Grizzlies 90, Pacers 72: (stunned, staring at the screen)

Indy's freshly sworn-in mayor, Greg Ballard was a guest of the Pacers tonight. Of the many issues that carried him to an unexpected victory was his promise to address a festering crime problem in several areas around the city. (Okay, are you finished with all of your Pacers off-court behavior jokes? Can I continue with this post? Thank you.)

Maybe Mayor Ballard should start at the Fieldhouse, because the basketball malfeasance he witnessed tonight during the Pacers' 90-72 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies should not be tolerated by the citizenry. The premeditated assault and battery on the helpless rims at the Fieldhouse with utter disregard for basic basketball principles like ball and player movement, making the extra pass, or shooting within the flow of the offense should be considererd felonious acts. Back up the paddy wagon to the locker room because everyone in blue and gold went wilding on the precious game we revere.

Oh, you want some solid evidence? Okay, how about 28 second half points with only nine fourth quarter points? Nine!

Then there's the 28 of 91 from the field. That's 31% if you're generous and round up.

The front rim may never mentally recover from the 23 missed 3-ball attempts that all seemed to crash short of the net.

The Pacers may be able to plead down these hoop charges thanks to the kind hospitality they showed the visiting Grizzlies while in the Cirlce City. It took the Grizz a half before they realized the Pacers had no intention of offering any logical resistance on defense. Pau Gasol began the game as if he wasn't up for the challenge, but once no challenge was presented he took advantage and lit up the Pacers for 30 points.

Rudy Gay rose up for beautiful jumpers at his leisure and even floated through the lane for a lovely finger roll without worry of getting knocked down.

Then there's local legend, Mike Conley who made his first NBA start on the court where he cut down the nets three times for Lawrence North High School. Without Jamaal Tinsley around to pound away on the rook, Conley did what he always does -- make good decisions, float in the lane, snap off passes that set up teammates for open buckets. Conley's not flashy but his game has flair because he so subtly makes great plays and then you look at his line and, yep, 8 assists to 1 turnover, oh, and a win.

It's hard to break down all of the individual break downs by the Pacers. The second half clankfest simply didn't spare anyone. Even Travis Diener air balled his first attempt late in the game. At least he spared the rim.

Jamaal Tinsley can't make that big of a difference, can he? For some reason, the team just doesn't run without Tins involved and they certainly didn't move around in the half-court offense.

Jermaine O'Neal was 2 of 11, finishing with four points. Mike Dunleavy missed several open shots he's was consistently hitting before Christmas. The Pacers have no chance with Tins, J.O. and Dunleavy not contributing.

Then there's Danny Granger. What happened to Danny? He appears to have lost all self-confidence or he has no idea what he's doing on the offensive end. Granger has an amazing first step with the ball, but seems to have no idea what to do after his second dribble gets him past his man. Pass? Pull-up? Floater? Finger roll? Dunk? It's like he's not sure so he tries to combine two of the options and none of the combos mix. The awkward finishes aren't assertive, so the whistle rarely bails him out.

So, the losing streak is at five, Atlanta is in town on Friday and then the Pacers visit the Lakers, Jazz, Suns, Kings, and Warriors. Yeah, "Uh-oh" is an appropriate response. The Pacers are officially dealing with self-imposed adversity. Past reactions to such conditions have created more problems. Time to see who the real pros are on the roster because tonight it was real hard to tell.