I have been to many Pacers games in my time. Last night's game was one of the best I have ever been to though. It started off normally enough. Pay $20, get a ticket and all-you-can-eat concessions. Went with four other people. We noticed there appeared to be more than the normal amount of fans at the game. The Pacers got off to a pretty good start and led most of the way, but in the 2nd half the Hornets seemed to be playing better and the two teams began trading leads back and forth.
With the all-you-can-eat tickets, I was feeling very full and uncomfortable after all that food. So my brother, Adam, and I decided to walk around for a bit at the start of the 2nd half. We noticed it had been snowing quite a bit since we got to the game and the roads didn't look in good shape, so we talked about leaving early. We were both glad we didn't.
As the final few minutes of the game came upon us, we realized just how close a game it had become and we were glad for that. As usual, Adam and I always root for overtime, because we figure we paid for 4 quarters of basketball and anything past that is free basketball. Things were looking good for our overtime prospects as the Hornets had a 2 point lead with about 30 seconds left. However with about 16 seconds left, the Pacers' James Posey hit a 3 right in front of the Hornets' (his former team) bench. Pacers had the lead by 1. Now we had to stand up for the defense, even though we usually like to stay sitting. It was too good of a moment to stay sitting.
Hornets have the ball, and I asked Adam who he thought they would go to on offense. We decided it would either be David West or Emeka Okafor because they had been beating the Pacers up on the inside all night. At this point, the fans at Conseco Fieldhouse were as loud as I had heard them in a couple years. Hornets' point guard (and best player) Chris Paul drove, then kicked it out to West near the free throw line where he knocked down the jumper. Hornets lead by 1 with 3 seconds left. (side note: both Posey and West went to Xavior University. As we were leaving after the game we saw a guy with a Xavior hat on. Wonder which team he was rooting for in this?) Now the pressures on the Pacers.
I think at this point everybody in the building thought the Pacers would go to their main man, Danny Granger for the win. So the inbound pass from Mike Dunleavy came to Granger and he went up for the jumper. It bounced off the rim once and I thought it would fall in. It bounced off the rim a second time and I thought it still might go in (disclaimer: we were sitting in the top section, so I probably didn't have the best view at it). As it started to fall off the rim, and unblocked Dunleavy jumps up, tips the ball back towards the rim. It bounced once, then sat on the rim for what felt like a long time. As the ball was sitting on the rim, the clock expired. Then, finally, the ball fell in. PACERS WIN!! Everybody in the Fieldhouse jumped and yelled and knew that we had all just watched a great finish. Watch the last play here.
I go to several games, and often they are blowouts, or just not that exciting. But this game proved once again that the NBA's slogan holds true: The NBA, Where Amazing Happens.
