The Indiana Pacers fell to the Toronto Raptors last night thanks to their poor shooting. One interesting thing from the loss and Indiana’s first foray into small ball in the regular season was that the Pacers are the fastest team in the NBA after one game.
However speed won’t be on the docket tonight as the Memphis Grizzlies come to town in a very pissed off mood after getting hammered by the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday.
Speed might be the best way to counteract Memphis’ size in strength, or it just may hasten a blowout. If this game was being played a few months from now their maybe wouldn’t be that fear but with the Pacers still figuring out their new scheme this could get ugly.
Don’t forget this is the same team that stopped Indiana from making the playoffs in the final game of the regular season back in April.
The Grizzlies are going to try to take advantage of the Pacers with their size and grit and grind style of play. The Pacers will have to shoot better than they did last night if they want to keep up.
Tim Donahue pointed out that last night the Pacers were 12 of 37 on unguarded shots (32.4%) with Paul George, Monta Ellis and Rodney Stuckey went a combined 3 of 19 on unguarded shots (15.7.%), and the rest of the team was 9 for 18. The trio of scorers can’t shoot so poorly and expect to win.
News and Notes
No word on if Myles Turner will see the floor tonight but if he does he’ll be doing it with his late friend Habram Rosario according to Fox Sports Fred Katz.
"Sadly, that wasn’t the last time Turner’s teammate would inspire him. Later in middle school, Rosario was diagnosed with leukemia, which would eventually spread to his brain. He died in ninth grade, when Turner was just 15 years old.“I hated that it had to happen to such a good person,” said Turner. “When I heard the news that he had passed, it was almost unreal. I didn’t believe it at first. I knew he was sick, and I knew people were talking about it a lot, and I had just visited him a couple of days before it happened in the hospital. The best thing I can do is say, I remember him by honoring him."
Zach Lowe is one of the few believers in the Indiana Pacers as he picked them for the 8th seed. In his annual NBA Tiers piece he has the Pacers in8-Seed Battle Royal — East Version” potion of the NBA along with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Detroit Pistons.
We’ve mentioned before that Rakeem Christmas has eclectic tastes before, but the Indy Star’s Dana Benbow shared this interaction between Christmas’ snake RiRi and Paul George.
"When he got Riri in August, Christmas told Paul George. George warned him: “Don’t ever bring a snake in here,” referring to his own house.So Christmas took Riri to George’s house, sat her on his kitchen counter in a little cage and left to go buy something.“George texted me and he goes, ‘You really left this snake in my house?’ ” Christmas laughs at that, almost a cackle."
Don’t piss off the franchise player, rookie.