Funny things seem to always happen to take away the focus from the Indiana Pacers. After the first week of the season, the numbers that Paul George and Lance Stephenson put up should have made them absolute shoe ins to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award. What happens? The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls, and rookie Michael Carter Williams ends up sneaking away with the award.

0:00 Quarter ends with Joe Johnson getting guarded by Paul George on the corner, George hesitated and gave Johnson just a short extra breath of space to breathe, and Johnson throws up a three that hits nothing but net at the buzzer. Not sure what more George could have done there, but Pacers take the lead 72 67 going into the quarter. On the offensive end what probably stood out the least and had the most impact is Paul George sneaky 3 4 from the field for nine points on the quarter. I think this is when you realize that somebody has taken the extra leap from pretty good player to absolute All Star, is when they use little energy to hit a 10 footer, 20 footer, and three at 25 feet, and you don necessarily think twice about what is taking place.

But how about Saturday night, with the team getting the chance to travel to Brooklyn to improve to 7 0 with a victory? This would be the case, if a little Brad Stevens magic (or BradMagic as one Jeremiah Johnson likes to call it) didn take place in Miami, with the Boston Celtics dropping the Heat 111 110 on an impossible game winning shot from Jeff Green. The cover of ESPN NBA page as follows:

Personally, I just interested to see what whacky event will happen on the national sports scene to continue covering up this great Pacers start if they were to come away with the victory.

Funny things seem to always happen to take away the focus from the Indiana Pacers. After the first week of the season, the numbers that Paul George and Lance Stephenson put up should have made them absolute shoe ins to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award. What happens? The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls, and rookie Michael Carter Williams ends up sneaking away with the award.

0 with win over Nets

11:47 As David West breaks out to the right corner of the free throw line thanks to a Roy Hibbert pick on Kevin Garnett that would make the Colts O Line proud, I already can help but think to myself how weird it seems watching Garnett/Pierce these Nets uniforms. However, as a Lakers fan myself, am I happy to see two former Celtics end their careers in such fashion? Absolutely! ANNNNYYYYTTTHHHHIIIINNNGGGG IIIISSSSS POSSSSSIIIIBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEEE!!!! West hits the jumper to tie the game 46 46, because David West is just flat out a bad man.

3:12 Brooklyn starts to come back, and with the Nets down 90 87, George Hill dribbles the ball from 20 seconds on the clock down to 13 and follows this up with a running floater through the lane. If it goes in, Hill looks like a genius, but since he missed, I should point out that Brooklyn is fighting their way back into this game and Paul George hasn shot the ball since the 7:26 mark in the quarter.

:9.5 Joe Johnson misses the great look for a three, David West gets the rebound ices the game with free throws, and now the game is over. Pacers fans, you are 7 0 for the first time in team history, go crazy!

The Pacers had had leading contributors all the way down their starting line up to go along with Paul George 24 points Lance Stephenson finished with 15 points, seven assists David West finished with 18 points and eight rebounds Roy Hibbert had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks.

6:00 I just going to call the Roy Hibbert stat I referenced above as Hibbert just forced one on Brook Lopez, who tried to take Hibbert base line and swing the ball up from under the hoop with his dribbling hand, but Hibbert forced Lopez to throw up a bad shot that went over the rim. I all in on the stat, Pacers lead 60 53.

2:31 Paul George uses a Roy Hibbert pick on Paul Pierce to create some extra space, he runs to his right, and throws up a shot falling away from the basket that was much longer than the 15 feet the shot chart says. Does it go in? Of course it does, and George finishes the night with 24 points on 8 14 shooting with six rebounds and two assists. This Pacers team has enough depth that Paul George doesn have to absolutely demand the ball in the fourth quarter (like perhaps Kobe would), but it definitely doesn hurt the team when he gives it a shot.

11:15 I told myself I was going to pace myself to only write something every three minutes But Luis Scola just got Garnett with his patented defender goes by, dribble a once or twice and then shoot play that I absolutely fallen in love with. Frank Vogel said it best after the victory against the Bulls, when he mentioned have one of the best international players ever coming off of our bench I think Pacers fans finally 100% realized what they now have in Scola when they booed Tyler Hansbrough during his first appearance with the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

:9.5 Joe Johnson misses the great look for a three, David West gets the rebound ices the game with free throws, and now the game is over. Pacers fans, you are 7 0 for the first time in team history, go crazy!

