The Official Indiana Pacers Thread

"I don't take pride in tossing a little guy like that" - Hibbert

lol

When something like that starts, it will be forever scary as a Pacers fan. It wasn't too bad when all was said and done but you never know how far it will go and boy did it hurt the Pacers badly in the past.
 
I still cant believe Artest went into the stands to fight a fan

True, but like someone else said, he got hit in the face with a soda. I think the fact that he was laying down and it landed directly on his face would make it even worse. Probably got some soda up his nose and in his eyes.

And also, it all happened after Ben Wallace went at him and gave him a hard shove in the chest. Everything was starting to escalate and Artest removed himself by walking away laying down on the scorers table. Might not have been the best move acting cocky like that but he had already removed himself from one situation. Then a fan proceeded to assault him by hitting him in the face with a soda.

It's easy to say Artest is stupid for going into the crowd and beating up a fan but a lot of people would react the same way if this happened to them. For whatever reason, some people think it's okay to be inhumane towards celebrities(I'll just refer to an athlete as one). I'm usually the last person that's an apologist for celebrities when they're looking for sympathy, especially about money but some people say and do things to them that they wouldn't to the average person. Somehow they feel it's alright. I wonder how many other times that fan has thrown something at someone's face. Maybe a lot if he can't control himself at the game but the thing is, I doubt it. I doubt goes around throwing stuff at people but because it's a celebrity and he's in the stands, he felt he could get away with it and it's not a big deal. Some people just don't look at athletes the same and that's why fans can be really nasty.
 
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Any word on Derrick Rose's possible return for the playoffs because it's looking like the Pacers are going to draw the Bulls in the first round. I hope he's not coming back because the Pacers are stuck in an end of season tailspin, and IF Rose decides to come back, I don't see any way the Pacers get out of the first round. The Bulls do have the tiebreaker (I think) against the Hawks, so there's still always the hope that the Bulls could make their way up to the 5th seed.
 
Rose has said if he feels he can play he'll play but he's not going to come back if he's not ready. I would say it's 99% certain he's not coming back. Noah and other Bulls players have been banged up too so part of me actually prefers them over the Hawks. I don't like that the Hawks have athletic bigs. Hibbert struggles with them and they tend to out leap him for rebounds. Josh Smith could run circles around West offensively but offensively West would have his way with Josh Smith too. West likes to lower his shoulder to knock nudge defenders off him and he does it to guys a lot bigger than Josh Smith. He'd have no problem muscling Smith off him. Let's just hope the NBA continues letting it slide because everyone once in a while they call him for an offensive foul and they could call it more than they do, that's for sure.

If the NBA has it their way, we'll be playing the Bulls. They'd love for us to play each other as division rivals. Bulls fans hate us and I hate them. When we played them two years ago as the 8th seed, we got so gipped. I believe we led in the final few minutes 4 of those games. But the refs just kept putting Rose to the line for standing near him. This time, we'd be the favorites and I would enjoy some revenge even if they don't have Rose.
 
If all the pieces fall into place this could be an awesome playoffs for Pacers fans. If they find a way to make it to the conference finals it would be Bulls, Knicks and Heat. That's would make for an enjoyable month and a half for me.
 
If all the pieces fall into place this could be an awesome playoffs for Pacers fans. If they find a way to make it to the conference finals it would be Bulls, Knicks and Heat. That's would make for an enjoyable month and a half for me.

That's the road I prefer too. But if we were to have to play the Hawks in round one and the Celtics upset the Knicks, I would be okay with that. We have some Atlanta fans on this site so it would be fun talking to them and I don't hate the Celtics as much as I hate the Knicks but I do hate Boston sports in general. Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins... don't like any of em. I think the second round will be the Knicks but the Hawks losing to the Raptors last night the Hawks and Bulls are tied. Bulls have the tie breaker for the 5th seed so as of last night, we're playing the Hawks. I don't know how I feel about that.

So tonight...

Bulls beat the Wizards = we play the Hawks
Hawks lose to the Knicks = we play the Hawks
Bulls lose to the Wizards + Hawks beat the Knicks = we play the Bulls

The Hawks loss to the Raptors last night set us up to play them. Only thing we have going for us is the Knicks bench will be playing so Hawks could beat them and John Wall has been going off so they could beat the Bulls.

