I posted a piece yesterday when I found out that Mike Dunleavy was going to play last night against the Suns.  Reader/commenter Joe asked a question about his performance:  "How did Dunleavy look?"  Well, in short, he looked great!  His minutes were monitored and he was only supposed to play 20.  He ended up playing 21 minutes, but they were quality minutes.  He didn't really have as much rust on him as I thought he would.  He moved well with and without the ball, his shot looked smooth (minus his first free throw that almost took out the backboard), and his overall quickness was about normal.  One thing I wondered about was the strength of his legs.  He was 0-for-3 from downtown and I figured that his legs were just not back yet.  Maybe it was just that he wasn't used to actually game situations yet. 

Back to the game.  What a finish to that one!  Indiana had a nine point lead going into the fourth quarter and in typical fashion, they gave up the lead.  But, Danny Granger bailed us out again. He hit a jumper with about 30 seconds to play to tie the game at 110.  Phoenix had a few chances to win it, but Jeff Foster came down with the rebound with 1 second left to play.  Then, Granger hit about a 30ft shot to win it at the buzzer.  He is insane lately.  I talked about that killer attitude that the Pacers were lacking.  I'm starting to see it out of Granger a lot lately.  He is an amazing talent to watch and I am thrilled that I get to see him play in a Pacers' uniform. 

 I know I shouldn't get excited about one win, but it was a close game, on the road, against Phoenix.  They were without Shaq, but I still feel like they are more dangerous without him than with him.  Without Shaq, Amare Stoudemire is free to run through the lane whenever he wants and he is so quick and powerful that it is absolutely scary.

Danny Granger proved again that he is worthy of an All-Star appearance.  I know that I am biased, but I actually feel like he should be starting the All-Star game.  I know KG and LeBron are the big names, but has anyone done more for their team this season really?  He finished the game with 37 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block.  On the season now, he is averaging 25.8 points, 5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block per game.  One other thing that I noticed from Granger lately, is that he is getting to the line far more often now than in the beginning of the year.  In the first 10 games, he was only at the line 66 times.  In his last 10 games, he has been at the line 106 times.  Those are easy points and to have almost 11 free throws a game is a great way to increase that scoring average and help the team win.

*  Dunleavy finished with 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting in 21 minutes of play.

*  Troy Murphy missed out on another double-double as he only managed to grab six rebounds.  He is fourth in the league with 11.6 rebounds per game and has 17 double doubles on the season.  He is averaging 13 points and 12 rebounds a game this month and had a streak of five straight double doubles and six straight games of double digit rebounds.

*  Stephen Graham started and looked pretty good. 

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