I’m gonna miss Reggie. He managed to seal tonight’s win with a 3 pointer in the last minute. The Indy Star has the story: Pacers survive to grab 2-1 series lead over Pistons. They were comfortably in control until the 4th quarter where they managed to squander a 13 point lead, letting Detroit get ahead, before they pulled it out at the end. If there’s going to be drama in the 4th quarter, I want it to be because the Pacers are coming from behind, not because they got too comfortable with a big lead. Oh, and NBA commissioner David Stern was in the building. I wonder what the Pacers’ playoff record is when he’s in attendance. I’m not saying they’re related, but I seem to recall losing some big games against the Bulls on the strength of some outrageous noncalls on Scottie Pippen when Stern was around. Probably just coincidence. I doubt having Jordan in the finals did anything for ratings or NBA profits.

And, just like that, we’re back in it. After going down to a 15 point deficit in the first quarter, the Pacers beat the Pistons for the next 3 quarters to win 92-83. Jeff Foster had 20 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards. The Indy Star has several articles, the main one being: Pacers stage a Palace coup

I love the “no pressure” feeling of these playoffs. We’re not even supposed to be here.

Pacers 97, Celtics 70 — The Pacers will go on to play Detroit in the second round of the playoffs. Pretty amazing given what they’ve dealt with this year.

The Pacers lose Game 6 to Boston in overtime. I could’ve been blogging.

This is cool. The AP has an article entitled Yahoo! Garden fans salute Miller in his final appearance Reggie torched the Knicks on more than one occasion, including his god-like performance in 1995 where he scored eight points in 8.9 seconds in the final moments of a 107-105 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Garden.

When the game ended, Miller raised his hand to acknowledge the crowd, walked across the court and embraced [Spike] Lee, the die-hard Knicks fan who had watched the game from his usual courtside seat. The fans roared their approval.

IU rallies for OT win
Man that was a good game. I’ve been down on IU all year — not so much for the tough, nonconference road losses, as for the wins they squeaked out against Indiana State and Western Illinois. But, they’ve come on strong in conference play. Bob Kravitz makes the case for why they ought to be in, barring two consecutive losses in their upcoming games against Wisconsin on the road and Northwestern at home. Wisconsin has to be favored in that game, but IU ought to be able to beat Northwestern who shouldn’t, by the way, be overlooked. They’ve had a fairly decent year this year.

I came across this article in the Muncie Star Press about the Richmond Sectional in the state basketball tournament. I have to admit, since the switch to class-basketball, I haven’t paid too much attention to high school basketball. But, jeeze, the Richmond sectional is loaded:

Richmond (16-3) will play Greenfield-Central (5-14) in the bye game in sectional play next week. In the first-round games on March 1, Central (20-1) will play Anderson (17-2) and Southside (13-5) will meet Anderson Highland (6-12).

. . .

According to the Sagarin ratings, Central is fourth in the state, Anderson seventh, Richmond ninth, Southside 54, Anderson Highland 180 and Greenfield-Central 199.

Back when I was in high school before our birthright, the unified boys basketball tournament, was squandered needlessly; the sectional was largely a formality. Richmond would roll over a couple of small county schools on its way to the Regional. When the Regional was in Richmond at the Tiernan Center, there was usually just one tough game, typically against Connersville. A great time to be an RHS student: one good game and you were at the Indianapolis Semi-State in Hinkle Field House. That was always a crapshoot – but, who really cared, because you were watching a semi-state game at Hinkle. Nothing quite like it.

Reggie retiring – It’s not a shock, and I guess it’s probably time, but it’ll be sad to see Reggie retire. What a career though. 13 seasons with one franchise, the league’s all time 3-point leader, and his immortal performance in Madison Square Garden. But for the mutton-headed antics of Ron Artest earlier in the year, the Pacers could at least be in contention to send him off with a title.

Eric Wilbur / Like a broken record I sure hope some of this is up in the Colts’ locker room. I found it by way of PunchTheBag:

The Patriots may lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers next weekend in the
AFC title game, but there is no way, no how that they are going to lose
to the Colts on Sunday. Sampson and Johnny Damon have their hair.
Peyton Manning has the great outdoors.
. . .
I see the Patriots with an unrelenting blitz attack on Manning. I see Corey Dillon grinding it out on the ground, controlling the clock and keeping the Colts’ offense off the field. I see Manning tossing two touchdown passes, but two more interceptions, one courtesy of Rodney Harrison, the other by oh, let’s say Asante Samuel.
. . .
There’s a reason folks have labeled the Colts’ defense soft. It is. The 370.6 yards allowed per game by the Colts was better than only Oakland and Kansas City in the AFC. Even more encouraging for New England is the fact that Indy’s run defense was also among the bottom of the pack.
. . .
The 21-game winning streak is history. As for the one against the Colts, make it four. And then, we can finally shut up about Peyton Manning for another six months as the NFL dreams up more defensive rule changes in order to benefit the offensive machine.

The Colts certainly have had their problems in Foxboro. I hope the Colts get up by 21 on the Pats early then we can watch them run Corey Dillon all they want. Or, maybe get Tom Brady in passing situations and let the “soft” Freeney & Mathis loose on him. When they played at the beginning of the year, the Colts ran up 450 yards and the Pats only won because Vanderjagt, the most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL, missed a field goal and Edgerrin James fumbled on the one yard line. The Colts may lose come Sunday but, it’s not as much of a sure thing as the tool from Boston referenced above seems to think.

Blasts jar Downtown for 3rd time

Underground explosions Saturday rocked Downtown Indianapolis, injuring three people, damaging businesses and causing evacuations. . . . It was the third time in nine days Downtown has been rocked by underground explosions. . . . Investigators said there is no evidence natural gas caused the blast or that the underground cables had been vandalized. . . . More than 50,000 people are expected in the dome today as the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos meet at 1 p.m. in an American Football Conference wild-card game. More police will be on hand today in the area of the dome to direct traffic to and from the game, authorities said.