+8
For more on the Blue and Gold, visit Indy Cornrows.
Jim O’Brien was known for his constant negativity. He called out players to the media, failed to delegate, and often didn’t listen to suggestions. Last Sunday, with the Pacers 10 games under .500, he was shown the door.
Enter, Frank Vogel.
Since Vogel has taken over, the Pacers have won three-in-a-row. One reason why: Coach Vogel listens.
From Pacers blog Indy Cornrows:
Players Darren Collison, Roy Hibbert, and rookie Paul George have all stepped up their game since Vogel took over. Clearly, the key to the team is Hibbert, who went into a funk right after O’Brien called him out in the media back in December.As for the Pacers themselves, Coach Vogel has done a great job involving this team, going so far as to listen to their advice in timeouts, on top of showing inspirational Rocky clips to his team. The early going has certainly shown results: the Pacers are 3-0 and on their first three game winning streak of the entire season.
The Pacers 16-10 when Roy scores 13 points or more points. Roy has scored 24, 13, and 15 points in the Pacers last three game, all wins.
The Pacers made the move everyone expected on Sunday, terminating the tenure of head coach Jim O'Brien and placing assistant Frank Vogel into the interim head coach's chair. While most expect Vogel to hang around for the next few months until a more established coach can be found, Vogel will have his feet to the fire early, as the Indiana Pacers play four games this week.
Monday, Jan. 31 - Toronto (7pm, FSIndiana)
Congratulations, Frank: your first game is against a team that has dropped 11 straight games and is 5-20 on the road. Don't lose this one. The Raptors defense has been horrid, allowing 105.1 points per game, while the Toronto offense has struggled to get on track throughout the season. Again, this is a game the Pacers should win; a loss would demoralize a fan base that seemed to be on board with the coaching move.
Wednesday, Feb. 2 - at Cleveland (7pm, FSIndiana)
Again, Frank: don't lose this game either. The Cavaliers are sitting on eight wins and are just 1-9 against the Central Division this year. Indiana already owns three victories over the Cavs this season. Another win here should be expected.
Friday, Feb. 4 - Portland (7pm, FSIndiana)
The Pacers met the Trail Blazers last week on that fateful 0-4 road trip that set in motion the end of Jim O'Brien's tenure. As has been the case throughout the last two months, Indiana lost a fourth-quarter lead in the 97-92 defeat. The banged up Blazers are still in the mix for a playoff spot in the West, and the matchup of LaMarcus Aldridge of Roy Hibbert should be interesting. Vogel appeared to make a point of trying to give Hibbert some words of confidence on Sunday, so it will be interesting to see if the big man can halt the regression that had been occurring over the last two months.
Sunday, Feb. 6 - at New Jersey (12pm)
No TV for this one, as FSIndiana will not be competing with the Super Bowl, apparently. The Nets were Jim O'Brien's final win as Indiana head coach, a 124-92 drubbing on Jan. 28. So again, Mr. Vogel: it's not recommended to drop this one. As much as the Nets have struggled on the road, they have been a difficult home team, holding a .500 mark at the IZOD Center with an 11-11 record.
Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) – Danny Granger poured in 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds to power Indiana to a 100-87 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, giving the Pacers their first three-game winning streak of the season.
Roy Hibbert added 15 points and Tyler Hansbrough 13 for the Pacers, who have won four of their last five overall since a six-game slide. All of the victories have come under interim coach Frank Vogel.
“This is a new team, a new beginning,” Vogel said. “The fans in Indiana should be excited. This is going to be a special end of the year.”
Rudy Fernandez tallied 19 points in a reserve role to lead Portland, which lost for the fourth time in five contests. The Blazers shot just 36.4 percent from the floor and went 5-of-20 from three-point range. LaMarcus Aldridge had 14 points and 10 rebounds, but he fouled out early in the final quarter.
Mike Dunleavy’s three-pointer gave Indiana the lead for good at 51-48 with three minutes left in the opening half. Granger’s two foul shots with 6.8 seconds left boosted the edge to eight points before Nicolas Batum’s reverse layup capped the half with the margin at 60-54.
Josh McRoberts drilled a three-pointer for a 67-56 lead and the Pacers built the cushion to as high as 14 later in the quarter, the last time at period’s end on a Paul George layup in the waning moments for an 86-72 difference.
Indiana’s lead swelled to as high as 20 in the fourth, this despite the Pacers going 3-of-20 from the field in the last quarter. Portland wasn’t much better, going 4-of-18 over the final 12 minutes.
“Teams have been the aggressors,” Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. “We haven’t showed that sense of urgency until we get ourselves down by a margin. You can’t play that way.”
Hibbert and Granger combined for 17 of Indiana’s 32 first-quarter points, and a seven-point edge for the hosts after the opening period.
The Pacers snapped a five-game skid in the series…Darren Collison had 11 points and seven assists for the winners…Jeff Foster had eight offensive rebounds, moving him past the 2,000 mark for his career. He is just the third player in Pacers history to reach the plateau, joining Dale Davis (2,278) and Mel Daniels (2,182)…Indiana’s total of 58 rebounds, including 44 on the defensive side, are season-bests…The Pacers were 33-of-43 from the foul line.