:9.5 Joe Johnson misses the great look for a three, David West gets the rebound ices the game with free throws, and now the game is over. Pacers fans, you are 7 0 for the first time in team history, go crazy!

Final thoughts are this game is much more impressive when you take in account the Pacers played four games in five nights and won them all. This Brooklyn team is full of veterans and a win against Indiana would have given answered some of the doubters about what their franchise is doing this season, and you could sense the urgency in the second half pouring from them. Still, this Indiana squad responded, and now they head into Monday night home game against Memphis with a shot to go 8 0.

How do the Pacers respond? They keep on winning of course! Friday night the Pacers tied a franchise record best 6 0 start, dropping the Toronto Raptors by the final of 91 84 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Perhaps would they get everyone focus and attention at that point? Well, perhaps they would if the National Football League wasn so popular that one irrelevant player on an irrelevant team bullied another irrelevant player thus making that irrelevant player leave the irrelevant team, and this irrelevancy is the biggest topic of the Monday Friday news cycle.

2:31 Paul George uses a Roy Hibbert pick on Paul Pierce to create some extra space, he runs to his right, and throws up a shot falling away from the basket that was much longer than the 15 feet the shot chart says. Does it go in? Of course it does, and George finishes the night with 24 points on 8 14 shooting with six rebounds and two assists. This Pacers team has enough depth that Paul George doesn have to absolutely demand the ball in the fourth quarter (like perhaps Kobe would), but it definitely doesn hurt the team when he gives it a shot.

:9.5 Joe Johnson misses the great look for a three, David West gets the rebound ices the game with free throws, and now the game is over. Pacers fans, you are 7 0 for the first time in team history, go crazy!

It okay Indiana Pacers, with a 96 91 victory over the Nets and a now historic start for the franchise, I got your back. I catching up on the DVR from the beginning of the second half to take some notes in retro diary form (with 100% of the idea credit going to Grantland Bill Simmons of course) to see how we in fact got to this point. To start the third quarter, Brooklyn would be leading the way 46 44, with the only difference between the two teams seemingly being the fact that Brooklyn bench outscored the Pacers bench 16 6. And we start NOW!

11:47 As David West breaks out to the right corner of the free throw line thanks to a Roy Hibbert pick on Kevin Garnett that would make the Colts O Line proud, I already can help but think to myself how weird it seems watching Garnett/Pierce these Nets uniforms. However, as a Lakers fan myself, am I happy to see two former Celtics end their careers in such fashion? Absolutely! ANNNNYYYYTTTHHHHIIIINNNGGGG IIIISSSSS POSSSSSIIIIBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEEE!!!! West hits the jumper to tie the game 46 46, because David West is just flat out a bad man.

Funny things seem to always happen to take away the focus from the Indiana Pacers. After the first week of the season, the numbers that Paul George and Lance Stephenson put up should have made them absolute shoe ins to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award. What happens? The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls, and rookie Michael Carter Williams ends up sneaking away with the award.

3:12 Brooklyn starts to come back, and with the Nets down 90 87, George Hill dribbles the ball from 20 seconds on the clock down to 13 and follows this up with a running floater through the lane. If it goes in, Hill looks like a genius, but since he missed, I should point out that Brooklyn is fighting their way back into this game and Paul George hasn shot the ball since the 7:26 mark in the quarter.

It okay Indiana Pacers, with a 96 91 victory over the Nets and a now historic start for the franchise, I got your back. I catching up on the DVR from the beginning of the second half to take some notes in retro diary form (with 100% of the idea credit going to Grantland Bill Simmons of course) to see how we in fact got to this point. To start the third quarter, Brooklyn would be leading the way 46 44, with the only difference between the two teams seemingly being the fact that Brooklyn bench outscored the Pacers bench 16 6. And we start NOW!

