With all the setbacks this season we've been conditioned to have low expectations for the Pacers. The way things are going right now, I say it's time to throw those expectations out the window and start looking at the Pacers as a legitimate championship dark horse.
O'Neal, Tinsley, and Jackson are beat up and they've been off and on, but they've been effective enough, that the Pacers are as close to healthy as they've been all season. Maybe even better than the team that blew Detroit out of the building on November 19th.
With O'Neal not 100 percent, we don't have much offense in the middle and that's a given. In the past couple of months that's meant that we live and die with our outside shooting. If our shooters were as off as they were tonight, it meant a guaranteed loss. But now our defense has gotten to the point where it can bail the offense out of a bad game. For three and a half quarters tonight the defense was as good as it's been all year.
Now look at the rest of the East. Miami is rolling but they haven't faced any real competition yet and Shaq is hobbling. Plus we have a 3-1 record against them anyway. Detroit still doesn't take us seriously, they were reduced to whining about the refs tonight and don't believe in their hearts yet that we could actually beat them. I think if we yet again come out with more intensity than them in Game 4, we could win and at that point even if they realize we're for real and start playing hard, it might be too late for them.
I'm always the pessimist and I still think Detroit will win the series, but before tonight I was just happy to be in the second round. Now I'm drinking the Kool-Aid and I think a Finals run might actually be possible. Enjoy the ride, Pacers fans!
