This caption doesn’t exactly fit what the author is writing, but it adequately shows your typical Knicks fan. Pacers fans act oppositely.
There are moments in life when we become one with our sofa.
We get comfortable, we sink deeper and deeper into the plush fabric, we cover ourself with a blanket or two and we try to set the record for popcorn consumption. (I worked in a cinema when I was 16, and my popcorn skills are second to none. Secret: Lots of oil, and add salt before and after the kernels pop. For those in need, flush with Lipitor.)
Monday night was one such night as the Pelicans and Bulls went to three overtimes, after which I watched one of the NBA’s great rarities of the 2013-14 season — the Indiana Pacers losing a game.
This happened in Portland, where great things are happening, and it will continue throughout this week as the barnstorming Pacers (who had the league’s easiest schedule in November) have their success put to the test against four of the West’s toughest teams.
Tonight, they face the Jazz, so that one doesn’t count. Yet I’ll be tuned in to get my first extended look at Trey Burke, who I tabbed as my top Rookie of the Year candidate over the summer. He has a long way to go to catch Michael-Carter Williams and Victor Oladipo.
The real fun starts Saturday night, when the Pacers play at San Antonio in the first half of a back-to-back that continues the next night in Oklahoma City. Indiana then returns home to play the Miami Heat next Tuesday, which means we will have a much better reading on the worthiness of the Pacers as a championship team and Paul George as a legitimate MVP candidate when the next edition of these rankings are published a week from today.
It’s not like I have a lot riding on the Pacers – except for the fact that I told 120 million viewers on the BBC back in October that they’d be well-served to drop a few bucks at their local wagering facility on Indiana to win the championship. Back then, the odds were anywhere from 7-to-1 to 12-to-1. Not that I want Ladbroke’s to put a contract out on me or anything, but it would be nice when all is said and done if I helped folks around the world get a 1,200 percent return on their investment.
And yes, skeptics, I did put my Pacers prediction in print, too.
So am I cheering for them as this season unfolds? Maybe a little, yes.
One secret of the sportswriting business is that sportswriters, who usually don’t care which team wins or loses so long as a good story comes out of it, actually aren’t as unbiased as some would have you believe. They root for their picks.
On to the rankings.