We were just too big for them. All those years of Kenny Thomas and Shareef, and Corliss and etc. etc. -- its been a long wait to be able to make that statement.
Now we are beginning to throw out an explosive backourt AND a giant frontcourt, and at a certain point its going to start resulting in wins, and a lot of them. We need more season now. And these developments make me even more nervous about a potential move disrutping things, a potential lockout disrupting things, and a potential coaching change after Westphal has finally discovered and settled on a very effective power pairing of Cousins and Daly.
Official Boxscore
Garcia ( A- ) -- turned in a strong game, maybe stronger than the numbers, that looked like it might not happen after he left after a wrist injury early...although as usual with Cisco the "injury" deserves some quotes around it. My dad indoctrinated me early on in life into old school male machismo where you show no pain and play through it with gritted teeth. Cisco appears to have been taught somewhat different lessons. Joke was that it took forever for a trainer to look at it -- minutes even. Classic effects of boy who cried wolf syndrome. In any case a few minutes after Cisco's great agony he was back and showing no ill effects. Was not hitting his jumpers early but was getting to the hoop and racking up layups. Nice help block on Hibbert too to save a hoop, and was showing quick hands on defense all night long on his way ot a 5stl 3blk night. Working hard on defense vs. Granger, and for 2 1/2 quarters had done a nice job. But lost his head in the 3rd, and the aftereffects had us in danger. Picked up a tehcnical in the midquarter after the officials blew a sideline call (the officials blew a number of close calls against us tonight). Cisco's reaction was bad enough he looked in danfer of being thrown out and we had to pull him. And as we lost our composure, the Indy crowd got into it, Granger and Collison fed of it and went off on runs, and outr big lead got shaved all the way to 9 at one point. Not sure if Cisco could have done anything about Granger's run if he had been in -- Granger hit three long jumpers over Donte that were well contested, and got fouled on a three when Donte got bumped into him -- but he was not there to try. After we got things stabilized (Reke in particular), Cisco returned to drain a long three out of a timeout in the early 4th to make the lead 21 again. Got in oppositon and took an open court charge, but while minutes were somewhat limited due to foul trouble, actually ended up getting to play the final 3 minutes of this one as a "power" forward as we went super-tiny three guards and a swingman to coutner Indy's desperation late game press.
Cousins ( A ) -- strong active start with several offensive follows on the offenisve glass, a pass leading the break, and a blocked shot. Dominating the glass early, but has to know who his opponents are -- when you are 6'11" 280lbs you take Hansbrough inside, not face him up. In the second quarter made a spectacular play on the offensive boards, holding off Foster I think it was with one arm, snatching an o-reb with the other, and going up for the finish with a dunk. Strength, hands all on full display there. Dominant toward the end of the half with some special plays flashing the whole package -- spectacular hustle board out near the three point line and all in one motion rifled a pass over his shoulder to Dalembert inside, who dropped it to Thornton for his only hit of the half. Then rifled another one inside to JT. Took severwl good charges throughout the game. Figured out thye post thing after half as he used stong post moves over both Foster and Hansbrough. Then a long jumepr. Couple of almost spetacular drives down the stretch that just rolled off as he maybe started getting a little sloppy mentally. With us not handling the Pacers press well, was actually subbed out for the final few minutes in favor of Jeter -- a full 1ft substitution you don't see very often. Very strong game across the board dominating the Pacers. Should be noted BTW that much like the Reke situation in the backcourt, this was one of those games where having Daly paired wiht him really helped free him up -- he sometimes has problems against extreme size/length, and yet Hibbert was occupied with Daly and rarely matched on Cousins.
Dalembert ( B+ ) -- struggles inside early trying to score over the bigger Hibbert, but gave his normal contributions on the baords and defense. You can just see he and Cousins really developing some swagger out there together -- can see the belief in each other. Its not just chemistry, its high fiving yeah we bad confidence. Again I say keeping them together could be a huge key going forward. Twin Towers teams are hard to match up with, as Indiana found out tonight. Played real well in the 2nd, but picked up back to back fouls trying to sotp big Hibbert again near the end of the half -- one of the few times we've seen Daly visibly struggle against a guy's size. Cousins sometimes does, but Daly is very long and has been around a long time and normally matches upn very well. Hibbert however is 7'2" and jsut as long. Was contributing well after the break -- notice the double double in only 25min, and was resorting to quick turnarounds in the post off the catch before Hibbert could react. On one of them along the baseline on a Beno feed, he took the ball up so quickly off the catch that he never even looked at the hoop until the ball was leaving his hand. Amazing little shot really to have that good a feel for where you are, with no backboard, no look at the rim, and having to get it up extra quick. Sat for the entire stretch run as Indy went small, and of course inevitably so did Westphal. He was strong and steady thoguh, and might have been useful to have when we were losing our composure in the final minutes.
