vs.
Owens	Point Guard	Davis
Rush	Shooting Guard	Ellis
Granger	Small Forward	Jackson
Dunleavy	Power Forward	Harrington
O’Neal	Center	Biedrins
Daniels	Sixth Man	Croshere
O'Brien	Coach	Nelson

Pacers seeking stronger finishes

By Conrad Brunner | Updated Jan. 16, 2008

PACERS vs. WARRIORS Tonight, 7 p.m. Conseco Fieldhouse TV: FSN-Indiana Radio: WFNI 1070-AM

Coach Jim O'Brien has been encouraged by the team's performance in three games since switching to a small lineup. Though they lost two of the three, they had opportunities to beat both Phoenix and Golden State.

"We put ourselves in position to win all three games with the change in the lineup, should've had the Phoenix game and certainly should've had the one at Golden State," O'Brien said, "but despite our going 1-4 on the road I see really positive signs from our basketball team both defensively and offensively."

The losses to the Suns and Warriors, however, reflected an ongoing problem that hasn't been influenced by lineup combinations. Indiana led the Suns 85-69 in the third quarter but scored just one point in the final 5:30 of regulation as Phoenix rallied to force overtime then went on to win 129-122. The Pacers led the Warriors 36-19 in the second quarter and 65-54 in the third but the home team took over from there and won 106-101. They were the eighth and ninth instances this season of the Pacers losing a game after building a double-digit lead.

Here's a striking piece of math: had the Pacers won every game this season in which they built a double-digit lead, they'd be 26-13. That's a bit much to ask, right? So let's take a more reasoned approach. Say they had won every game in which they held a double-digit lead in the second half. In that case, they'd be 22-17.

"Right now we're in such a predicament of trying to figure out how to win games," said Jermaine O'Neal. "It's not like we're playing bad basketball. We're playing good basketball but we're just not finishing games. We've got to be able to take care of the ball. If you're putting up 25, 26 turnovers a game it's hard to beat any team at any level. We can really score the ball so if we can find a medium on playing fast and getting up a lot of shots but taking care of the ball at the same time, I think we're going to be fine – and also being able to stop dribble penetration, that's really been our Achilles heel all year."

Both the Suns and Warriors tortured the Pacers with their ability to get to the basket quickly. In Phoenix, it was Leandro Barbosa racking up 19 of his 27 points in the second half. In Oakland, it was Monta Ellis and Baron Davis combining for 33 of their 56 points in the second half.

"The majority of NBA games come down to the last four or five minutes," said Travis Diener. "It's a matter of getting good shots and getting stops. Against teams like Phoenix and Golden State, there's going to be so many runs in these games. People like to say we've blown all these leads but we've come back in a lot of games, as well (the Pacers have won three games in which they trailed by double figures). With the way we play and the way the NBA is, you've got to be able to deal with runs. Unfortunately these last few games we've gotten up but we just couldn't close it out."

Jamaal Tinsley will miss tonight's game with a sore left knee. O'Brien indicated Tuesday Andre Owens would return to the starting lineup.

David Harrison is eligible to practice with the team despite having three games left on his NBA suspension but is working out separately.

"He's getting his individual workouts with our staff to make sure he stays conditioned to make sure that when he is off his NBA suspension that he'll be in basketball shape," O'Brien said. "The other reason is I don't want somebody that's not playing for us to be taking anybody else's reps away from them in practice."