Indiana Pacers, Danny Granger Start Strong in 2008, Beat Boston Celtics
Two games into the 
season and I am psyched about my return to the Pacers. As of right now they are 1-1 but they could be 2-0. The opener against Detroit showed that the team doesn’t quit; that’s important in a long NBA season.
They fought hard, keep getting close and losing it, but then they would fight right back. A six point loss in the Palace isn’t exactly a black mark on any season.
Then came Saturday night, and while I seem to have made a DVR mistake, I hear they hustled all 48 minutes and managed to beat down the defending NBA champs. I seem to remember a year ago Boston only suffered maybe 3 double digit losses and now we have handed them their first of this NBA season
The most impressive part of all this? Danny “two tooth” Granger. I was already on my way to his fan club. After having his two front teeth knocked out during the game, then continuing to play, and dominate, we
ll I could be a fan for life.
Now, as I mentioned, I didn’t get to watch the game so I don’t want to speculate too much on what they did and didn’t do, but I will give a few thoughts I have had about the team.
First, I had no HD feed of it. FSN blacked it out on my DIrectTV for some reason, I got the regular feed and was pretty mad about that. Then they did a close up on Foster. Now I am glad it was blacked out. That dude looks like Bruce Campbell in Escape from L.A.
Next, does anyone else miss WTTV carrying these games? Is it just me or was their production quality far superior to FSN? How long has this been going on and why hasn’t Fox upgraded? Also, is there anyway to bring back Al Albert? I believe this would greatly multiply the enjoyability of any given Pacer telecast.
Finally, with Heywood Workman is a ref? Man, it makes you feel really old when players you remember are away from the game long enough to 1) be forgotten about and 2) become league officials.
[tags]indiana pacers, danny granger, nba[/tags]
Tags: Danny Granger, indiana pacers, NBA
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As an Indiana native and resident, I too wish they would make a change with their game coverage. The FSN production is poor, and if I have to listen to Stacy Paetz ramble on about games that she knows nothing about for another season I am going to have to do something about it myself. I mean, who hired her? I will say though that Clark Kellogg is always great to listen to. He knows the game and is a very good commentator. Chris Denari is decent and learning quickly, but Al Albert is definitely better at the play-by-play.
I just wish we had more to talk about as far as the Pacers team goes than worry about their TV production! I feel though that they are on the right track, and this year could be a good one for us. We still don’t have the roster to contend for the championship, but I think that we will be a better and more entertaining team than we were last year.
It’s hard to believe, but the Pacers are only two years removed from being one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Injuries, Reggie’s retirement, and off the court issues have destroyed one of the most consistent playoff teams in the league. It’s only a matter of time until we make our run at the playoffs again, although I’m not sure if it won’t get worse before that will happen. The Pacers need a true “rebuilding”, and I don’t think that the team they have assembled will be the team that does this. Get rid of everyone but Granger, tank a few years to get some high up draft picks, and drop all salaries to make a run at some of the big name free agents that will be available in the next few years. I know the Pacers want to get the fans back in the seats, but they need to worry more about rebuilding than promoting. They are doing a helluva job of marketing this average team than they are of putting together a good set of contenders. As a Hoosier, it is against my religion to speak badly about Larry Bird, but I think he needs to rethink his plan before the community will be totally behind the Pacers again.
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