The 9-9 Indiana Pacers will host the 8-12 Toronto Raptors. The Pacers are off to their best start in three years and have been getting a lot of love from the media. They are looking great this season. However, coming off of two losses in their road trip against the Western Conference, they can’t play like they did against the Phoenix Suns. They need to get to business against Toronto.

Indy struggled with turnovers and they can’t let the Raptors take advantage of that. Indy finished 2-2 on the road-trip, but could have gone 3-1.

“We’re not a happy group right now, nor should we be,” coach Jim O’Brien told the team’s official website. “We had a chance to make this a very good road trip and we didn’t do it.”

Danny Granger has been playing well this season, averaging 21.8 points per game this year, but was limited to eight points with two-of-13 shooting against the Suns.

“We’re disappointed, a little frustrated we let one get away in Phoenix with 100 turnovers or whatever it was,” Granger said. “We’ve just got to come back (Monday) night (against Toronto).”

The Raptors have been struggling, as they are 2-3 in their last five and were coming off a devastating 116-99 loss to the New York Knicks in their last game. Despite Toronto had multiple players in double-figures, they struggled.

“You can go through the list and see who didn’t play well for us,” Coach Jay Triano said. “When your list is that long you’re not going to beat the better teams.”

Indy has won four straight versus Toronto, and the last game between these two was in February when Indy won, 130-115. Match-up of the night will be Andrea Bargnani against Roy Hibbert. Looks to be a good one as both players have been putting up good numbers this year. We’ll see how that turns out. But Hibbert is stronger and more dominant in the paint and I see him taking over tonight. Granger looks to have a good game as well. Actually, the whole big three!

Accu Score predicts an 81-percent chance for Indy to win while Toronto has 19-percent.

I see Indy destroying.

Danny Granger helped stopped Toronto’s five-game winning-streak with his contribution of 23 points. Chris Bosh played hard for Toronto, with his 35 points and 15 rebounds—but it wasn’t enough for a win. The Raptors need a few more games to get ahead of Boston in the divison, and the C’s have been struggling lately.

Troy Murphy played well also, with 20 points and 14 rebounds. He and Indiana were desired to give Lester Conner a win.

“Les is a lot of fun, he’s a great assistant coach,” Murphy said. “He’s a guy you can always talk to and he’s a good dude. We’re happy he got the win.”

Roy Hibbert finally played well, with 18 points and nine boards and Earl Watson finished with 14 points, including a career-high of eleven assists. The Pacers finally got well over that 100-point-mark, after being under it for many games. Also, for the Raptors, Andrea Bargnani had a career-high 34 points!

This is probably one of the best games played by the Pacers physically and fundamentally.

“A lot of guys played some minutes and we just moved the ball well,” Granger said. “I don’t know why it was so balanced, but that’s the type of games we need.”

Conner made some changes, but the Pacers played well. And at the Eight Points Nine Seconds blog, they don’t need to put a brick. The Pacers shot above 50 percent, something you don’t see from this team regulary.

“I think we played terrible defense,” Bargnani said. “We gave up 130 points. We wasted a good opportunity, but we’ve got to give them credit. They played really good.”

Along with Conner’s changes, there came a big one: Taking out Dunleavy for Hibbert. But most of the part, he stuck to the philosphy Jim O’Brien would have used.

“We never really try to change anything because it would catch the guys off-guard,” Conner said. “I’ve been around Coach O’Brien for a long time, so I know exactly what he wants and how he wants it. What he did say to me on the plane, he told me to do whatever I need to do to get a win.”

And they got it. Conner coached well. Indiana will face of Detroit in two days, looking for another win like they did last time, destroying them on the road. This time, can they get them at home? More analysis coming soon.

But for right now, let’s enjoy a great victroy. For the Pacers, for Conner, for O’Brien, and his Mother-in-Law. Rest in peace.

This game was so good, that putting a brick here is just nonsense actually! WOW!