The Pacers visited Memphis on Wednesday night to open up preseason play for the upcoming NBA season.

New Pacer and fan favorite Darren Collison had a fantastic start. In the first 30 seconds of the game he racked up a rebound and an assist, and scored his first point as a Pacer just 45 seconds later.

The Pacers fell to the Grizzlies 85-87, but had a chance to win it at the end. The Pacers trailed by nine points with three minutes to go. They had the ball with 11 seconds remaining, only down one, but failed to get off a final shot.

The Pacers starting lineup was what most of us expected to see, and what most anticipate will be the norm for the upcoming season.

Everyone knew Darren Collison, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert were locks to start; the real positions to watch were shooting guard and power forward. Mike Dunleavy got the start at shooting guard, while Josh McRoberts joined the other starters at power forward. All five players started off great, showing no signs of rust.

With 4:15 to go in the first quarter, the Pacers made a full lineup change. A.J. Price, Brandon Rush, Paul George, Solomon Jones, and Jeff Foster all came in together. Foster would leave with just under two minutes left in the first quarter with an undisclosed injury. Rookie Magnum Rolle came into the game for him.

The Pacers trailed by four points at halftime, 45-41.

The third quarter went very well, as they held a five-point lead going into the fourth. Their slow start in the final quarter dug them a big hole.

Both teams held nine-point leads during the game. The Grizzlies had more turnovers, but out-rebounded the Pacers 49-35. Neither team shot well from the free-throw line, the Pacers hitting 18 of 29 attempts, while the Grizzlies only managed to make 16 of their 29 attempts. The Grizzlies shot 47 percent from the field, and the Pacers shot 38 percent.

Dahntay Jones, Brandon Rush, Lance Stephenson, and Paul George each scored four points for the blue & gold. Paul George led the team with three steals, and James Posey had three points in 15 minutes of action.

Danny Granger finished with just five points and five rebounds in 24 minutes of play. He shot just 1-9 from the field. Mike Dunleavy recorded eight points in just five minutes of work. Darren Collison finished with nine points, five assists, and two steals.

Roy Hibbert led the team with 18 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. He also led the team with the most minutes played, at 30.

Two players put on great performances, as Josh McRoberts tallied 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. A.J. Price also did some damage for the blue & gold, but he did his work off the bench. He finished with 12 points and two steals in 15 minutes of action.

The Pacers will return home for their next preseason game against the Orlando Magic on Friday, which tips off at 7 pm at Conseco Fieldhouse.

We finally saw first signs of the new Indiana Pacers. However, it was just a pre-season game. In their opener, versus the Memphis Grizzlies, Indy fell in a 87-85 close loss.

Roy Hibbert played very well, bringing in 18 points and ten rebounds. Many were looking for the signs of his growing offensive game along with himself being a better overall center after learning a few tricks and skills from legendary NBA center, Bill Walton

Rudy Gay scored twelve points while O.J. Mayo scored ten for the Memphis Grizzlies. Hasheem Thabeet had ten points and five rebounds.

Hibbert helped the Pacers late in the game, almost helping them taking this game home and winning it. Hibbert made a tip-in shot to get the Pacers within a 86-85 deficit with just 44.7 seconds to go. But first-round draft-pick Xavier Henry helped end the game with free throws to help Memphis seal the deal with a win with 0.4 seconds left.

“We’re a work in progress,” Gay said. “We did pretty good. Closed the game pretty good, but we turned the ball over a lot.

“It’s the first game. We have to take care of those urges. Everybody wants to go out there and do their best, but you have to pick and choose your spots.”

Hibbert was hard to stop for the Pacers.

“I think I could have played stronger,” Hibbert said. “I was really nervous before the game, and (it’s good) to get the first one out of the way.”

Josh McRoberts, who could win the starting power forward job this season, played well with 14 points. Point guard A.J. Price had twelve points.

The Pacers saw great things from their big men, especially in Hibbert and McRoberts, who both really contributed and played hard.

“I’m sure we did some good things, and there are things we can study like turnovers and really feeding the post, tempo,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “We didn’t do the things that we practiced, but we will clean them up.”

Indy will face the Orlando Magic next, tomorrow night.