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Ladies and gentleman of "Pacers Nation," it is officially March 1st and the Indiana Pacers remain in third place in the Eastern Conference.
If you don't think that is a big deal or forget how far the franchise has come over the past few years, take the time to read the Grantland.com piece on the Malice at the Palace by Jonathan Abrams. It provides an oral history of the devastating night from start to finish with many of the key contributors voicing their reflections. Ron Artest is not one of those, but as you read the account you realize his recall on the whole thing would be a revisionist's best guess anyway.
Don't get me wrong there is plenty of "versions" of the events explained but it is complete and fair, even exposing the lunacy from the Detroit side of things which is always overlooked. While it may be painful on some level, it is a must read and will make you appreciate what is going on with this current young Pacers team even more.
Speaking of the current Pacers, today is the second of three days of work available for the blue and gold. The plan was to have the players go heavy on film study and individual work on Wednesday and then take the opportunity to fine tune things with full practices before heading to New Orleans. It offers the coaches a chance to expand what the team runs, which might even include some zone defense.
Putting in those types of wrinkles for certain score/time situations and opponents will certainly come in handy as the season progresses and the games continue to gather more meaning.
Check out the links after the jump.
- PACERS: Caught in the Web Indiana Pacers blog: Pacers may use practice time to tinker with zone
- An oral history of the Malice at the Palace - Grantland
- Fascinating story revists infamous 'Malice at The Palace' between Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers | MLive.com
- A ‘Malice in the Palace’ oral history reminds us we’re way better off in 2012 | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo! Sports
- 15 best quotes found in Grantland's "Malice at the Palace" oral history - Detroit Bad Boys
- The future of stats is video - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
- Twitter’s logo is named after Larry Bird | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo! Sports
- Pacers Trade Scenarios-The Realistic Options - Always Miller Time - An Indiana Pacers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More
- NBA owners not going to make profit this season, league says | ProBasketballTalk
- Report: Rondo back on the block - The Boston Globe