Pacers-Nets analysis.
Jimmy "Snap" Hunter had an excellent game. He led all pacers scorers with 17 points on 5-10 shooting. However, he still isn't deserving of the Pacers 15th spot. Samaki Walker actually brings an asset to the teams one weak spot- front court depth. In order to sign Snap, we'd have to cut Eddie Gill, who we'd still have to pay, and Snap wouldn't even see the court. Our backcourt is too deep for a point guard to be the last roster spot. Right now David Harrison, Jeff Foster and Jermaine O'Neal are all hurt. Yes, they are all minor pre-season injuries, but you never know, its always good to have some insurance for those things. Samaki should get the 15th spot.
Jonathon Bender was the star of the game, as weird as that may sound. He had 13 points in 17 minutes. Yay!!! JB will finally contribute this year! Right? Sorry, but I'm not sold. This is a guy who has crapped out on us 6 years in a row since he's been drafted, I'm not going to let one preseason game get my hopes up. Talk to me 2 weeks in to the regular season, and I may have a different outlook. As of right now, he's a 3rd string power forward, who will probably be on the IL soon into the season.
Stephen Jackson looked great. He only played 8 minutes, but when he was out there he played excellent defense on Vince Carter, and gave him fits. Ironically, when Ron switched over to Vince is when VC got his scoring. Jack is clearly a competitor, he was playing harder then anyone else on the court when he was out there.
Jamaal Tinsley looks to be in great shape. His box score stats of 0 points and 5 assists is kind of misleading. He actually played quite a bit of the game away from point guard, Snap, Ron, and Saras handled most of the PG minutes, so he was out of position. I think he's ready for the season to begin, Rick knows that, thus, his lack of production last night.
Sarunas looked good for a guy who was playing his first game with all brand new teammates. Obviously, when you are playing with people you don't know at all, it takes a little getting used to, so there were no Saras highlight reel plays in this one. However, his jumpshot looked pretty sweet. The defense is a major question mark, but... that's not what he's here for.
That brings me to Artest. He played some minutes at point guard, and it didn't really work out. His defense was less then stellar too, but I'm not really worried. Ron has been playing a lot of basketball all summer, so the other guys were out there totally fresh from a summer off. Ron will be more then ready to be Ron again once the season rolls around in a few weeks.
All in all, while missing Jermaine, David Harrison, Jeff Foster, and Danny Granger, a 105-103 loss doesn't look too bad.