6:00 Paul Pierce is doing everything he can to keep this Brooklyn team in the game, but his teammates can help him out a lick. I would feel bad, but this is the same guy who tore up the Lakers in the NBA Finals after looking like this:

0:00 Quarter ends with Joe Johnson getting guarded by Paul George on the corner, George hesitated and gave Johnson just a short extra breath of space to breathe, and Johnson throws up a three that hits nothing but net at the buzzer. Not sure what more George could have done there, but Pacers take the lead 72 67 going into the quarter. On the offensive end what probably stood out the least and had the most impact is Paul George sneaky 3 4 from the field for nine points on the quarter. I think this is when you realize that somebody has taken the extra leap from pretty good player to absolute All Star, is when they use little energy to hit a 10 footer, 20 footer, and three at 25 feet, and you don necessarily think twice about what is taking place.

It okay Indiana Pacers, with a 96 91 victory over the Nets and a now historic start for the franchise, I got your back. I catching up on the DVR from the beginning of the second half to take some notes in retro diary form (with 100% of the idea credit going to Grantland Bill Simmons of course) to see how we in fact got to this point. To start the third quarter, Brooklyn would be leading the way 46 44, with the only difference between the two teams seemingly being the fact that Brooklyn bench outscored the Pacers bench 16 6. And we start NOW!

11:47 As David West breaks out to the right corner of the free throw line thanks to a Roy Hibbert pick on Kevin Garnett that would make the Colts O Line proud, I already can help but think to myself how weird it seems watching Garnett/Pierce these Nets uniforms. However, as a Lakers fan myself, am I happy to see two former Celtics end their careers in such fashion? Absolutely! ANNNNYYYYTTTHHHHIIIINNNGGGG IIIISSSSS POSSSSSIIIIBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEEE!!!! West hits the jumper to tie the game 46 46, because David West is just flat out a bad man.

(Has anyone ever said it weird seeing Deron Williams in a Nets jersey? Anyone?)

Funny things seem to always happen to take away the focus from the Indiana Pacers. After the first week of the season, the numbers that Paul George and Lance Stephenson put up should have made them absolute shoe ins to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award. What happens? The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls, and rookie Michael Carter Williams ends up sneaking away with the award.

:38 Mark that down as a Down 94 91, Joe Johnson literally found Kevin Garnett inside the restricted circle and two feet away from the hoop. As Garnett caught the ball, Roy Hibbert came over from the help side and went straight up, forcing Garnett to push up a floater over Hibbert extended arm. The outcome? Complete air ball, the rock eventually lands out of bounds, and Pacers get the ball. Game effectively over Or not, because Paul George just turned the ball over. This is probably why I not an NBA coach.

Funny things seem to always happen to take away the focus from the Indiana Pacers. After the first week of the season, the numbers that Paul George and Lance Stephenson put up should have made them absolute shoe ins to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award. What happens? The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls, and rookie Michael Carter Williams ends up sneaking away with the award.

5:47 A graphic just flashed that Paul George is the first Indiana Pacer to start the season with seven straight 20 plus point games since Clark Kellogg in the 1985 86 season. I would be very interested to know what the odds are of him winning an MVP award before Andrew Luck does with the Colts.

Personally, I just interested to see what whacky event will happen on the national sports scene to continue covering up this great Pacers start if they were to come away with the victory.

It okay Indiana Pacers, with a 96 91 victory over the Nets and a now historic start for the franchise, I got your back. I catching up on the DVR from the beginning of the second half to take some notes in retro diary form (with 100% of the idea credit going to Grantland Bill Simmons of course) to see how we in fact got to this point. To start the third quarter, Brooklyn would be leading the way 46 44, with the only difference between the two teams seemingly being the fact that Brooklyn bench outscored the Pacers bench 16 6. And we start NOW!

5:47 A graphic just flashed that Paul George is the first Indiana Pacer to start the season with seven straight 20 plus point games since Clark Kellogg in the 1985 86 season. I would be very interested to know what the odds are of him winning an MVP award before Andrew Luck does with the Colts.

Funny things seem to always happen to take away the focus from the Indiana Pacers. After the first week of the season, the numbers that Paul George and Lance Stephenson put up should have made them absolute shoe ins to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award. What happens? The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls, and rookie Michael Carter Williams ends up sneaking away with the award.

