Remember when the Pacers looked like honest-to-God, above .500, growing-to-a-brighter-future contenders for a decent seed in the East? If not, then that's probably because it was fairly early in the season. Since then, the Pacers have suffered from an overall Roy Hibbert regression alongside bad shooting and shot selection from Danny Granger. When your two key players struggle your team is bound to follow, obviously. And the Pacers are 4 games below .500 and hanging on to the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference, a game ahead of the surging Charlotte Bobcats.
However, hope springs eternal, friends. The Pacers have recently enjoyed the benefits of improved play from some of their younger players. Tonight in particular the Pacers needed a little extra help to take down the short-handed Mavericks(Dirkless, yet again). The lines:
Darren Collison - 6/9 from the field, 5/6 from the foul line for 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 steals and a tied-for-team-high +/- of +12.
Paul George - 6/9 from the field, 4/6 from 3-point range for 16 points, 4 boards, 2 steals and no turnovers.
Alongside these obviously fantastic performances (and the reason the Pacers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter, eventually winning 102-89), Tyler Hansbrough started at PF and played 17 minutes. He finished with 6 points and 3 rebounds on 2/6 shooting (and 2-2 shooting at the foul line), which doesn't sound good at all, obviously. However, I'm willing to argue that he's making strides in confidence (coming off a great game against the 76ers before this one) and making a lot of positive plays that don't show up on the stat sheet (classic white guy hustle talk, I know). His +/- of +4 was better than that of both Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert, though that could have been indicative of some different lineups thrown out by Jim O'Brien.
Either way, JOB's newfound trust in his young players appears to be paying dividends already, and I certainly agree with the move. When your traditional veteran-heavy lineups are struggling and your team's performance is trending downward, there's no reason to not give younger guys a shot. Stay on the lookout for a newly inspired Pacers team, led in part by some new faces.
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