Granger, Rush carry Pacers to final victory

Mike Wells

April 16, 2009 by Mike Wells | Star staff

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Wing players combine for 31 4th-quarter points

The Indiana Pacers don’t have to worry about addressing their wing position in the offseason.

All-Star Danny Granger and rookie Brandon Rush have got that locked up.

They carried their team offensively in the fourth quarter to help the Pacers overcome a 17-point deficit and beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-108 in the season finale at Conseco Fieldhouse on Wednesday.

“It looks pretty solid,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “The last month, the numbers Brandon and Danny have put up have been. If we can get them to play defense, we’ll be alright.”

Granger and Rush combined to score 31 points on 10-of-13 shooting in the fourth quarter when the Pacers looked like they were going to end the season on a down note. The Pacers outscored the Bucks 37-13 after being down 95-78.

The Pacers (36-46) finished with the same record as last season, but their attitude for the future is different.

“This is a year we’re going to look back on and realize the foundation for a complete turnaround for this franchise started this year,” O’Brien said.

Granger led the Pacers with 35 points. Rush added 24 points.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t make the playoffs, but we did some outstanding things despite that,” O’Brien said.

Milwaukee used a 29-4 run to erase a seven-point halftime deficit.

Bucks forward Richard Jefferson scored 18 of his 31 points in the third quarter.

Forward Troy Murphy’s offensive rebound and putback in the third quarter gave him the team record for most rebounds in a season.

Murphy, who had 12 rebounds against the Bucks, finished with 861, surpassing Clark Kellogg’s record of 860.

It’s the second time in as many games that Murphy moved past Kellogg in the record books. He set the season record for most double-doubles Monday against Cleveland. Murphy had 49 double-doubles.

Granger said he wants to continue to improve his game in the offseason so he can become a complete player.

He has to get his knee better before he’ll be able to get back on the court.

O’Brien said it will take about six weeks for Granger’s right knee, which bothered him for more than half the season, to get back to being 100 percent.

Granger still averaged more than 25 points a game while dealing with knee and foot problems.

The Pacers saw their home attendance increase from 12,222 last season to 14,182 fans this season.

“It started with Herb Simon and Larry Bird listening to fans from a standpoint of the type of individuals they wanted to have represent them on the court and in the community, and they got them,” O’Brien said.

[chart]|||FG|FT|Reb||||Milwaukee|Min|M-A|M-A|O-T|A|Pts||Jefferson|31:39|13-20|2-3|0-4|1|31||Mbah a Mte|35:10|8-15|3-3|4-11|3|19||Gadzuric|18:15|2-5|1-2|3-6|1|5||Sessions|28:14|4-14|1-1|3-5|12|9||Bell|43:15|6-15|2-2|1-6|6|16||Elson|14:38|2-5|0-0|4-4|0|4||Villanueva|17:39|3-10|4-4|1-4|1|10||Alexander|13:11|1-4|0-0|0-2|2|2||Ridnour|19:46|2-6|0-0|0-1|3|5||Allen|10:18|2-5|0-0|0-2|0|4||Bogans|5:08|0-2|0-0|0-0|0|0||Jones|2:47|1-1|0-0|0-0|1|3||Totals||44-102|13-15|16-45|30|108|[end chart]

Percentages:FG .431, FT .867.3-Point Goals:7-20, .350 (Jefferson 3-5, Bell 2-9, Jones 1-1, Ridnour 1-1, Bogans 0-2, Villanueva 0-2).Team Rebounds:5.TeamTurnovers: 11 (16 pts).Blocked Shots:6 (Gadzuric 2, Alexander, Allen, Jefferson, Ridnour).Turnovers:11 (Bell 4, Jefferson 4, Elson, Sessions, Villanueva).Steals:12 (Bell 3, Jefferson 3, Gadzuric 2, Bogans, Mbah a Moute, Sessions, Villanueva).Team Fouls:21.Technical Fouls:None.

[chart]|||FG|FT|Reb|||||Indiana|Min|M-A|M-A|O-T|A|PF|Pts||Granger|41:41|10-16|10-11|2-9|4|2|35||Murphy|24:51|5-10|1-1|4-12|0|0|11||Hibbert|17:03|3-7|4-6|2-5|1|2|10||Jack|36:52|1-8|6-8|0-3|10|3|8||Rush|38:27|10-18|0-0|1-5|0|2|24||Foster|15:00|0-1|0-0|1-5|2|1|0||Ford|20:47|3-8|4-4|1-4|3|0|10||McRoberts|15:49|3-5|0-0|2-3|2|1|6||Graham|13:33|4-8|0-0|0-0|0|1|11||Nesterovic|7:20|0-1|0-0|1-4|1|1|0||Diener|8:37|0-0|0-0|0-3|4|0|0||Totals||39-82|25-30|14-53|27|13|115|[end chart]

Percentages:FG .476, FT .833.3-Point Goals:12-21, .571 (Granger 5-7, Rush 4-6, Graham 3-3, Ford 0-1, McRoberts 0-1, Jack 0-3).Team Rebounds:5.TeamTurnovers: 18 (27 pts).Blocked Shots:12 (Granger 3, Hibbert 3, McRoberts 3, Diener, Murphy, Rush).Turnovers:18 (Granger 6, Ford 4, Foster 2, Graham, Hibbert, Jack, Murphy, Nesterovic, Rush).Steals:10 (Granger 3, McRoberts 2, Diener, Ford, Hibbert, Jack, Rush).Team Fouls:13.Technical Fouls:None.

[chart]|||||||||Milwaukee|25|24|39|20|—|108||Indiana|24|32|16|43|—|115|[end chart]

A—14,161 (18,165). T—2:07. Officials—Mike Callahan, Kevin Fehr, Scott Wall.

Categories: Pacers, Sports

Tags: 

point halftime deficit, jim o brien, clark kellogg, conseco fieldhouse, danny granger, offensive rebound, milwaukee bucks, brandon rush, wing position, season finale, double doubles, quarter points, coach jim, troy murphy, point deficit, seven point, conseco, record books, offseason, topsections, topstories, Pacers, Indiana Pacers, sports

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