The Pacers went into the weekend having won their first four preseason games.  They ended the weekend with two straight loses and are now 4 - 2 with two more games left.

Friday Night:  Minnesota Timberwolves

I went to this game thanks to my friend getting some tickets from work.  The first half was very hard to watch as the Pacers could not hit a thing.  They ended the first half down 58-37.  The halftime game of 9 and 10 year olds was more fun to watch than the first 24 minutes of play.  The second half was a bit different for Indiana as they started chipping away at Minnesota's lead and were only down by nine at the end of the third quarter, not a huge deficit in the NBA.  The fourth quarter was quite exciting, especially for a preseason game.  Travis Diener, Marquis Daniels, and this guy really sparked the team and the comeback was complete.  Indiana had a chance to win the game in regulation at the buzzer, but Travis Diener had his three pointer rim out.  I left at the end of regulation since I had to drive an hour home, but the game ended up going into double overtime and the Pacers lost 113-110. 

I came away from the game encouraged by the way the team battled back and never gave up.  I was discouraged a bit by the lack of defensive intensity in the first half though.  A team has to continue to play hard at the defensive end even if their shots are not falling at the offensive end.

Saturday Night:  Chicago Bulls

This game was in Chicago and was not on TV, so I didn't get to see/hear/go to the game.  I don't know exactly how well the team played, but I do know that they did not shoot particularly well from the floor.  They hit only 29 of 78 shots (37%) and turned the ball over 30 times.  Those two stats don't add up to success.  This guy led the team in scoring for his second straight impressive game in a row.

Team Notes:  Injury Bug

Jermaine O'Neal (Left Knee), Troy Murphy (Left Achilles), and Kareem Rush (Right Achilles) were out for both weekend games.