Thronton ( C- ) -- the obvious opening question if you did not watch the game and only saw the boxscore, would be were Marcu's struggles somehow related to Reke's return? And the answere would be not at all. He played perahps less than 10 minutes alongise Reke, and was already something like 0-7 from the field before Reke even checked in. Just had one of those games. And how. Was off both inside and out, missing things he normally does not miss, and forcing a few into the teeth of the Indy defense. Started th game 0-9. 0-9! And only finally got his first and only basket of the first half off a tremendous scramble play effort by Cousins, to Daly then dropped off to Marcus for the layup. And yet despite the extreme struggles we were still up 18 at half. One thing he was doing, and continued to do all game, was hit the glass hard. We kind of lost control of the boards for a stretch after half, but we absolutely dominated the glass in the first half and won the gamelong war, and after our three bigs Marcus was the critical little guy providing support. Offensive struggles continued into the 3rd, but after picking up a bogus technical for swinging his elbows on a board, maybe it made him mad. He came back to hit his first jumepr of the game, made a beautiful pass on the break at fullspeed to Donte for an alley oop, then dropped a three. Still was not scorchign, but definitely came to life. Did not respond to the Pacers pressure late in the 4th with composure and made several bad passes while looking shaky. But made a couple of good plays down the stretch as we closed them out, poking balls away and leading the break.
Udrih ( B- ) -- I have relatively few notes on Beno as he stepped back again with Reke returning and the frontcourt rekeing (get it? rekeing? Ha!) havoc. Nothing much in the early going before being replaced by Reke as we tried Reke/Thornton first. After returning for his own stint alongside the new guy, immediately drained a three on a nice Reke kickout. Missed one of his little jumpers to start the third and started to lose control of Collison as the Pacers cut into the lead. Was steady enoguh down the stretch as we started to get tight again, but his own steadiness did not seem to bleed over to the rest of the team. I was almost tempted to C+ this, the numbers were right on his season averages and on the effieicnet side, but you just barely noticed him. Not bad, just churchmouse quiet.
Bench
Greene ( B+ ) -- staying right with Granger on defense, and drained a three on a Reke kickout as soon as Reke came in -- one of the interesting factors in the keep Greene or let him go debate this summer is that he is one of the guys who works realy well with Reke. Kept on hitting as he was in can't miss mode again early...until throwing up a heat check prayer that hasd no hope. After returning in the third had Granger hit 3 long jumpers over him, then fouled him shooting a three. But thing was that on none of those plays did e play bad defense. He was right there challenging (and got bumped him Granger for the foul), guy juat got hot. Responded wiht several more hoops of his own working with Reke again -- following a Reke miss on the break, and knocking down another three off the drive and kick. There is synergy there. How's another 15pt in 18min night for the man who can not shoot straight strike you. Strikes me just fine.
Thompson ( B- ) -- the "other big" for most of the evening, but provided just what you need from an "other big", keeping up our strong boardwork, being efficient, and minimizing dropoff when the starters went to the bench. Got a dunk from Evans to start the 4th (JT is one of the other guys who notably works well with Reke), and would play well enoguh that in the final minutes, as we went 4 little guys 1 big guy to counter the Pacers press, it was JT, not Cousins, not Daly, who got the call to play that big role. A biut slow/overwhlemed on a couple of rebounds while he was in there all alone, but in general held down the fort enough for us to pull away again.
Reke ( B+ ) -- into the game and immediately with a little half drive and kick to Donte for a three as this game would be defined by Reke's extreme effectiveness as a passer. You could see some rust on his shot, but he hit Greene, then Jackson with a laser, then a slashing Cisco, then Beno for a three, and was just making it look easy on his way to 5 first half assists in about 10 minutes. Finally got the offense going with a +1 ont he break. Bad pass turnover up top after returning in the third, but would play a pivotal role in staving off another collapse, as with the lead cut all the way to 9 he came out of the timeout, posted Collison, and saavily drew the +1 using his size. Followed that with another dish to Greene for a three, and then another good pass to Daly , who got fouled and pushed the lead out again going into the 4th. For punctuation added an 8th assist to JT for the dunk to begin the 4th quarter. Maybe not quite what you expected, but a real nice return to action.
Jackson ( INC ) -- in just long enough in the 2nd quarter to have Grant & Jerry gush about him I am sure. Looked good, took a sharp pass from Reke and dunked it home, and his minutes seemed more limited by all the other bigs' strong games than anything he himself did wrong.
Jeter ( INC ) -- in for the very first time with 3:30 to go and us staggering against the Pacers press. Gave us 3 ballhandling guards and made all the difference, althoguh Pooh himself did little, missing his shots and havin his primary value just be as another competente ballhandled to help bring it up, and who made an unappealing target to foul.
