108-96 decision in New Orleans Saturday night in which they let a fourth-quarter lead slip away thanks in part to turnovers (22 for the game), poor shooting (.402) and a defense that yielded 32 points in the final period.
"You can attribute it to a few things," said Danny Granger. "We're not all on the same page yet. Sometimes we are, sometimes we're not. We just have to get there."
O'Brien pointed out the starting lineup is largely intact from last year, which provides a good base.
"As long as you have a core group, then you should be able to get going at a pretty fair pace," he said. "We'll try to play to win the basketball games and play the rotations that you would have. We're going to have 10 healthy bodies against Orlando so all 10 of those guys have got to play in the rotation. You hope to build some consistency at both ends of the floor in both games."
Injuries beginning to add up
Five players missed Monday's practice and will not play Wednesday in Orlando: T.J. Ford(strained left hamstring), Jeff Foster(back), Travis Diener(foot), Tyler Hansbrough(shin) and Mike Dunleavy(knee).Ford's injury, the newest on the list, was not believed to be serious. Earl Watsonlikely will start Wednesday.
"If Orlando was our first (regular-season) game, we'd strap him up and he'd play," O'Brien said. "It's nothing dramatic. Hopefully we'll be able to have him against San Antonio."
Hansbrough has been working on-court with coaches after practice for a couple of weeks and is making progress.
"They want to see how he does after they've upped his workouts," said O'Brien. "I think (Tuesday) if he has responded well, then maybe they'll get him in the halfcourt but he has to prove his shin can handle what he's been doing."
Dunleavy has yet to be cleared for on-court work.
Bird story not ruffling any feathers
Larry Bird wasn't commenting on a story that appeared in Sunday's New York Post quoting unnamed sources as saying he plans to leave the Pacers organization after this season, but O'Brien dismissed the report."He's not leaving. I know that for a fact," O'Brien said. "I don't think you worry about any stories that have unnamed sources in them. To me, that's not something you should pay attention to."
Granger said he wasn't even aware of the story.
"This is the first I've heard about it," he said when asked for his reaction by a local television reporter. "If that was the case we wouldn't like it, obviously. We love Larry here. But that's the most I know about it."
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