Also, we go for the elusive win #50 against the 76ers tonight. I'm sure we'll be playing our bench so I'm not banking on getting it.
 
Free agency starts tomorrow, and the Pacers have to find a way to get David West resigned. There may not be a lot they can do to significantly improve the team this year, but hopefully they can get last years team largely back together and let Paul George's continued development drive some improvement. With Rose coming back for the Bulls next year and the massive improvement the Nets are making, it's hard to see the Pacers finishing quite as high as last year, but I think they can still finish 4th or 5th in the East.
 
CJ Watson to the Pacers is huge for us. We needed a true PG so bad, couldn't be happier bringing in a Vol and a good true PG.
CJ going to be playing alot in Indy. Love It

They'll sign West back, and hopefully continue to work on the bench. Wouldn't mind seeing Tony Allen as another guard to come of the bench. Really need some quality forwards. Talk of Chris Copeland who has been overseas and with the Knicks last year but I don't know. Would be better than Psycho T I guess
 
CJ Watson to the Pacers is huge for us. We needed a true PG so bad, couldn't be happier bringing in a Vol and a good true PG.
CJ going to be playing alot in Indy. Love It

They'll sign West back, and hopefully continue to work on the bench. Wouldn't mind seeing Tony Allen as another guard to come of the bench. Really need some quality forwards. Talk of Chris Copeland who has been overseas and with the Knicks last year but I don't know. Would be better than Psycho T I guess

I've actually grown to like Hansbrough. He's far from the most talented guy out there, but he gives it his all and usually finds a way to piss guys on the other team off at the same time. Like the CJ Watson pickup. I think they need to just go ahead and get what they can in exchange for Granger. I know it'll be giving him away for pennies on the dollar, but I still think they'd be better off just clearing that massive contract and spending the money elsewhere. They were a game away from the Finals without him anyway, and I honestly don't see that his presence would have gotten them over the hump.
 
Wow. That's a lot, IMO, but in their case I think it's money well spent. They could be a legit contender depending on what they do with Granger.
 
Does this impact Granger's future?

It's assumed that the Pacers will let Granger walk as a free agent and re-sign Lance Stephenson if he's within their price range.

Granger is 30 and a half years old coming off a serious knee injury while Lance Stephenson just turned 23 less than a month ago and still has untapped potential.

The only way Granger returns over Stephenson imo is if someone is willing to role the dice and give Stephenson a larger contract based on potential and Granger's stock drops making him the cheaper alternative.

More than likely Granger is gone though and Stephenson will be retained.

G George Hill - 26 years old
G Lance Stephenson - 23 years old
F Paul George - 23 years old
F David West - 32 years old
C Roy Hibbert - 26 years old

That was the starting line up this past season and those are their ages as of today. Odds are the Pacers would prefer to keep the young core together. They almost beat Miami without Granger so it just makes sense to go with Stephenson over Granger in the future. Although, I think Granger will start over Stephenson this season. Which is both good and bad in my opinion. I would like Granger's scoring off the bench because that was the bench's biggest weakness last season but at the same time, bringing Lance Stephenson off the bench will probably save the Pacers a few million when re-signing him. I have a feeling Stephenson would demand a larger contract and more teams would offer him one if he's a starter.
 
Scola is a nice addition. Pacers should have beaten Miami last year in the Eastern Conference Finals. Looking good so far.
 
Scola is a nice addition. Pacers should have beaten Miami last year in the Eastern Conference Finals. Looking good so far.

Scola is a significant upgrade over Hansbrough, but part of me still misses Psycho T's bull in a china shop tenacity.
 
Scola is a significant upgrade over Hansbrough, but part of me still misses Psycho T's bull in a china shop tenacity.

No way. Give me T any day. Scola is so overrated. So far he's got almost as many turnovers as rebounds.

Nice W. I expect the Pacers to sweep the overrated Nets because of their edge on the boards.
 
No way. Give me T any day. Scola is so overrated. So far he's got almost as many turnovers as rebounds.

Nice W. I expect the Pacers to sweep the overrated Nets because of their edge on the boards.

He had a bad first couple of games, but I thought he looked pretty good against the Raptors last night. To me, the biggest upgrade he brings is the existence of a jump shot. Hansbrough isn't much of a scoring threat from outside of about 5 feet unless he's at the FT line. However, they definitely lose something on the glass by bringing in Scola.
 

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