Pacers 95, Celtics 79: Seriously

by Tom Lewis on Nov 2, 2008 12:08 AM EDT

What a perfect way to open the season at the Fieldhouse. A capacity crowd left wanting more roared their approval throughout the game, as the Indiana Pacers responed with a 95-79 win over the Boston Celtics.

Repeat, Pacers win 95-79 over the defending champion Boston Celtics. Tech gremlins will limit this report but I'd happily put up with these issues to enjoy Ws like this more often.

Here are some thoughts (not direct quotes) from Jim O'Brien:

Great victory for the Indiana Pacers. Great crowd and the guys competed at a high level to beat a very good Celtics team.
Defense was strong helping force the Celtics into 24 turnovers. Marquis Daniels and Troy Murphy each had nine deflections.
Offense has some work to do but JOB was real happy with the defensive effort.
JOB didn't realize Danny Granger lost his teeth until he flashed a smile and it wasn't pretty.
Great crowd and atmosphere at The Fieldhouse. JOB remembered that sound from when he was on the oposing bench. Nice to hear it as coach of the Pacers.
The Pacers gave the crowd and all out effort for 48 minutes which is what they've been giving JOB every day in practice.

Here's the full Post Game Report.

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Can actually say

that the pacers didnt even play their best tonight…you could literally just see the effort though. unreal. i havent seen that in a long time. Jermaine sucked the life outta this team, i dont care what anyone says. The difference between plaxico burress and granger? Plax signs a huge deal and literally doesnt show up to practice or have anything to do with the team, danny breaks his two teeth off for a game that was in the bag. unreal. he might not be the best franchise player in the league, but not many other guys i would want. And even though rush missed some bunnies, i think him and hibbert are very NBA ready, not intimidated and play all out. Maybe i shouldnt have screamed when we got rid of bayless. Either way, best win in a long time, and with that effort definitely a playoff team.

by captain flitzy on Nov 2, 2008 1:09 AM EDT reply actions

I went, It was great.

You could see those guys hustling like crazy, i loved seeing all 5 of our guys back and ready on defense with all 5 boston players jogging up the court.. and that was even after we made it up by 20, by the way, great energy/feeling in the crowd once we hit the 20 mark. Granger is solid and i didn’t realize his teeth were broken until i saw the high lights at home.. i just thought he had a bloody nose, sheesh thats heart man.. I REALLY liked what i saw from Rush, even though he missed basically everything he shot, except the putback slam (which is great).. I think when he started taking his defender 1 on 1 and actually getting to the basket shows improvement, even though they didn’t go in, they will here sooner or later. All round good game. And i agree Captain flitzy, we didn’t even play up to our abilties.

"I can resist everything but temptation." - oscar wylde

by cfizzle on Nov 2, 2008 1:33 AM EDT reply actions

I didn’t see tonights game (:( ) but if Rush took it to the basket like he did against detroit, this is an awesome sign.

When the last time the Pacers had someone who would beat their man one-on-one and take it to the hole? Artest maybe?

by dbcb on Nov 2, 2008 9:12 AM EST reply actions

Not Capacity

I’m not sure which game you were at Cornrows but that place was no more than 2/3rds full. I was actually very disappointed with the turnout. That being said I was very impressed with the play. We played hard again the entire game. However I don’t want to read too much into this victory since Boston was probably pretty tired after having just played Chicago last night at home.

by ThirtyOne on Nov 2, 2008 9:52 AM EST reply actions

Wasn't a sell out

but it was pretty full with people in all of the upper reaches. Regardless of how many people were or were not there, the one’s that were there will probably want to return.

Indy Cornrows

by Tom Lewis on Nov 2, 2008 10:19 AM EST up reply actions

and cleaveland the day before chicago.

"I can resist everything but temptation." - oscar wylde

by cfizzle on Nov 2, 2008 6:12 PM EST up reply actions

Congrats on this major win!

What a great way to start off your season! It was a fun game to watch on tv.

When asked about his thoughts during the Olympic games about playing against Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, Rudy responded "My first thought was respect. My second thought was to kick their ass".

Man I love him.

by twiggs on Nov 3, 2008 1:12 AM EST reply actions