Thursday, November 29, 2001 - The Denver Nuggets' best inside player watched from the bench, and their second best stands just 6-foot-1 and plays point guard.

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It's usually a long night for the Nuggets if they can't consistently hit jumpers. Such was the case Wednesday night as Denver dropped its fourth consecutive game, a 99-85 loss to the Indiana Pacers at the Pepsi Center.

"Right now, we don't have an inside presence," Denver coach Dan Issel said. "We're not going inside. We're not driving the ball to the basket or putting pressure on their defense. We shoot perimeter jump shots."

DENVER -- Sometimes in the NBA, it's not who you play against that matters most. It's when you play against them.

The Indiana Pacers, who had lost three in a row and seven of the past eight games before beating the Denver Nuggets 99-85 at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday, have been hit hard by the league's schedule maker.

Indiana played its league-high 18th game. The Central Division-leading Milwaukee Bucks played their 12th game.

"We know the schedule is all going to even out in the long run and everybody's going to play the same number of games," said forward Jermaine O'Neal, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double.

"But this schedule has been something else. Maybe it will be an advantage to us to get all these games out of the way now. I hope it will be."

DENVER -- Al Harrington said it was the topic of conversation when the game-weary Indiana Pacers convened for breakfast Wednesday.

The topic: How to avoid squandering a double-digit lead as the team had done in Portland the night before.

"It's been burning inside since we left Portland," said Harrington, one of the Pacers who rekindled the fire into passionate on-court play in a 99-85 win over the Denver Nuggets.

"We knew we had to play better defense and stop turning the ball over so much."

HOUSTON -- Tuesday night in Texas was looking and feeling like Monday night in Memphis, Tenn.

Not only to those watching it, but to the Kings as well.

That certainly was not encouraging for Sacramento, since it had allowed an undermanned Grizzlies squad to sneak away with a victory at the Pyramid.

And although the Kings looked every bit as vulnerable against a Houston team playing without its injured starting backcourt of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, they wormed their way out of the Compaq Center with an 89-84 win.

Sacramento (11-4) had lost four of its last five road games, and coach Rick Adelman was not particularly excited about the possibility of two losses heading into back-to-back games Thursday at Dallas and Friday at San Antonio.

Moreover, looming after this trip are home games against Dallas, Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I feel a lot better (Tuesday night) than I did (Monday night)," Adelman said. "Give Houston credit. Moochie Norris was aggressive in the second half, and (forward Kenny) Thomas was terrific all night. They were playing hard, and we were on the road. Fortunately, we were able to do a little bit better (Tuesday night)."

Helped by 17-of-19 FT shooting in 2nd half, Portland bulls back from 14-point halftime deficit.

By Cecil Harris
Indianapolis Star
November 28, 2001  

PORTLAND, Ore. -- If you're among the fans who turned off Tuesday night's game at halftime, only to discover Indiana blew that 14-point lead and lost again, the Pacers feel your pain.

Jeff Foster loves his wife, Jamie.

The Indiana Pacers' center curtailed his week of games at the NBA summer league in Boston to return home to Texas and marry in July. The couple then honeymooned in Bali, Indonesia.

But Foster also loves books, and this love affair began long before he met his bride.

How much does Foster love books? He took four on his honeymoon.

"I don't think she was too happy about it," Foster said with a chuckle. "I remember sitting by the little pool in Bali and reading books. I read Bill Russell's book Russell Rules and (the World War II book) Flags of Our Fathers.

"My wife's not really an avid reader. She got into the Harry Potter books for a while. When we're together, though, we're not reading very much."

PORTLAND, Ore. -- There's a certain initiation period a young NBA player must go through before he gets respect from his teammates, his opponents and game officials.

Respect from one's teammates can come quickest, once they see how the youngster practices, plays and conducts himself.

Well, Kings fans, you've seen Mike Bibby for 13 games. So what do you think? Is Bibby better than Jason Williams?

Why not wait until tonight to decide? The Kings travel to Memphis, Tenn., to face the Grizzlies at 5 p.m. on Fox Sports Net.

Williams and Bibby will go at it for the first time in the regular season. Maybe Williams is the flashier player, but Bibby has been a great acquisition.

Bibby is outscoring Williams 15.2 points per game to 14.3. Williams has the

SEATTLE -- Could Jamaal Tinsley, the Indiana Pacers' precocious point guard, become the next Isiah Thomas?

That's what Michael Jordan suggested when asked about Tinsley after the rookie's triple-double last week against Washington.

"He's learning from one of the great point guards. He plays very similar (to Thomas)," Jordan said.

Asked about the comparison, Thomas said, "Jamaal is the closest (to me) that I've seen come into the league because of the way he handles the basketball, the vision he has and how he dribbles the ball."

Tinsley dazzled a national TV audience with 19 points, 23 assists and 11 rebounds against Washington.

With more command performances by Tinsley, comparisons

SEATTLE -- The Indiana Pacers handled the basketball like a piece of hot ice for much of the second half Sunday, evoking a memorable quote from an old football coach named John McKay.

When asked after his team's latest defeat about the execution of his offense, McKay said, "I'm all for it."

Isiah Thomas didn't call for any executions after Indiana committed 22 turnovers in a 99-88 loss to Seattle at Key Arena. But the Pacers coach was not pleased.

"We just didn't do a good job taking care of the basketball," said Thomas, whose team shot 4-for-12 from the field in the fourth quarter.