Pacers-Blazers Preview: Indy Must Snap Losing Streak Even Without Danny
By Josh Dhani
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Right now, all is not well for the Pacers. Everything has been going unsmoothly as of right now. First, you got that five-game losing-streak going on. And now, more bad luck strikes: Danny Granger will be out for a month.
Pacers’ fans, it’s time to take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Yes, this is very tense. But we do have a bit of luck facing the Blazers: they, too, are out with an important player—Greg Oden (Gasp!). Right now, in my opinion, this could be a win.
The Blazers haven’t been nifty in their last few games. They just lost to some bad teams. At 13-9, they have hope. As for Indy, at 6-12, even 15 wins can be a tough task. Now Indy needs to count on such players like Brandon Rush, T.J. Ford, Mike Dunleavy, Dahntay Jones, Roy Hibbert, Troy Murphy, and—phew—Jeff Foster.
Man, I wish the Pacers would have those players on their roster right now from the I Totally Wished That Happened page. But all we have out is Granger, but still, it’s real bad. He’s like 1/4 to 1/2 of the team. Heck, even more!
But it’s not as bad as Portland, having without Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, and like I mentioned earlier: Greg Oden. Also, there is rookie Jeff Pendergraph.
This will be the battle of the injuries. The Pacers are the underdogs in this matchup, having a 43 percent chance of winning this game, according to the AccuScore predictions of ESPN. Hosting at the Fieldhouse for the first time since the Mavericks game (in which they lost), I think the Pacers will be happy being at home finally.
It can be different. Right now, I think the fans are going to need to count on Mister Dahntay Jones. He’s been the leader, counting out Granger, and has been a great addition to the club. Right now, Indy needs to count on him. I believe they should probably start him at small forward tonight.
He’s been averaging 15.3 points per game, again, behind Granger. Though the Pacers had a winning record without Granger last year, they had wins against teams who were under .500. The only team they beat last year that was above .500 was the Denver Nuggets. And as we faced them this year, even with Granger, it didn’t turn out pretty.
Granger is out for six weeks, Oden for the year. Both teams will be having a tough time.
“We’re losing an All-Star player,” Coach O’Brien said. “It’s a big loss. How we deal with it remains to be seen.”
It’s going to be interesting. What I think? I think the Pacers have a chance of snapping the losing streak. I really see it. With all the players out for Portland, it can be an easy win for Indiana.
But they need to take advantage. There were major holes left open in the Jazz game, and the Pacers didn’t take advantage. It’s time to get aggressive. Without Granger, they need to be strong.
It’s time to win.
Bye-bye five-game losing streak, hopefully.