:38 Mark that down as a Down 94 91, Joe Johnson literally found Kevin Garnett inside the restricted circle and two feet away from the hoop. As Garnett caught the ball, Roy Hibbert came over from the help side and went straight up, forcing Garnett to push up a floater over Hibbert extended arm. The outcome? Complete air ball, the rock eventually lands out of bounds, and Pacers get the ball. Game effectively over Or not, because Paul George just turned the ball over. This is probably why I not an NBA coach.

But how about Saturday night, with the team getting the chance to travel to Brooklyn to improve to 7 0 with a victory? This would be the case, if a little Brad Stevens magic (or BradMagic as one Jeremiah Johnson likes to call it) didn take place in Miami, with the Boston Celtics dropping the Heat 111 110 on an impossible game winning shot from Jeff Green. The cover of ESPN NBA page as follows:

11:40, 4th Luis Scola moves to the top of the key to help on Nets guard Shaun Livingston, leaving Garnett completely open to grab the rebound in the air and slam it down for a dunk that shakes the Barclays Center. Maybe Garnett still has some life in those legs after all, 72 69 Pacers up.

The Pacers had had leading contributors all the way down their starting line up to go along with Paul George 24 points Lance Stephenson finished with 15 points, seven assists David West finished with 18 points and eight rebounds Roy Hibbert had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks.

5:06 Nets center Andre Blatche hits a jumper to make the score 62 57, and Pacers announcer Chris Denari mentions that like in Boston, Kevin Garnett has to come out early in the first and third quarters. This reminded me of the Pacers pregame show I was listening too on 1070 The Fan when Austin Croshere mentioned that he doesn fully buy in to this Brooklyn squad to be a top seeded team. Basically Croshere believes that with the years of basketball mileage on their body, Garnett and Pierce could perhaps reach their full potential if they played once every three games. Throw in the fact that Pierce, Garnett, and Jason Terry combined for 8 23 from the field, 21 points, and nine turnovers, I now wonder how Sports Illustrated picked this squad to be the number three seed over the course of an 82 game season.

11:40, 4th Luis Scola moves to the top of the key to help on Nets guard Shaun Livingston, leaving Garnett completely open to grab the rebound in the air and slam it down for a dunk that shakes the Barclays Center. Maybe Garnett still has some life in those legs after all, 72 69 Pacers up.

11:15 I told myself I was going to pace myself to only write something every three minutes But Luis Scola just got Garnett with his patented defender goes by, dribble a once or twice and then shoot play that I absolutely fallen in love with. Frank Vogel said it best after the victory against the Bulls, when he mentioned have one of the best international players ever coming off of our bench I think Pacers fans finally 100% realized what they now have in Scola when they booed Tyler Hansbrough during his first appearance with the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

0 with win over Nets

5:47 A graphic just flashed that Paul George is the first Indiana Pacer to start the season with seven straight 20 plus point games since Clark Kellogg in the 1985 86 season. I would be very interested to know what the odds are of him winning an MVP award before Andrew Luck does with the Colts.

0 with win over Nets

Final thoughts are this game is much more impressive when you take in account the Pacers played four games in five nights and won them all. This Brooklyn team is full of veterans and a win against Indiana would have given answered some of the doubters about what their franchise is doing this season, and you could sense the urgency in the second half pouring from them. Still, this Indiana squad responded, and now they head into Monday night home game against Memphis with a shot to go 8 0.

:9.5 Joe Johnson misses the great look for a three, David West gets the rebound ices the game with free throws, and now the game is over. Pacers fans, you are 7 0 for the first time in team history, go crazy!

2:31 Paul George uses a Roy Hibbert pick on Paul Pierce to create some extra space, he runs to his right, and throws up a shot falling away from the basket that was much longer than the 15 feet the shot chart says. Does it go in? Of course it does, and George finishes the night with 24 points on 8 14 shooting with six rebounds and two assists. This Pacers team has enough depth that Paul George doesn have to absolutely demand the ball in the fourth quarter (like perhaps Kobe would), but it definitely doesn hurt the team when he gives it a shot.