Pacers pound lethargic Grizzlies Brown frustrated over play of team's starters Pacers 108, Grizzlies 91 By Ronald Tillery Contact October 17, 2004 Judging by the lineup combinations and his generosity with playing time, Hubie Brown still is very much in evaluation mode. That didn't preclude the Grizzlies' coach from appearing annoyed by his team's performance Saturday night. No, it didn't matter that the Indiana Pacers beat the Griz, 108-91, before an announced crowd of 12,217 in FedExForum. Relevant, though, was how much the Griz lacked in execution and defensive energy during their third preseason game in five days. "Our first group gave us one outing out of four," Brown said, referring to his starting lineup. "And that was the beginning of the fourth quarter." Trailing 79-69 heading into that final frame, the Griz cut the deficit to one after Shane Battier sank a couple of 3-pointers along with one from Jason Williams. But the final nine minutes were indicative of the game. The Pacers pulled away behind sharp shooting and defensive prowess that kept the Griz floundering. "The most annoying thing was they took the ball out of our hands at least 10 times," Brown said. "I haven't seen that since I've been here. ... We never came close to matching their physical play." The Griz also never led in the second half, and gave up 61 points after halftime. Indiana shot 58 percent for the game led by Jermaine O'Neal's 22 points. Ron Artest chipped in 19 points and Stephen Jackson collected 17 off the bench for the Pacers. "It took us some time to get in a rhythm but we stayed together and stepped it up in the end," Artest said. "We're playing well together. Stephen Jackson is a big pickup. He's going to help us a lot." Lorenzen Wright's 14 points led six Grizzlies who scored in double figures. Battier (11 points) left as the only other starter to shoot well. "We were just out of sync," Battier said. The Griz shot just 41 percent and were outscored 18-7 in fastbreak points. "We didn't play defense the way we're capable of and we let them run," Griz guard Mike Miller said. "Hopefully, we're mature enough to learn from this." Injuries aside, Brown kept the same rotation pattern he used in the first two exhibition outings. He made wholesale substitution at six-minute intervals with a goal of playing the starters no more than 24 minutes. "This is about learning more than anything," Wright said. "Winning is important but seeing who will help us this season is more important." The game quickly turned into a tough outing for the young prospects. Although rookie Antonio Burks converted three of six shots, he turned the ball over five times. Second-year swingman Dahntay Jones committed four turnovers to go with 1-for-6 shooting. Rookie guard Andre Emmett missed five of his seven shot attempts. With those players on the floor Brown described one sequence as a game-breaker. The Griz trailed 91-86 with 4:10 left in the game. They were defending the Pacers' inbound play with just three seconds left on the shot clock. That's when Burks took his eye off the passer, and Dahntay Jones lost Fred Jones, who scored an easy layup. Instead of a defensive stop with a chance to cut the deficit to two or three, the Griz fell behind by seven points with 3:30 left to play. Brown yelled for a timeout. "We've still got to cut two guys here," Brown said, referring to the Grizzlies' need to cut its 17-man roster to 15. "You don't want to make a mistake on your evaluation. You want them to learn.'' --

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