Pacers measuring progress against elite opponents
Related Images
By some measures, the Pacers' preseason schedule might seem a bit on the brutish side.
All seven of their games, including tonight's matchup with Houston in Conseco Fieldhouse, are against teams that made the playoffs in 2008-09.
This includes two games against the Western Conference finalist Denver Nuggets (the Pacers split the matchups in Asia last week), with the final four coming against the Rockets (53-29), Hornets (49-33) Saturday in New Orleans, NBA Finalist Orlando (next Wednesday on the road) and Southwest Division winner and perennial title contender San Antonio (next Friday in Bloomington, Ind.).
For a team with designs on making the playoffs in 2009-10, however, it's just what Coach Jim O'Brien ordered.
"It's always good to play top-flight teams in the preseason," he said. "I welcome it."
What do you get from playing preseason games against teams that averaged 52 victories?
"Well, you get Carmelo Anthony dropping 45 on you," said O'Brien, referring to the Pacers' last outing, a 128-112 loss to the Nuggets in Beijing. "It was a very good experience to play Denver back-to-back, especially coming off a win, and seeing the pressure that great individual players put on you.
"Certainly, Houston doesn't have Yao (Ming) but they're a formidable team and then you go to New Orleans and you have to play against (Chris) Paul and (David) West and (Peja) Stojakovic and (Emeka) Okafor. They all present challenges to you. They can defend at a very high level … so you're trying to score against teams you know take pride in defense."
The Rockets are without their top two players, Yao (left foot surgery) and Tracy McGrady (left knee microfracture surgery).
The Pacers will be without Mike Dunleavy (knee), Tyler Hansbrough (shin) and Travis Diener (foot).
O'Brien balancing player vs. team evaluation
Typically, the first half of the preseason leans toward individual player evaluation in terms of competition for places in the rotation and roster spots, while the second is more for overall team preparation.Because of injuries, the plethora of new faces and the Asia trip, O'Brien has had to alter that schedule a bit.
"Certainly, (player evaluation) is my mindset in practices," he said. "I'm looking at trying to start to get our rotations down but you're dealing with not only new players but new players that every one of them are fighting for a rotation spot. You're still evaluating where they are and how they fit in.
"You have to get Luther (Head) acclimated, you have to get Dahntay (Jones) acclimated, Sol (Jones), Tyler when he gets healthy. And at the same time you have to bring along A.J. Price to get him touches in the preseason because a rookie point guard with this many veteran point guards in front of him is not going to get the luxury all year of playing against top-flight guards. So you need to juggle a lot of different thoughts you're having but at the same time you have to get ready for the beginning of the season."
Other than Denver's 70-point second half Sunday in Beijing, O'Brien has generally been pleased with the team's defensive effort. He has not been happy with turnovers – 66 in three games – and free throw disparity.
"I think we had a pretty good one-and-a-half games overseas, good mindset, good tempo. We just didn't have a good second half (Sunday)," he said. "We played without Danny (Granger, who was ejected in the second quarter), which was important, so we were struggling trying to find enough ways to put points on the board while we were creating a disposition.
"Based on our practices, what Earl Watson and Dahntay have brought to the equation from the standpoint of creating a defensive disposition has been consistent when they're on the basketball court. We want to pressure without fouling; to have the opposition going to the foul line kills our tempo."
The Pacers have been outscored 106-79 from the free-throw line.
Players adjusting to time changes
You know the old saying about the first game back from a road game being tough? Try the first game back from a 16,000-mile road trip to Asia sandwiched by 17-hour plane flights.Re-adjusting body clocks has been a challenge for some players, given the 12-hour difference in time zones between Beijing and Indianapolis.
"I'm still adjusting," said Danny Granger. "I went to bed at 5 (Thursday morning) and I had to wake up at 9 to come here (for practice). I woke up at 5 (Wednesday) afternoon … I've been all over the place. My eyes are all bugged out."
Troy Murphy said he has experienced few problems because he slept heavily on the plane, but Watson is struggling to keep pace with the busy schedule.
"I wouldn't say (the problem is) finding energy. It's like everything's been a whirlwind," he said. "It's happening so quick. After the flight it was back to practice the next day so for us it was how do we get back into the transition of being here and taking advantage of being at home for so long."
O'Brien said, if the players are weary, they haven't shown it in on the court.
"All I can do is gauge how they're practicing," he said, "and they've been very sharp."
