INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Pacers swingman Mike Dunleavy, Jr., cautioned against showing too, too much excitement. This was, after all, the New Jersey Nets.
Yes, those Nets.
“Let's call it what it is,” Dunleavy said following the Pacers' 107-91 victory over the Nets in front of 12,175 at Conseco Fieldhouse Friday night. “We're playing a team that's struggling this season.
“They have two wins. We're at home. This is one we needed to get.”
Dunleavy was right, but at the same time, this much was also true:
The Pacers (7-13) not only got that victory, their first in seven games and second in the last 12, they got it in encouraging fashion in an area that just past the quarter pole of the season it has become apparent this season must be about.
They got it because young players, guys the Pacers need to develop first into solid players, then into core guys, played well. The two players who perhaps best personify the future had career-high games, with Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert each emerging as a major storyline.
“It doesn't erase everything, but it sure feels good to get a win,” Hansbrough said after the Pacers' first victory since beating the Clippers on November 25.
Hansbrough, the Pacers' first-round selection in the 2009 NBA Draft, scored a career-high 21 points, and did it in something other than his usual foot-on-the-floor, shoulder-in-the-opponent-stomach fashion. Hansbrough was as aggressive and determined as usual Friday, but there was something less about his game on Friday night, something less in a good way. He seemed controlled, calm, and it wasn't surprising afterward to hear he considered this the most relaxed and comfortable he had felt in 16 NBA games.
He looked that way, and looked – as he had at times this season, but never quite as obviously or optimistically – like he has not only a future in the NBA, but potentially a bright one.
Hibbert, too, had a career-high, and that it came on his 23rd birthday became a theme of many observing the game. Those observers also made much of Hibbert's first career 3-pointer, and it was talk of winning H-O-R-S-E games in practice that drew one of the biggest smiles to his face afterward.
But it was Hibbert's inside presence early that gave Indiana an early leadt the Nets couldn't overcome. Hibbert, as he has at times this season – but not as consistently as the Pacers would like – looked fluid underneath early, and by halftime, he had 15 of his 20 ponts and Indiana had a nine-point lead it never fully relinquished.
“We played together tonight and we must continue to play together,” Hibbert said. “This is a great birthday present for me.”
The Pacers spent the second half maintaining the lead, and Hansbrough spent the third quarter looking like the player he was becoming a national household name at the University of North Carolina for four seasons.
Hansbrough, who had his first career double double Wednesday in a loss to Portland, shot 8 of 18 from the floor Friday. He was at ease shooting from the perimeter, smooth from 15-to-18 feet much of the night and as smooth, too, from the free-throw line as he had been all season.
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