The Indiana Pacers’ playoff hopes may be long gone, but they are still playing hard as the 2009-’10 NBA season nears its end.  The Pacers scored a season-high 133 points in their win Sunday over the Houston Rockets.  That was their seventh win in the past 10 games, moving them out of the basement of the Eastern Conference and into 10th place with a 29-48 record.  A lot of the Pacers’ young talent has been stepping up lately, and they have beat some tough competition recently, including the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Charlotte Bobcats.  They took the Miami Heat into overtime on Friday, and only lost by 5 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers in March, who are the top team in the NBA.  This season may not have been very pretty for the Pacers, but the future is bright with guys like Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, and Troy Murphy.  Even Josh McRoberts has shown some signs of good play lately, as he dropped 18 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 2 steals in the Pacers blowout win over the Rockets last game.  So if you are a Pacers fan, you have some positive things to take away from this losing season and expect some improvement next season.

Almost any team playing like the Pacers have been would be playing a guy like Roy Hibbert at least 30 minutes per night. But for some reason the Pacers don’t like developing 23-year old, 7 foot centers. Hibbert has played in 71 games (59 starts) for the Pacers this season and he is averaging 24.7 minutes, 11.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. If the Pacers were dumb enough to put Hibbert on the trading block they would find a ton of teams interested in him.

23-year old F/C Josh McRoberts got a rare start for the Pacers last night as he really filled up the stat sheet. In 30 minutes last night, McRoberts played 30 minutes in which he scored 14 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out 2 assists, stole the ball 1 time and he blocked 2 shots. McRoberts has now played in 32 games (3 starts) for the Pacers this season and he is averaging 11.0 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He is also shooting 50.9% from the floor as his shot selection has been pretty solid this year. It wouldn’t hurt the Pacers to give McRoberts more playing time the rest of the year as this season is lost.

The Pacers were outrebounded 45-32 last night and they only had one player score in double figures and that is a recipe for disaster. Danny Granger led the way for the Pacers last night with 30 points and 4 rebounds. T.J. Ford pitched in with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in this game. Dahntay Jones finished up with 8 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the floor in only 20 minutes on the court. The Pacers are now 20-41 on the year.

The Pacers never had a chance last night as the Lakers were leading this game 98-71 after three quarters. Troy Murphy led the way for the Pacers last night with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 2 assists. Dahntay Jones pitched in with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 29 minutes off the bench last night. Josh McRoberts probably had the best game of his NBA career last night as he finished up with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 23 minutes off the bench. The Pacers are now 20-40 on the year.