FanHouse JeffFoster

Everybody remember Jamaal Tinsley?

The Pacers point guard often called "troublemaker" and "malcontent" hasn't been allowed to play or even practice for the team this season. While the Pacers are still writing his checks, they've made it clear to both Tinsley and his agent that there's just not enough room on the bus, if you buy what I'm selling.

There's a new wrinkle in this particular sale, though, and it seems to be expanding rather quickly. First the NBAPA today announced that they're filing a grievance against the Pacers on behalf of Tinsley. Both sides probably have a case, but the fact that the Pacers removed his nameplate from the locker and sent his stuff to Atlanta (I hope he lives there) does not look good.

Now there's a new development on Tinsley that has him headed to... Charlotte?

Each Wednesday, the second part of our Under The Microscope series looks at a different player in the National Basketball Association and examines them in the context of a game that week. Wednesday night the Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons in overtime, and we kept track of Danny Granger. Here's a look at how Granger's night ended up. You can read part one of this week's UtM here.

Final Line: 24 points, 6-20 FG, 10-11 FT, 10 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

The Phrase Is: Getting it done the hard way.

Having trouble explaining what makes a clutch play to your friends? Skip to the 3:50 mark of this video to see the definition, a turn-around step-back from Kobe Bryant to give the Lakers a two-point lead in the final second of Friday's game against Indiana. Also, Jeff "The Human Thesaurus" Foster was kind enough to provide the antonym for clutch on the following play.

Howard Beck of the New York Times remains one of the more underrated basketball writers in the country; how he has managed to cover the Isiah Thomas era while maintaining the staid voice of the Grey Lady is a bit astounding. This morning's column from Beck focuses on a different team in turmoil, the Indiana Pacers, where the seats never fill up any more. (Via TrueHoop.)

The Pacers rank last in the N.B.A. in home attendance, drawing 12,107 fans a game. On any given night, there are 6,000 to 8,000 empty green seats. They have not sold out a single game this season. When the Pacers and the Knicks played earlier this week, the upper deck appeared 95 percent empty.

In a state where basketball is the unofficial religion, the mass exodus falls somewhere between shocking and apocalyptic.

There's one more key quote in there, from longtime Pacer Jeff Foster, I'd be remiss not to pass on.

"Obviously, there's some guys on the team that the fans don't relate with," Foster said, "and I've heard people say they won't come back to games until certain people are gone."

And the Pacers know this: Look at the Stephen Jackson trade or the Jim O'Brien ad campaign. It'd be absurd oversimplification to call this a battle in the NBA's culture war, because the Pacers' criminal problems of late outrank those of any other team in the league; fans in NYC or L.A. would be revolting, too.

You wonder, though, if these last few years have sparked some latent kindling underneath the surface problems, though; kindling which could seriously delay the rebuilding of the fan base. Let's hope not.

Pardon the unending stream of videos in the NBA Haus, but it's impossible not to show you this one from MixMakers.net. A fan decided to be a fool at Saturday's Washington-Indiana tilt, and Pacer big Jeff Foster did what security couldn't.



The fan would've never done this if Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson were still in Indianapolis. Score one against franchise image rehab.