Was Cato the one who couldn't back his man down, or was that Davis? Either way, Cato's kind of a poor man's Jerome James. Keep eating, big fella.

An American friend of mine and I were playing a drinking game: one for every time your man gets burned. He represented Mo Evans for the Pistons, and I got Scrubarunas Jasikevicius. My memory of who won is kind of fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure he finished the first glass before I did.

Delk continues his hot streak, and Lindsey had the second of his twice-a-year hot shooting games. Dice was quietly productive off the bench. Rip got banged up, but had a decent game - especially on the defensive end - against Stephen "Ooohh Yeaah!" Jackson. All of our bigs did well against Jermaine O'Neal, who finished with 6 turnovers and gave up at least as many offensive rebounds. A quiet game from Tay and Chauncey.

I meant in size alone. not sure how productive he can be - we will see.

At this time I slightly favor Maxiel for the final spot.

Oh, yeah, he's definitely big. I was just wondering if he's one of those 300-pounders who doesn't have the strength to establish position, or if it's just conditioning. Either way, I doubt we'll ever call on him to be an offensive force.

I wish Flip had given Maxiell a few possessions on Shaq one of those games to see how well he could hold his ground. Actually, I wish Flip had given all of the bigs an audition instead of DNPing the lot. Cato is a huge stiff who's not useful for much more than committing fouls on Shaq - but the Pistons' defensive strategy doesn't call for Shaq to be fouled, so I guess I'd prefer Max too, even if he'd be nothing more than a victory cigar.

Ok guys I won this one. 12 pt blowout is better than anyone elses guess. Pace are officially scrubs.

Pretty hard to imagine you're still standing. Seems like anyone being guarded by Jasikevicius just went right to the rim with him. I was starting to feel for the guy.

Nah.

Seem to recall a lot of bragging coming out of the Pacer's camp about Jasifjgfdguyrrd..... how ya doing Ski?
That boy make Arroyo look like the DPOY....
Just shows the discrepancy in Euro talent and here... he was like the top PG overseas..
Of all the Euros entering the league I can only think of three that can defend...AK47, Pietrus & Darko (when he's not taking flying lessons).

Was that Lindsey drinking out of the fountain today?

Did Delk restore our bench this year?... boy was I wrong about him.

Looks like the Ben tirade took effect hopefully we crush into the playoffs. Demoralized the Pacers,maybe they will fall out of the playoff race or maybe even better we see them first round sweep em' and watch JO be cryin

Everybody knew that Jasikevicius was old and tremendously slow - that's why wasn't drafted in the first place. He's a winner, good shooter, good passer, etc., but he's not a good enough athlete to succeed in the NBA. I don't think Bird allowed himself to realize just how slow the guy is. And while there have been a number of stereotypical European players who can't play D, that's true of most Americans as well. Most players simply aren't good defenders. To expand your list of "Euros" who play above-average defense by NBA standards: Boris Diaw, Tony Parker, Andris Biedrins, Marko Jaric, Beno Udrih, Viktor Khryapa, Sasha Vujacic, Pau Gasol, and - I don't care what his reputation is, or how soft he is, he's at least a decent defensive player - Peja Stojakovic. And most of the "South American Euros" are pretty good defenders, too: Ginobili, Delfino, Nocioni, Barbosa, Varejao, Najera. Add in the "Chinese Euro", Yao - one of the top defensive centers in the NBA - and I'd say that Europeans play defense in approximately the same ratio to their general population as Americans do. I don't think anybody expected Jasikevicius to be one of those good defenders, although maybe some people didn't think he'd be that bad. But while I think you have a mistaken perception of "Euro talent", you're definitely right about the Euroleague. It's essentially comparable to NCAA basketball, and the defensive attitude is a lot more lax than the NBA - hey, even Mo was an All-Star MVP in the Italian league.

Delk is a flat-out scoring machine, and an above-average defender in his own right. He's Mike James without the over-the-top egomania. I don't know if he's restored the bench, and I'd really like to see him play more 1 than 2, but he's a nice addition. As for Lindsey - the fountain is a mirage. Sorry. He'll be back to his 1-for-5 self by next game. ()

ahb - there was a lot of pre-season hype over Jasikevicius. Even though he was 31 at the time and tried to join the league the previous season to no avail, mainly because of defensive concerns, he was all the rage. Every analyst who picked the Pacers cited him as one of the reasons. I never understood it. Winning that Euro tournament impressed everyone.

When you look at his stats he is not doing too bad but still a far cry from replacing R.Miller which is one of the real reasons why the Pacers are struggling. Losing that team leader has hurt the Pacers.

As everyone knows they also have had a ton of injuries. Jermaine O'Neal still does not look right.

I think the Pacers brought the hype to him instead of vice-versa. As you say, nobody would take him in previous years - even when he was a multiple-time champion - and even after he killed the USA team in the Olympics, nobody cared when he was rumored to be interested in Detroit and Cleveland and Utah (Utah?). Nobody cared when Arvydas Macijauskas, who was even more impressive in the Olympics, signed with the Hornets. It's only when noted racist Larry Bird and his media darling Indiana Pacers show interest that it becomes a sexy topic of conversation. Gah.

I completely agree that losing Miller's leadership has hurt the Pacers the most. The main problem is that the Pacers powers that be have tried to force JO into that role, and it's just not one he can accept. As for the injuries - they always have a ton of injuries, but that never stopped them from playing with some degree of heart. Tinsley is a complete joke, and O'Neal seems to be getting more and more injury-prone by the year - but they were on last season's team, too. Reggie Miller was a stabilizing force. Dale Davis helped a lot last season. Even Ron Artest, demonstrably insane as he is, is a leader, and leads by example. Jermaine O'Neal - as he as much as admitted just today - is nothing but a talker, and is considerably overrated as a player.