The Pacers will be without 27-year old point guard Travis Diener for the next 4-6 weeks due to surgery on his left big toe. Diener has not played this season yet due to the toe. He played in 55 games (0 starts) last season for the Pacers and he averaged 3.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. The Pacers won’t miss Diener too much while he’s out but they will be a better team when he comes back.

The Pacers got outscored 28-13 in the 4th quarter last night and it did them in. Danny Granger led the way for the Pacers last night with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocked shots despite only shooting 7 of 21 from the floor. Dahntay Jones pitched in with another solid effort scoring 17 points, grabbing 3 rebounds and blocking 2 shots. Brandon Rush also had a solid game for the Pacers last night with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The Pacers are now 5-5 on the year.

The Indiana Pacers (5-5) looked like two different teams tonight as they did not come out ready to play in the second half and fell to one of the worst teams in the NBA in the New York Knicks (3-9).  The Pacers scored 43 points in the second quarter and were led by Danny Granger who finished with 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Granger had 30 of those points in the first half, so he was obviously ineffective in the second half. The Pacers ended up scoring more points in the 2nd quarter than they did in the entire second half, 34 points.  They were outscored 34-17 in the 4th quarter and let Al Harrington score 13 points in that quarter, finishing the game with 26.  The Pacers did not do a good job against the Knicks bench, with Harrington having a lot of success along with Larry Hughes almost dropping a triple-double.  Hughes had 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.  The Pacers cannot just fall apart like this, especially against such a bad team.  They cannot play down to their opponent.

The Pacers only shot 39.2% from the floor and they were outrebounded 51-44 so they were lucky to be playing the Nets last night. The Nets only shot 36.3% from the floor themselves. Danny Granger led the way for the Pacers last night with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots. Roy Hibbert had another solid game for the Pacers with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocked shots. Dahntay Jones was solid once again for the Pacers finishing with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. The Pacers are now 5-3 on the year.

24-year old power forward Tyler Hansbrough got off to a late start this season due to injury but he’s trying to make up for lost time. Hansbrough has played in 3 games (0 starts) so far this season for the Pacers and he is averaging 14.7 minutes, 10.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Hansbrough is in line to get more playing time as long as he continues to play well. 23-year old point guard A.J. Price is not too high up on the depth chart so he won’t likely get much playing time this season. Price has played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Pacers this year and he is averaging 6.8 minutes, 2.5 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.