Winners of their first two games under interim head coach Frank Vogel, the Indiana Pacers will attempt to match its season-best winning streak on Friday night when the Portland Trail Blazers visit Conseco Fieldhouse.
Indiana (19-27) lost a fourth-quarter lead to Portland (26-23) two weeks ago in a 97-92 loss. That defeat, part of a stretch in which the Pacers lost seven of eight games, led to Vogel taking over following the departure of Jim O’Brien.
The Blazers enter the game banged up, with Wesley Matthews the latest player to go down with an injury after turning an ankle in Denver on Wednesday evening. Portland has lost 164 games due to injuries this season.
Meanwhile, the Pacers are feeling good after picking up two wins this week, jumping out to big leads in both and hanging on late for victories over Toronto and Cleveland. Paul George, Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough have all played starring roles this week under Vogel after struggling at times under O’Brien.
Hibbert and Hansbrough will both spend time guarding LaMarcus Aldridge, who has turned into Portland’s go-to player, averaging 21. points per game. Hibbert has scored 18.5 ppg in his last two contests.
Losing an early 17-point lead and trailing by three with under four minutes to go, the Indiana Pacers rallied to post a 117-112 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, avoiding the ignominy of becoming the team that helped the Cavs snap a 21-game skid.
Instead, Indiana (19-27) won its second straight game since Frank Vogel took over coaching duties. The Pacers collected their fourth win over Cleveland (8-41) this season, getting huge three pointers from Mike Dunleavy and Darren Collison down the stretch.
Indiana led by 17 points in the second quarter, but a combination of fouls and turnovers allowed Cleveland to pull within 59-54 at the break. Entering the final 12 minutes of play, the Pacers led by just three points but lost the lead for the first time in the game when Ramon Sessions knocked down two free throws to give the Cavs a 96-95 advantage with 8:45 to play.
The Pacers answered right back, going to Danny Granger for the go-ahead basket. Granger's triple with 4:39 left put the Blue and Gold up, 105-104, but Cleveland got buckets from Manny Harris and Sessions to open a three-point advantage - its largest of the night - with 3:28 to go.
Once again, Indiana gave the ball to Granger, who converted two free throws to cut the deficit to a single point. After a defensive stop, Dunleavy knocked down his second three of the game to restore a 110-108 Pacers lead.
Antawn Jamison knocked down a jumper from the block to knot the contest with 1:23 showing on the clock, but Darren Collison drilled a three on the offensive end of the court to put Indiana up, 113-110. A 4-for-4 effort from the free throw line helped the Pacers seal the game.
Collison finished with 22 points and 9 assists, while Granger led the team with 22 points. Dunleavy added 15, with Roy Hibbert collecting a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George each had 13.
Sessions led all players with 25 points.
Leading at one point by 17 points, the hot-shooting Indiana Pacers are 24 minutes from handing the Cleveland Cavaliers their 22nd straight loss, taking a 59-54 advantage into the half.
Indiana led by 10, 35-25, after a single quarter, but nine first-half turnovers have limited the Pacers’ efforts to pull away.
Darren Collison and Paul George have shone for the second straight game, as Collison leads the team with 13 points while George has 10 off the bench. Ramon Sessions is the game’s high-scorer with 15.
Frank Vogel could not have asked for a better opening two games as interim head coach of the Indiana Pacers. First, a Toronto team that had dropped 11 straight entering Monday night. Now, Vogel gets the only team in the NBA on a worse losing streak, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Cleveland (8-40) has dropped 21 straight games, while Indiana (18-27) has already handed the Cavaliers three of their 40 losses this season. Pacers fans should be looking forward to a fourth victory tonight.
As Indy Cornrows points out, several of the Pacers younger players looked rejuvenated on Monday night in Vogel's first game at the helm. Vogel also made a point to try and boost Roy Hibbert's confidence and stated that Paul George was playing well enough to earn minutes in crunch time. Wednesday will be another step in the maturation process, but Vogel's commitment to the youngsters will pay off in the long run.
Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) – Roy Hibbert netted 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Indiana Pacers give interim coach Frank Vogel his first win at the helm in a 104-93 triumph over the struggling Toronto Raptors.
Vogel replaced head coach Jim O’Brien, who was fired on Sunday after leading the team to a pedestrian 17-27 mark this season. O’Brien left the team with a 121-169 record during a four-year span while the club hasn’t reached the playoffs since the 2005-06 season.
Paul George and Darren Collison each notched 16 points for the Pacers, winners of two of the last three. After missing two games with pneumonia, Tyler Hansbrough collected 14 points and six boards for the victors.
Toronto was handed its 12th straight loss dispute seeing seven players in double figures. Amir Johnson led the Raptors with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Ed Davis and Jose Calderon each had 13 points in the loss.
Sonny Weems, Andrea Bargnani, DeMar DeRozan and Jerryd Bayless also reached double-digits point totals in the loss.
NBA: Pacers Coach Frank Vogel Channels Team's Inner Rocky Balboa
From our friend Derek Schultz at Indianapolis radio station XL950:
Obviously, the Pacers are responding. The team is currently riding its first three-game winning streak of the season.Feb 04 11:30p by Brad Wells - 0 comments