28-year old small forward Danny Granger is not playing well for the Indiana Pacers as his shooting has been way off so far this year. That hasn’t stopped him from hoisting up a lot of shots this year despite shooting only 37% from the floor. The Pacers have had other players pick up the slack for Granger so far this year. Granger has played in 16 games (all starts) for the Pacers so far this year and he is averaging 33.1 minutes, 16.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. If the Pacers can get Granger back on track, they are really going to take off.

The Pacers expected much more out of 23-year old point guard Darren Collison than when he produced last year. Collison played in 79 games (all starts) for the Pacers last year and he averaged 29.9 minutes, 13.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He has now played in 155 games (116 starts) in his first two years with the Pacers and he has averaged 28.8 minutes, 12.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Pacers need Collison to be either a pass first point guard or they need him to start jacking up more shots. I’m thinking that he will start shooting more in 2011-12.

The Pacers are getting outrebounded 53-33 per game in this series and it’s very hard to win that way. With that in mind, the Pacers need Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert to step up soon or this series is going to be over quickly. Hansbrough is averaging 37.5 minutes, 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game and Roy Hibbert is averaging 27.0 minutes, 9.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.0 steal and 2.0 blocked shots per game. Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah are pushing the Pacers around under the basket and it’s time for Hansbrough and Hibbert to start pushing them back.

The Indiana Pacers will likely be without starting point guard Darren Collison for the rest of this series due to a severely sprained left ankle. He has played in both games so far in this series and he has averaged 24.5 minutes, 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. With Collison likely out for the rest of this series, A.J. Price will replace him in the starting lineup. Price has played in 2 games (0 starts) in this series so far and he is averaging 19.0 minutes, 10.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. The Pacers will also have to get T.J. Ford out of mothballs as he will be Price’s backup. Ford played in his first game of this series last night and he worked 9 minutes in which he had 5 points and 1 assist. Collison’s injury is a big blow to the Pacers.

The Pacers will be without 25-year old shooting guard Brandon Rush for the next two weeks due to a sprained ankle. Rush has played in 37 games (13 starts) for the Pacers so far this year and he is averaging 29.1 minutes, 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. His main asset is his long range shooting as he has hit 41.7% from behind the three point line so far this year. The Pacers are hoping that 20-year old rookie Paul George will step up with Rush out of action. George has played in 21 games (0 starts) for the Pacers so far this year and he is averaging 15.7 minutes, 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.0 steal per game.