Tyler announced he is retiring the nickname “Psycho T”, and now fans are making Chuck Norris references about Tyler. “Tyler Hansbrough doesn’t sleep, he just waits,” was an amusing comment on Pacers Digest. Many posters have done a complete 180 from their initial disappointment with the pick of Tyler, and are now excited to see what he can do.

Which brings us to the Pacers Summer League play in Florida, with most fans expecting Tyler to play very aggressive and score a lot of points. Brandon Rush said he was surprised how athletic Tyler was after their first practice. With Coach O’Brien in charge for the summer league, it will be very exciting to see what Hibbert, Rush, McRoberts, Price and Hansbrough can do. Hopefully they stream the games online again this year, we’ll let you know…

Another team looking for some creative draft moves are the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have been talking to the Pacers, Nets and Bobcats about trading their No. 16 and No. 26 picks for a higher draft pick.

13th vs 16th (and the 26th pick)? . . . I say we take the deal, but hopefully Larry Bird will somehow come up with something even better.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the Pacers were the dominant team in the old American Basketball Association. The Pacers won three ABA national championships and reached the title round in five of the nine seasons the league existed.

When the ABA folded in 1976, the Pacers made a difficult transition to the National Basketball Association. Surviving insolvency only through a telethon the Pacers rebuilt, adapted and emerged in the 1990s as a championship-contending team.

The ABA Years

The Pacers franchise began as a charter member of the ABA in 1967 when a group of eight businessmen invested a few thousand dollars apiece.

The first Pacers coach was Larry Staverman and the first player signed by the team was Roger Brown. A New York City playground legend from Brooklyn, Brown’s promising career was halted during his freshman year at the University of Dayton because of his association with a local gambler. Brown never played a varsity college game and was banned by the NBA.

“Oscar Robertson told me to go to Dayton and find Roger Brown,” Mike Storen, the Pacers’ first general manager, later recalled. Storen found him working the night shift at a General Motors factory and playing Amateur Athletic Union ball when the ABA gave him new life.

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Early years of the Indiana Pacers

The Indianapolis Star reported today that Travis will thankfully return next season.

Backup point guard Travis Diener said Friday he will return next season. Diener could have opted out and become a free agent. He will make $1.7 million next season.

“I like playing for coach O’Brien,” Diener said. “He has a system that fits my style, and I’m looking forward to returning to a team that is going in the right direction.

Great to see a first class guy treated well by the Indiana Pacers, much like they did for “big-Diener” (Jeff Foster.) As a sidenote, I sat in front of Travis’s girlfriend last season and she is super hot and nice. So . . . good to have her still around, too.

“I tell you what, fans would not recognize Hibbert . . . in how much stronger he is.”

“A guy that has really been working hard is Josh McRoberts. I mean, he’s put on about 25 pound of muscle. He and Rush and McRoberts are all working out everyday at Conseco Fieldhouse.”

Troy Murphy is “big on the Twitter now” and working out in New York again, which seemed to be a very successful workout location for Troy last year. And Jarret Jack is working out near Atlanta and finishing his degree at Georgia Tech.

This sounds like some very promising news for our young players . . . can’t wait to see what Josh and Roy can do next season with the added bulk this summer.

Miami begins the second quarter with a five point run. The Pacers are playing good basketball but shots aren’t falling, until a long three by Jack. Followed by a rebound and nice drive to the basket by Murphy and then a basket and extra shot from Jeff Foster. The Pacers are up 40 to 28 with eight minutes left in the half. Wade is just being a monster inside nearly every possession now. Luckily, Miami just turned the ball over for the seventh time and the Pacers have a 13 point lead, 45 to 32. A good second quarter from the Pacers? Granger hits a huge three with two minutes left to bring the pacers up 52 to 29, Magic gets a layup, and Granger gets another three - 55 to 41. Granger has also has a season high four assists. Wade hits an unusual three and has 17 points, but T.J. counters with a three and Indiana has a 15 point lead. Six seconds left and Dwayne Wade hits another three, and he is only a 24% three point shooter! The first half ends 60 to 45 with the Pacers up by a whopping 15 against the Heat. Granger has 15, Daniels has 12, Ford with 8, Rush with 7 and Jack with 6. Wade had 20, Marion with 8 and Beasley ended up with only 3.

The Heat get a quick five, but Granger has a nice steal and drives for a layup which Murphy finishes off. Nice looking play. Marion follows with a steal and Granger follows with a foul. JOB calls a time out with the Pacer up 62 to 54 as the Heat are heating up. Wade brings the Heat up with a three and the Pacers are only up by four. They’ve slowed down and the ball isn’t moving and now it’s a stupid two point game, 62 to 60, but then T.J. Ford hits a huge three. Beasley has fired it up with nine points, but picks up his fourth foul against a great three point play by Marquis. 68 to 64 halfway through the third quarter and Rasho, Rush, Ford, Foster and Daniels are in for the Pacers. They just showed a close up of the Pacers on the bench and they look tired after last night’s game, but Marquis on the floor has an unbelievable drive to the rim through several Heat players. Jack slows it down and tries to bring some calmness to the confusion, and passes to Brandon for a three. The Pacers are up 75 to 70 with three minutes left. Good defense and a super far pass by Jack to an awesome layup by Daniels, unbelievable catch to make the basket. Murphy comes in for Rasho and the Pacers are up by six with two minutes left. Jack helped restart the team, but Chris Quinn hits a last second three to tie the game 79 to 79 going into the fourth quarter. The Heat are playing well.

