Mark Montieth of the Indianapolis Star reports that Ron Artest has recovered from the stomach ailment that caused him to leave Friday?s Chicago game. He returned to play a controlled and complete game against the Hawks.

Even though he wasn?t feeling 100 percent, he scored 24 points with 8 rebounds, four assists and just one turnover in 37 minutes. "I had to focus," he said. "I wasn't out of control. I was doing whatever it took to win."

Artest began feeling ill on Friday. He started that night?s game against the Bulls but had to leave the game as his stomach pains increased. After the game he went directly from the fieldhouse to an area hospital, where he underwent tests and received intravenous fluids. He left the hospital at 5 a.m., went home and climbed into bed.

He thought about going to Chicago for Saturday?s game, but didn?t feel well enough to make the trip.

Artest said tests revealed nothing serious. But no matter how well he plays while sick, he doesn't want to make a habit of it. "I don't want to feel like that ever again," he said.

Facing his old team for the second night in a row, ex-Pacer Jalen Rose again started the game poorly.  After scoring only two points in the first half of Friday night's loss in Indiana Rose was so annoyed at himself that he threw away his uniform - shoes included - and prepared for last night's rematch.

Imagine how Rose felt when he again when he came out poorly.  Rose started the game in Indiana by missing his first eight shots, and things didn't get much better in Chicago where he missed his first seven shots and ended the first half with only one point, half his offensive output of the Indiana game in the same time frame.  Rose didn't hit his first field goal until five minutes into the second half and went into the three quarter time with three points.  Then it happened.

"One guy grabbed me by the neck, another guy kicked me in the butt, another guy grabbed me in a headlock," Rose said. "And they said it was my time to step up and lead."

And Rose did, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter alone to set a new United Center record.  More importantly Rose's efforts got some revenge against the Pacers, the Bulls taking the game 110-103.  Indiana were without starters Jermaine O'Neal (knee) and ex-Bulls Ron Artest, who did not travel with the team due to a stomach ailment.

"That's pretty good," said Rose when told about the record. "Especially when No. 23 played here."

Mark Monteith of the Indianapolis star reports that Indiana?s Jermaine O?Neal received some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that he?ll miss tonight?s game against the Bulls with an injured knee. The Good news is that it?s a mild sprain and he will be listed as "day-to-day" after the game.

O?Neal bumped knees with teammate Brad Miller in Monday?s loss to the Rockets. It was feared that the injury was serious. He had to be helped off the court and team officials predicted a two week rest period for the power forward.

Tests on Thursday revealed that the injury was a mild to moderate sprain of the left knee and will allow O?Neal to return quickly.

O'Neal leads the Pacers in scoring (20.4), rebounding (10.3) and blocked shots (1.7). Of the 10 games he missed last season, the Pacers were 2-8.

The Nuggets take on the Indiana Pacers @ 5pm tonight.

Camera Sports Writer Barney Hutchinson writes about Saturday nights big Nuggets win over the Pacers.

The Indiana Pacers' Quick offense slowed to a crawl once too often Monday night without starting point guard Jamaal Tinsley in the lineup.

Even more shocking, the Pacers got no points from Reggie Miller in more than a decade, leading to a 102-91 loss to Utah a the Delta Center.

Jazz point guard John Stockton was at his Hall of Fame best, recording a double-double (22 points and 10 assists), while being hounded by as many as four different Pacers, all much taller than he.

Tinsley, who's nursing a sore right thigh, was missed dearly. Without him the Pacers played at a much slower pace offensively for the third game in a row. The league leader in assists this season, the Pacers had just 16 against the Jazz and lost the battle on the fast break for a second consecutive game (11-8).

The Indiana Pacers lost for the third time in 15 games Monday night at the Delta Center.
   
Now the big news.
   
During Utah's 102-91 victory, veteran sharpshooter Reggie Miller failed to score in a game for the first time since March 25, 1989. The 37-year-old Miller, coming off an ankle injury and playing his fourth game in five nights, missed all three of his field-goal attempts.
   
More inexplicably, Miller missed three straight free throws. This from a player who led the NBA in free-throw shooting last season at 91.1 percent. This from a player who entered this season in sixth place on the NBA's all-time list for free-throw percentage (.885).
   
Miller did not recall the last time he was held scoreless. It was against Washington almost 13 years ago.
   
Asked if he remembered the last time he missed three straight free throws, Miller said, "I don't remember that, either. There were a lot of I-can't-remembers tonight."

NBA basketball is a young man's game, or so the Indiana Pacers would have you believe. The Pacers have raced to the league's second-best record with three players born in the 1980s and only one player older than 27 -- and the geezer, 37-year-old Reggie Miller, didn't contribute a point Monday.
   
So how does Indiana account for the fact that it was handed its third loss of the season, 102-91 to the Jazz, mostly because of the play of a veteran guard with more experience than the Pacers' other four starters combined?

As much as it pained Reggie Miller to watch from the sidelines during his team's sizzling start, he didn't want to jinx them by coming back during a winning streak.

So while the Indiana Pacers were winning nine games in a row, Miller patiently waited.

He also learned how far his young teammates have come.

Despite having one of the youngest teams in the NBA, the Pacers bring the best record in the Eastern Conference to the Delta Center tonight.

Mark Monteith of the Indianapolis Star chimes in on the Mutombo trade. He claims that some people spoke too soon. After a 6-0 preseason and a 4-0 start in the regular season (which included an impressive win over the Pacers) many had tagged New Jersey the runaway winners of the East. The Addition of Mutombo had pushed them over the top.

Since the 4-0 start, they are just 7-6 and they are threatening to be undermined by what may become known as the Mutombo fiasco.

When the Nets traded Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch to the Sixers for Dikembe Mutombo, the expectations were that Richard Jefferson would fill in for Van Horn and Mutombo would give them the defense and rebounding that they lacked last season and allow them to compete against Shaquile O?Neal and the Lakers.

Monteith writes, "It was a nice theory. But Mutombo, whose age is listed as 36 but often seems closer to 63 as he creaks around the court, isn't playing up to expectations and finds himself at the center of the discontent surrounding the Nets."

He?s averaging career lows of 7.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 25 minutes per game. He is also complaining about his role on the team. He says he would play better with more minutes. Nets coach Byron Scott says he?ll get more minutes if he played better.

Scott has said all along he'll limit Mutombo's minutes until late in the season so that he'll be fresher for the playoffs. Mutombo, however, has aggravated the situation by showing poor hands as the Nets try to run their offense through him -- an offense he's been slow to pick up. "All of us are trying our best to get Deke to come along a little bit quicker offensively," Scott said. "We are going to have to put more time into it."

The Sixer meanwhile are very happy with the results of the trade. They are leading the Atlantic Division with a 13-4 record and Van Horn and MacCulloch are producing quality minutes for their new team.

"Honestly, I think we're a better team than we were when we went to the Finals (in 2000-01)," Sixers star Allen Iverson said. "It's like we're 10 strong. On the Finals team, we relied so much on Dikembe, put so much pressure on him to bail us out (defensively). Now we don't have that luxury inside any more; we just have to rely on each other, just do better as a unit. It helps us, because we just don't put pressure on one guy."