Pacers Courtside

After the comments during the Cleveland game by Chris and Quinn, and some discussion on the internet, we thought we would clear up the fact that Troy Murphy is indeed licensed in spray tanning. He even admits to wearing a lot of pants this summer during his training. He took a six week course in two days and said, “I didn’t do any of the lessons.” If any of you Pacers fans need a tan, Troy offered that he is up for anyone who is interested.

Sure, the dunk from Stoudemire is nice, but look at the crazy call from the refs after Travis Diener barely touches Amare and he jumps in the air and crashes on the court. “Acting 101,” as Chris Denari said. We posted this to YouTube last night and it already has over 2,000 views and 15 comments. It seems they like the Stoudemire dunk on Foster better than the crazy foul . . . shouldn’t have included that dunk.

Tonight was one of those games when a single player can just not be stopped. Suns PF Amare Stoudemire went 17-for-21 from the field, made 15 free throws without a miss and had 11 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

He was simply unstoppable inside and wasn’t missing from outside either. Would a healthy Rasho have helped? Maybe some but Amare’s speed would have given Rasho the same fits that Roy Hibbert had trying to slow him down. The Pacers just don’t have anyone that matches up well with a dominant athletic power forward like that and tonight he was on fire.

Read the rest of this entry »

While at the game, I shuddered when Paul Pierce fell on Danny’s head as he was lying on his stomach, causing his face to be smashed into the court. I gasped out loud at the sight of it. When he got up, I saw a glimpse of a black spot on his teeth and said to the wifey, “I think he may have lost a tooth!” Little did I know that he lost two teeth and they were shattered in little tiny pieces, leaving a toothless and somewhat fanged Danny (Dracula) Granger running to the locker room.

Right after the TV timeout he was back helping to beat the snot out of the defending world champions. With such a great and hard fought game, and Granger just signing a 5 year extension, it was really nice to see Granger give that extra effort . . . and give those teeth for the win! I think it was Jarret Jack who said afterwards in the locker room that the first thing he thought of was that song “All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” Danny’s Christmas will be a little early this year.

I’ve got to admit, I just hoped for a well played game and good fan turnout. The pregame concert and festivities were very well put together. Blues Traveler rocked and when the crowd began to fill up Conseco Fieldhouse, it was just icing on the cake. As the lights dimmed and the lighted towels started flying around all over the place the excitement rose to a new level. John Popper jammed out the National Anthem on his harmonica and the game was underway.

Read the rest of this entry »

After you get home from the game, the first thing any die-hard Pacers fan does is watch the game again on TV. FSI showed the player intro video almost the whole time, so those fans at home didn’t get a good appreciation of the lighted towels and general excitement at Conseco Fieldhouse that night.