Column: Pacers finally marching down painful road to recovery

It’s been a long, dark tunnel ever since that fateful night back in November 2004 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Fateful might even be a just term, as many people — including myself — blame the UFC match that took place between the Pacers, Pistons and their fans as the reason Indiana has taken an unprecedented fall in the last six years.

The brawl was the first hole that created this dark tunnel for Pacers President Larry Bird and General Manager David Morway. Remember the night after the throwdown?

The Pacers dressed about as many players as Ron Artest threw punches the night prior.

It was ensuing personnel decisions that proved eerily bad for this franchise and the bad luck that came with the mammoth Jamaal Tinsley contract.

It will continue to be a long road to recovery — that is, contending for a conference or
league title.

And while I’m still a believer, the Pacers could have done themselves a monumental favor and tanked the last few games down the stretch in hopes of a big lottery pickup, we’re beginning to see how Bird is structuring this team.

He’s finally got a dependent floor general in Darren Collison and an inside threat in Roy Hibbert, who has grabbed 9.6 rebounds and averaged more than two blocks per game.

Friday, and really over the last four weeks or so, there has been reason to believe on One Conseco Court.

It’s a process, and that process is not nearly over. But there is reason to have faith the playoffs might not be out of this club’s immediate future.

“Going (west for a road trip), we feel we can play with any of them and will give ourselves a chance to win,” Pacers forward Danny Granger said.

No argument there, as the Pacers upset the Los Angeles Lakers 95-92 Sunday at the Staples Center.

Although it took a while, Pacers coach Jim O’Brien seems to have won over his entire locker room and has them believing they can win on any given night.

And for good reason. There is reason to believe in the youth that the Pacers management has brought and the development of hometown hero Josh McRoberts, who put up 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Pacers’ 110-106 overtime loss to Oklahoma City.

“Hopefully we can get the crowd back,” McRoberts said after the game. “(When I was growing up) the city was behind the Pacers. The organization deserves that now.”

As the fan base has begun to turn, McRoberts’ minutes and numbers have as well.

“It’s going to be different when I’m playing more minutes,” he said. “I try to play the same style and bring more energy, but it’s going to be different when I’m playing for longer periods of time instead of three minute spurts here and there.”

I’ll give Bird and the Pacers credit because he and basketball operations officials have stayed the course through what has been nothing less than a tumultuous five seasons.

They’ve built from the ground up and are inching — emphasize inching — toward getting back where they were when Bird took over.

And, they’ve done it with guys such as McRoberts and Hibbert, who were controversial additions and did not pan out right away.

What might be the Pacers’ biggest challenge, aside from keeping butts in seats, is competing with a young Central Division, top-heavy with stars such as Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings.

Not to mention, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be rebuilding the next few years.

But for right now, it’s a start. A decent start with a win against the Miami Heat, better crowds and a way better image are ground-breaking to that tunnel going all the way back to Detroit.

Who knows, with an added home court advantage and a run in the Central Division over the next few months, we might start to see some light in that tunnel.


E-mail: ftherber@indiana.edu