Now we are beginning to throw out an explosive backourt AND a giant frontcourt, and at a certain point its going to start resulting in wins, and a lot of them. We need more season now. And these developments make me even more nervous about a potential move disrutping things, a potential lockout disrupting things, and a potential coaching change after Westphal has finally discovered and settled on a very effective power pairing of Cousins and Daly.
Official Boxscore
Garcia ( A- ) -- turned in a strong game, maybe stronger than the numbers, that looked like it might not happen after he left after a wrist injury early...although as usual with Cisco the "injury" deserves some quotes around it. My dad indoctrinated me early on in life into old school male machismo where you show no pain and play through it with gritted teeth. Cisco appears to have been taught somewhat different lessons. Joke was that it took forever for a trainer to look at it -- minutes even. Classic effects of boy who cried wolf syndrome. In any case a few minutes after Cisco's great agony he was back and showing no ill effects. Was not hitting his jumpers early but was getting to the hoop and racking up layups. Nice help block on Hibbert too to save a hoop, and was showing quick hands on defense all night long on his way ot a 5stl 3blk night. Working hard on defense vs. Granger, and for 2 1/2 quarters had done a nice job. But lost his head in the 3rd, and the aftereffects had us in danger. Picked up a tehcnical in the midquarter after the officials blew a sideline call (the officials blew a number of close calls against us tonight). Cisco's reaction was bad enough he looked in danfer of being thrown out and we had to pull him. And as we lost our composure, the Indy crowd got into it, Granger and Collison fed of it and went off on runs, and outr big lead got shaved all the way to 9 at one point. Not sure if Cisco could have done anything about Granger's run if he had been in -- Granger hit three long jumpers over Donte that were well contested, and got fouled on a three when Donte got bumped into him -- but he was not there to try. After we got things stabilized (Reke in particular), Cisco returned to drain a long three out of a timeout in the early 4th to make the lead 21 again. Got in oppositon and took an open court charge, but while minutes were somewhat limited due to foul trouble, actually ended up getting to play the final 3 minutes of this one as a "power" forward as we went super-tiny three guards and a swingman to coutner Indy's desperation late game press.
Cousins ( A ) -- strong active start with several offensive follows on the offenisve glass, a pass leading the break, and a blocked shot. Dominating the glass early, but has to know who his opponents are -- when you are 6'11" 280lbs you take Hansbrough inside, not face him up. In the second quarter made a spectacular play on the offensive boards, holding off Foster I think it was with one arm, snatching an o-reb with the other, and going up for the finish with a dunk. Strength, hands all on full display there. Dominant toward the end of the half with some special plays flashing the whole package -- spectacular hustle board out near the three point line and all in one motion rifled a pass over his shoulder to Dalembert inside, who dropped it to Thornton for his only hit of the half. Then rifled another one inside to JT. Took severwl good charges throughout the game. Figured out thye post thing after half as he used stong post moves over both Foster and Hansbrough. Then a long jumepr. Couple of almost spetacular drives down the stretch that just rolled off as he maybe started getting a little sloppy mentally. With us not handling the Pacers press well, was actually subbed out for the final few minutes in favor of Jeter -- a full 1ft substitution you don't see very often. Very strong game across the board dominating the Pacers. Should be noted BTW that much like the Reke situation in the backcourt, this was one of those games where having Daly paired wiht him really helped free him up -- he sometimes has problems against extreme size/length, and yet Hibbert was occupied with Daly and rarely matched on Cousins.
Dalembert ( B+ ) -- struggles inside early trying to score over the bigger Hibbert, but gave his normal contributions on the baords and defense. You can just see he and Cousins really developing some swagger out there together -- can see the belief in each other. Its not just chemistry, its high fiving yeah we bad confidence. Again I say keeping them together could be a huge key going forward. Twin Towers teams are hard to match up with, as Indiana found out tonight. Played real well in the 2nd, but picked up back to back fouls trying to sotp big Hibbert again near the end of the half -- one of the few times we've seen Daly visibly struggle against a guy's size. Cousins sometimes does, but Daly is very long and has been around a long time and normally matches upn very well. Hibbert however is 7'2" and jsut as long. Was contributing well after the break -- notice the double double in only 25min, and was resorting to quick turnarounds in the post off the catch before Hibbert could react. On one of them along the baseline on a Beno feed, he took the ball up so quickly off the catch that he never even looked at the hoop until the ball was leaving his hand. Amazing little shot really to have that good a feel for where you are, with no backboard, no look at the rim, and having to get it up extra quick. Sat for the entire stretch run as Indy went small, and of course inevitably so did Westphal. He was strong and steady thoguh, and might have been useful to have when we were losing our composure in the final minutes.
