A Reunion of Sorts

Last night brought together a bunch of guys who had not been together in a while, but had been together before. Doing things. Like playing basketball.

Two former Pacers walked into Conseco as the enemy – the aforementioned Jermaine O’neal and Reggie-disciple James Jones. Two NCAA Championship Jayhawks also met on the court for the third time this year, Brandon Rush and Super Mario Chalmers, this time with Rush actually playing considerable minutes. Even the current Kansas Jayhawk team (currently in the Sweet 16 awaiting their matchup with MSU) showed up to “cheer” on their former star players. The camera cuts to the team in the stands however, reflected the current Jayhawks’ vast indifference to anything to do with the Pacers, even if the guys who won their school a championship were playing in the game. In the NBA. Silly college kids.

There was even a mini Marquette reunion: Travis Diener and Dwyane Wade used to run the Golden Eagles backcourt, and their coach at the time Tom Crean, who now coaches at Indiana, was in attendance as well. The only Golden Eagle missing was The Steve Novak Experience, doomed to be the best-looking white man in Clipper land:

Steve Novak: See?! I AM the best looking white man in Clipper land!

So basically everybody in attendance knew everybody who was playing and that was that.

Obviously, the most publicized reunion (mostly by me, but hey, nobody else is paying attention) was the return of Jermaine O’neal, and JO made his return last night to the tune of 13pts, 2rbs, and 3 blks. When his name was called for the Heat lineup he was met with a surprising spatter of boos amongst mild appreciative applause from the usually respectful Conseco Fieldhouse crowd. C'mon guys show some love.

Not even Danny Granger showed any love – he took it to O’neal on his first touch and squeaked a layin around JO’s block attempt. Heck, Granger even blocked a Jermaine O'neal put-back attempt! Meanwhile, Roy Hibbert learned respect after getting stuffed twice trying to dunk on JO, which was as amusing as it was heartbreaking to watch.

But O’neal was hardly the story for the game.

The REAL story was that despite holding The Flash to 21 pts on 5-24 shooting as well as having a 6pt lead with 1:39 left, the Heat still had a shot to win at the buzzer with a WIDE OPEN DWade three that hit every part of the rim before popping out. Yup, like they always do the Pacers wanted to make it interesting by playing (and thankfully winning) their TWENTIETH game decided by 3pts or less, bringing their record in such games up to 8-12. God forbid we let the Spurs catch up to that mark, who have now played EIGHTEEN games decided by three or less, FIVE of which have come in the last 12 days (they are a more respectable 11-7 in these games). Haha. At least we can compete with the Spurs in something.

Overall it was a decent win as only the Pacers know how to win.

Danny Granger finished with 28pts, 3 steals and 2 blocks, and oh yeah - UdonisFreakingHaslem went 9-10 for a stretch, finishing 9-12 18pts, 14rbs. Jeff Foster also had a season-high 16rbs, but those were all stolen from Troy Murphy who sat with a strained MCL so they don’t really count (Just kidding! Jeff Foster is the ORB OG!)

Come back Trooooy! I need your rebounds in order to stay alive in my Fantasy Playoffs!