IC Cold Links: Pacers Finally Leave Opponent's Arena Happy With A Win

It felt like the Indiana Pacers hadn't beaten a good team on the road in forever. Well, make that for nearly 25 games.

The Pacers finally ended a bad streak of 24 straight losses on the road to teams with a winning record last night in a 125-115 win in Houston. The very, very rare road victory left the team all smiles after the game, particularly over the way they won. With T.J. Ford and Danny Granger playing their hearts out to lead a comeback, grab the lead in the final minutes and hold off a potent Rockets' offense, the blue and gold had a lot to be happy about.

Granger, who had 36 points on 12-of-15 shooting, told the media the following: "It was a good win for us because it's no secret that we've been struggling," Granger said. "It was real good seeing T.J. looking like his old self out there."

Ford had a terrific game after nearly being dealt this week before the trade deadline. He finished with 23 points, including a final stretch-run when he dropped 16 of the team's final 20 points on the board. Ford and Granger combined for 24 points in the final quarter.

"That was a big win for our team," Ford said. "Hopefully it will lead to a bunch of wins for our team. We just can't continue to have the type of first half where put ourselves in a hole. I know my sweet spots and I know my favorite areas on the court, and once I get there, no matter who is there, I'm going to let it fly.  It was cool, but you have to give everybody credit. Earl set the tone in the second half by getting into Brooks and taking him out the game by being physical. We all paid attention to detail and that's how we got the win."

Check out more links on the Pacers' win after the jump.

• AP Story
• Box Score
• NBA.com Recap
• PACERS: Inside the Game: Pacers 125, Rockets 115
  Bruno's Inside the Game has all of the numbers, notes, quotes and highlights from the loss.
• Ford, Pacers get rare road win
  Mike Wells reports on the rarity of seeing the Pacers leave an opposing team's arena in a jovial mood. Here's what coach Jim O'Brien told Wells after the game: "That's when we're at our best, that's when any basketball team is at its best, when people are unselfish and hitting the open man and guys are knocking down open shots. It was a fun game. It was fun to be a part of."
• Price patiently awaits his turn in rotation | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star
  In his daily notebook, Wells looks at the Pacers point guard position and checks in with the odd man out, rookie A.J. Price.
• Retooled Rockets yield similar results in loss to Pacers | Sports | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
  The Houston Chronicle tackles the recap from the Rockets' perspective as Houston tries to quickly incorporate its new players.
• ROCKETS: Defense Deserts Rockets In 125-115 Loss To Pacers
  Recap from the Houston website.
• Game #54 Recap: Faux, Faux, Faux
  Eight Points, Nine Seconds recapped the Pacers' loss to the Hornets on Friday.
• Game 54 - In which we meet Mr. Kevin Martin. Rockets 115 - Indiana 125
  SB Nation's The Dream Shake welcomed Kevin Martin to Houston yesterday and they were quite impressed with his first-game performance.
• IndyStar.com | Pacers Insider | The Indianapolis Star
  Mike Wells uses his blog to write about T.J. Ford's ridiculous performance on Saturday. Ford was part of 16 of Indiana's final 20 points. Again, let's see what the head coach JOB thought about it: "We were calling his number every time. They were having difficulty guarding our spread pick-and-roll game. T.J. was either scoring or finding open people and we were knocking down shots."
• Tired McGrady sits most of OT: 'I didn't want to be a hero'
  And the other news around the NBA last night was the arrival of Tracy McGrady in New York City.