Miami finally takes the lead for the first time in the fourth, but the Pacers try several times and Granger makes the two foul shots to tie it back up. Oh noes, Granger has an offensive foul and he is laying in total agony with his left ankle in major pain and hobbles to the locker room. Not good . . . the Miami fans are loud now and the Heat are up by three with 8:35 left in the game. Granger comes out of the locker room and back to the bench thankfully. Quisey makes another nice inside play and gets the extra point, but the Pacers leave Wade open for a monster dunk inside and steals the ball to follow up with the same. Back to back dunks from Dwayne Wade with 32 points and Miami leads 91 to 87. Miami misses and Granger hits a long two and Murphy gets another rebound, and then another from Grangers three attempt, but picks up a foul against Quinn. It’s a three point Heat lead with four minutes left in the game and Granger is up to six assists and then hits his fourth three pointer of the night. Granger turns over the ball and Miami is up by three with two minutes left, and then the Heat get a second turn over and have a five point lead. 12 second half turnovers from the Pacers, with six in the fourth quarter. 105 to 100 with one minute left, it doesn’t look good for the Pacers. With a long overtime game and a two and a half hour flight to Miami last night, the Pacers lose a second hard fought game in a row 108 to 100. A so far rare 100 point game by the opponent this season, which almost always got them the win last season. The Pacers were 9 nine for 23 in three pointers, had 21 to 11 turnovers, and Miami ended up closing the gap on paint points with 44 to Indiana’s 46. Yes, it was a hard fought game, but not the best start for a string of games on the road.

Anthony Johnson popped up in the 2nd quarter - AJ is still alive? We played up-tempo and got to a 10 point lead, but Dwight Howard was just killing us and eliminated that nice lead. Murphy came back with a three pointer anda three point play. Withtwo minutes left in the second quarter, Ford got the ball and Quinn said that Howard was challenging Ford by saying, “Shoot it! Shoot it!” Well, T.J. took it up against the much bigger Dwight and got the two foul shots. Both Dwight and T.J. were laughing, it was a pretty funny moment narrated by Buckner. Your Indiana Pacers ended the first half up 54-50. The Pacers didn’t take many threes this half with only 3 for 7, but the Magic shot 15 and only made 6. We shot and made twice as many free throws as Orlando, with11 points versus their four, which could be one reason to explain the slight lead at the half. Indiana also had 9 second chance points and Orlando had zero, 6 blocks versus their 2, 22 paint points and rebounds versus their 18 and of course Granger, Rasho, Murphy, Ford, Daniels and others could also help explain it. Our combination of players are playing good tonight and disrupting Howard’s rhythm, but the Magic are playing good overall as well. The stats look like a nice lead, but the lead is not big enough. Could be a close one… defense will be the key.

Halftime featured some scantily dressed chick putting herself in crazy positions and shooting an arrow with her feet while standing on her hands . . . and Pacers fans sitting right behind the target. She must have some good liability insurance. Murphy got Rashard Lewis to pick up his fourth foul early in the third which is good because he had five points in the first three minutes, with five in the first half for 10 total. Quinn is saying that the shot by Foster near the end of the third for three, which he missed, and the shot last game he made at the buzzer of the end of the first were both planned. O’Brien really is writing up plays for Jeff to take the three like he seemingly jokingly said after last game. Daniels hits a big three with 30 seconds left to make it more surprising, with the Pacers up 75 to 68. Foster got some foul shots anda tip in at the last second to give the Pacers a seven point lead into the fourth - 77 to 70.

Ford stepped it up in the fourth with some great effort on both sides and 19 points so far. The Pacers lead by a close six with six minutes left. What seemed like six seconds later, the lead is down to one with five minutes to play. Granger follows with a tough shot and reminds me the team has been shooting well all night. A sweet steal by Ford was followed up by a quick drive to the basket, alleyoop to Marquis, and a Daniels dunk to bring the Pacers up 87 to 85 with a little over three minutes left. Ironically, the Pacers Text Question is “Who is the Player of the Game: T.J. Ford or Marquis Daniels?” T.J. Ford gets a rebound with one minute left and drives for a nice shot in the lane to answer that question and tie the game 91 to 91. It is a close one. The game is tied and Granger gets a huge rebound with six seconds left to try and win the game after the timeout. T.J. talked a bunch to Granger before the last play, passed it to Rasho for a nice layup, but Dwight Howard blocks the shot to go into the first overtime of the season for either team - 91 to 91. Going into overtime some are probably wondering why Granger or Daniels weren’t picked to go inside to win the game, or why Rasho pulled a Reggie and didn’t dunk it.

Daniels forces a goaltend to begin overtime with a lead. Rasho has a nice block, but the ball got stagnant and Daniels missed and Dwight made his 24th point. Granger hits a huge three, but Lewis answers with the same. Marquis misses the shot, but gets the rebound to tie the game at 98 to 98 with less than two minutes left. A couple misses by both teams, and a little slop from the Pacers, results in a time out with a minute left and still tied. Did I say this was going to be a close one? Murphy drives in but Lewis bounces it off the backboard and Orlando has the ball with 33 seconds left, tied game, and another timeout. Granger missed out and Rashard Lewis took the lead up to 100 to 98 with 11 seconds left. Oh noes! Probably the last time out is called by the Pacers to try and win this hard fought game. T.J. drives in and picks up the foul against Nelson to bring the clock down to nine seconds. T.J. takes the final shot and it doesn’t fall in. Magic win 100 to 98. Howard had 24, Lewis had 23 and Nelson had 22. Who cares about the final stats. The Pacers fought hard, played well until the end, it was a tough game for both teams, and a very painful loss for the Pacers.