Thronton ( C- ) -- the obvious opening question if you did not watch the game and only saw the boxscore, would be were Marcu's struggles somehow related to Reke's return? And the answere would be not at all. He played perahps less than 10 minutes alongise Reke, and was already something like 0-7 from the field before Reke even checked in. Just had one of those games. And how. Was off both inside and out, missing things he normally does not miss, and forcing a few into the teeth of the Indy defense. Started th game 0-9. 0-9! And only finally got his first and only basket of the first half off a tremendous scramble play effort by Cousins, to Daly then dropped off to Marcus for the layup. And yet despite the extreme struggles we were still up 18 at half. One thing he was doing, and continued to do all game, was hit the glass hard. We kind of lost control of the boards for a stretch after half, but we absolutely dominated the glass in the first half and won the gamelong war, and after our three bigs Marcus was the critical little guy providing support. Offensive struggles continued into the 3rd, but after picking up a bogus technical for swinging his elbows on a board, maybe it made him mad. He came back to hit his first jumepr of the game, made a beautiful pass on the break at fullspeed to Donte for an alley oop, then dropped a three. Still was not scorchign, but definitely came to life. Did not respond to the Pacers pressure late in the 4th with composure and made several bad passes while looking shaky. But made a couple of good plays down the stretch as we closed them out, poking balls away and leading the break.
Udrih ( B- ) -- I have relatively few notes on Beno as he stepped back again with Reke returning and the frontcourt rekeing (get it? rekeing? Ha!) havoc. Nothing much in the early going before being replaced by Reke as we tried Reke/Thornton first. After returning for his own stint alongside the new guy, immediately drained a three on a nice Reke kickout. Missed one of his little jumpers to start the third and started to lose control of Collison as the Pacers cut into the lead. Was steady enoguh down the stretch as we started to get tight again, but his own steadiness did not seem to bleed over to the rest of the team. I was almost tempted to C+ this, the numbers were right on his season averages and on the effieicnet side, but you just barely noticed him. Not bad, just churchmouse quiet.
Bench
Greene ( B+ ) -- staying right with Granger on defense, and drained a three on a Reke kickout as soon as Reke came in -- one of the interesting factors in the keep Greene or let him go debate this summer is that he is one of the guys who works realy well with Reke. Kept on hitting as he was in can't miss mode again early...until throwing up a heat check prayer that hasd no hope. After returning in the third had Granger hit 3 long jumpers over him, then fouled him shooting a three. But thing was that on none of those plays did e play bad defense. He was right there challenging (and got bumped him Granger for the foul), guy juat got hot. Responded wiht several more hoops of his own working with Reke again -- following a Reke miss on the break, and knocking down another three off the drive and kick. There is synergy there. How's another 15pt in 18min night for the man who can not shoot straight strike you. Strikes me just fine.
Thompson ( B- ) -- the "other big" for most of the evening, but provided just what you need from an "other big", keeping up our strong boardwork, being efficient, and minimizing dropoff when the starters went to the bench. Got a dunk from Evans to start the 4th (JT is one of the other guys who notably works well with Reke), and would play well enoguh that in the final minutes, as we went 4 little guys 1 big guy to counter the Pacers press, it was JT, not Cousins, not Daly, who got the call to play that big role. A biut slow/overwhlemed on a couple of rebounds while he was in there all alone, but in general held down the fort enough for us to pull away again.
Reke ( B+ ) -- into the game and immediately with a little half drive and kick to Donte for a three as this game would be defined by Reke's extreme effectiveness as a passer. You could see some rust on his shot, but he hit Greene, then Jackson with a laser, then a slashing Cisco, then Beno for a three, and was just making it look easy on his way to 5 first half assists in about 10 minutes. Finally got the offense going with a +1 ont he break. Bad pass turnover up top after returning in the third, but would play a pivotal role in staving off another collapse, as with the lead cut all the way to 9 he came out of the timeout, posted Collison, and saavily drew the +1 using his size. Followed that with another dish to Greene for a three, and then another good pass to Daly , who got fouled and pushed the lead out again going into the 4th. For punctuation added an 8th assist to JT for the dunk to begin the 4th quarter. Maybe not quite what you expected, but a real nice return to action.
Jackson ( INC ) -- in just long enough in the 2nd quarter to have Grant & Jerry gush about him I am sure. Looked good, took a sharp pass from Reke and dunked it home, and his minutes seemed more limited by all the other bigs' strong games than anything he himself did wrong.
Jeter ( INC ) -- in for the very first time with 3:30 to go and us staggering against the Pacers press. Gave us 3 ballhandling guards and made all the difference, althoguh Pooh himself did little, missing his shots and havin his primary value just be as another competente ballhandled to help bring it up, and who made an unappealing target to foul.
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