Pacers 81, Rockets 76: JWB!

The Pacers minus JO beat the Rockets minus Yao, 81-76, in a game that will only be remembered for the mark added to the win column. This game was up for grabs the whole way with several swings of momentum. In the end, the Pacers made a couple more plays to seal the win. Gotta go old school after this grinder and evoke the ancient Al Davis -- just win, baby!

Tracy McGrady returned to the Rockets line up after missing several games. He had some outstanding spurts of freakishness but also showed a lot of rust. That worked out well for the Pacers, especially Jeff Foster who was in focus for a couple of poster dunks but TMac just didn't have his groove on and lost the ball both times. Just win, baby!

Jamaal Tinsley was huge offensively in the first half, almost single-handedly keeping the Pacers around for much of the first quarter. He had a few mind numbing turnovers in the second half, but that is the type of game we had to endure. Just win, baby!

Al Harrington filled the JO void with 23 and 14 but, man he left a lot of meat on the bone. He took 24 shots to get his points and had trouble finishing several layups around the basket and also fumbled away five turnovers. Al did score a nice interior bucket with less than a minute to go to give the Pacers a three point lead. Just win, baby!

Darrell Armstrong didn't bring his shooting touch to the gym tonight missing all of his FG attempts and passing up a few attempts altogether. The normally solid 80% free chucker, missed three key freebies late in the game. But, he then made three in a row, really late to put the game away. Just win, baby!

The Pacers are again two games over .500 (16-14) with a roadie at Detroit up next on Friday night. With a couple of days off, the Ps should be at full strength with JO. Just win, baby!

(Photo: Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)