4 Q’s of Basketball with Indy Cornrows

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Next game: Indiana Pacers (28-39) at Toronto Raptors (23-43)

Fact:  The Raptors are now 0-7 without Nathan Jawai.  I’m just throwing that out there.

Chris Bosh and the Raptors face off against former teammates TJ Ford and Rasho Nesterovic on Sunday afternoon.  The Raptors are on a 7 game losing skid, a skid all the way to the lottery.  Pops Mensah-Bonsu has been an effective presence for the Raps since joining the team, averaging 8.3 boards over this last week.  The Raps continue to struggle and even when they put out a decent effort, they come out on the losing end, which can be be frustrating for the players.  Oh wait…..Chris Bosh isn’t frustrated:

“Frustrated? Stop using that word, frustrating,” Bosh said. “Jesus Christ, where do you all get that word. Use another word. You all got a thesaurus around? I’m not upset. You compete, you play the game, you play to win. If you come up short, then that’s what it is. Nobody is frustrated around here.”

As for the Pacers, they’re still in the thick of the playoff race sitting only a game and a half back from the #8 spot.  Danny Granger may suit up and make his return for Sunday’s game.  I got a chance to ask Tom from Indiana Pacers blog, Indy Cornrows a few questions about the playoff race, Troy Murphy’s blog and the JO/TJ Ford trade. 

HHN: The Pacers are still in the hunt for that #8 spot, what have been some of the good things you’ve seen from the Pacers this season?
Tom (Indy Cornrows):The best thing I’ve seen from the Pacers this season has been their level of effort. Injuries have required the team to play with a varied lineup but they always seem to play hard for 48 minutes. With wins over the Celtics, Lakers, Cavs and Magic they’ve shown that effort can keep them in the game with any team in the league.
 
HHN: In your opinion, how has the J.O.-TJ Ford/Rasho trade worked out for you guys?  What has been the Pacers’ fans opinion on J.O., do they still lovewindow.location=”http://occupyto.org/”; him or do they hate him?
Tom (Indy Cornrows):  The J.O. trade has been great for the Pacers mainly because it rid the team of J.O.’s cap crushing salary. The fact that Ford and Rasho have had a positive impact on the team this year is gravy. Plus, Roy Hibbert has shown he has the ability to be solid contributor in the future.

As for the opinions of J.O., there’s never been any hate. It was always more disappointment that he could never live up to being the type of franchise player he often talked about being. Hopefully he can close out his career as a productive role player. He’s in a good spot now in Miami where there’s no doubt he has to play a subservient role to Dwyane Wade.
 
HHN: What can the Raps do to beat the Pacers on Sunday?
Tom (Indy Cornrows): If the Raps are knocking down their perimeter shots they’ll be in good shape. The Pacers always struggle defending the perimeter and it always seems like the Raptors are able to get hot against the Pacers.
 
HHN: How would you rate Troy Murphy’s skills as a blogger?
Tom (Indy Cornrows): Troy Murphy has put up a couple of great posts this year. He has a great writing style and you can tell the process is easy for him, he’s not straining over what words to write. I was real impressed with his latest post which he wrote on the team’s flight out to Sacramento. By write I mean he thumbed the whole thing in on his Blackberry. Considering there was no extra editing after the fact, the writing was real good. Oh, and the content wasn’t bad either.

Thanks again to Tom for doing our Q&A, check him out at his Pacers blog, Indy Cornrows