Are you kidding me?

Individually, the letters "O" and "W" don't mean much, but when you string them together and create WOW, you've got something.  There are a lot of words that could describe Monday's win over Memphis, but WOW kind of sums it up.  A nationally televised game on ESPN (which happens rarely for Indiana), undertones related to the city of Memphis and MLK Day, a hostile crowd, an away game, the league's top two defenses... we really could go on and on. 

The first quarter started out with two teams that appeared to be offense driven rather than defense minded.  The second quarter proved to be more of what we're used to seeing from Memphis and Indiana and the game was close at the half.  While the boat was rocky for both squads, and sometimes sloppy, the second half was all that we were asking for from two great NBA teams during a nationally televised game.  And then it happened... with the game tied, Paul George was fouled (which was questionable) during a drive to the basket.  With the rising star, averaging double-doubles over the last couple of weeks, at the line (and the Pacers with a foul to give), it kind of seemed like knocking down two free throws would put the "W" on the board for Indiana.  And then PG misses the first.  That's ok, hit the second and that great Indiana Pacers' Defense will do the rest.  PG knocks down the second free throw, Memphis calls a timeout, and we've got a last second shot for the game.

With everyone in the FedEx Forum on their feet, the ball is thrown inbounds to Rudy Gay with 1.4 seconds on the clock.  Gay shoots and banks in the jumper!  But, wait... EVERYONE watching this game knew immediately that Gay forgot that you have to shoot the ball BEFORE time expires.  Not to mention, Rudy, banks are closed on holidays.  Without the replay, spectators knew, the Indiana Pacers just went 10 games North of .500 for the first time this season.  While the Pacers have beaten what most consider to be the best in the league (e.g., Knicks, Heat) recently, we are calling this the best game of the season thus far. 

Make sure to catch Indiana as they take on Portland (1/23/12 at 10:00 p.m.) and Utah (1/26/12 at 9:30 p.m.) this week.