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Sometimes you just have to get back to the basics and remember what got you to where you are.

While relaxing his body Friday evening for an unknown role in a huge game the next day, reserve point guard A.J. Price wanted to get his mind right to take on the Chicago Bulls. So he pulled out some old games from his days at UConn when he was successful helping to guide his team to the Final Four.

What he saw was a confident player, making plays the way he needed to against the Bulls. The trip down memory lane served as the inspiration for Price's mind set when he took the court on Saturday.

'I was watching old college tapes," Price said. "And one thing I noticed I wasn't doing (with the Pacers) was taking and making my pull-up threes, where I'm just in rhythm and I rise up and shoot the ball. So I said, today if I get a chance to do that  I'm definitely going to do that, so it felt like college out there today."

Price hit two of those pull-up threes in perfect rhythm during the personal 8-2 run he contributed in a stretch of just over two minutes which stradled the third quarter break and left the Pacers with a 16-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

Price was one of several role players to play a big role in the win. He played just 15 minutes but scored 10 points notching a +10 effort while on the court.

If you look back on the win, it is impossible to pick out a player or two and give them the credit for rising up and carrying the Pacers to victory. Anyone on the floor in the last two minutes has the blemishes of that close on their game, even though they all made plays throughout the game to put the Pacers in position to at least hold on and win.

As they had in the earlier great efforts that ended in defeat, the Pacers relied on a team effort to build that double-digit lead which was just enough to hold up on Saturday. That meant getting a sporadic boost  at one end of the floor or the other from everyone who happened to play.

Paul George was huge in the first half. Josh McRoberts did a little of everything off the bench (until the final two minutes). Roy Hibbert had his moments. Danny Granger led the way with 24 points and the four free throws to close out the W.

The Pacers definitely lead the league in "yeah, buts" and a variety of other qualifiers you have to use to explain the great play the team has shown that isn't always great. But as far as the first four playoff games go, they are always fun.

Read more about the Indiana Pacers and the NBA at Indy Cornrows.

The Indiana Pacers played really well in their Game 1 loss to the Chicago Bulls. They just didn't play well long enough.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Pacers are fully capable of playing well enough to beat the Bulls. Take care of the ball and make shots and the rest takes care of itself. The Pacers did just that for just over 44 minutes against the Bulls which put them up 10 points and in position to steal a Game 1 win. But the game is 48 minutes and the Bulls, and in particular, Derrick Rose, will keep grinding for all 48.

"It's like a crazy stalker ex-girlfriend," Danny Granger said of Rose following the game. "Every time you tell her you don't want to talk to her, she shows up at your door again. We kept making runs one after another and they kept coming back."

That's just one of many lessons the Pacers need to learn from the loss. Larry Bird mentioned earlier this week that the young players for the Pacers would learn more in four playoff games than they did all season. I think today's game already surpassed the regular season. That was a high-level playoff game. The Pacers were the instigators not the retaliators. Big ups to Frank Vogel. He had the Pacers prepared and on point with a plan of attack they could handle against the tough Chicago defense.

But the failure on little things gave the Bulls just enough air to stay alive until the end when they, ahem, Rose up and put away the game while the Pacers were unable to execute when it mattered most.

I was amazed and enamored by the patience and discipline the Pacers showed in their half court offense throughout the game, often using up the bulk of the shot clock instead of trying to force something that wasn't there. Darren Collison handled the ball against that stout Bulls defense most of the day and only turned it over once. In fact, combined with A.J. Price, the Pacers point guards put up 25 points, 10 assists and only 2 turnovers. Those are usually winning numbers going away.

During the fatal 16-1 run by the Bulls to close the game, even one or two buckets by the Pacers would've changed everything, and they just couldn't get it. Credit the Bulls for ramping up their defense, I guess. But that defense looked much the same most of the game. The Pacers made a lot of open shots. Down the stretch, Hansbrough missed a runner, Collison missed a shot off pick and roll action that wasn't horrible and then Granger missed a couple of jumpers.

All were bad misses and the Bulls made them pay for each miss at the other end, which in turn cranked up the pressure for the next miss and so on.

There were also breakdowns at the other end. The 21 offensive rebounds the Bulls grabbed is just nutty. It wasn't a simple matter of getting a body on your man simply because the Pacers front court players had leave their man to cover a rotation in the lane so much that Rose would be plenty safe just getting in the lane and blindly chucking it up knowing his guys will be there to clean up. Still, there were enough "want to" opportunities that the Bulls simply beat the Pacers to in order to bloat that OReb number.

Then think about one other play. The Pacers are up six with two and a half minutes to go. After Hansbrough's missed runner, the Bulls are going the other way and Joakim Noah simply beats the Pacers defense down the floor. Rose snaps off a sweet pass which results in a dunk as the trailing Granger fouled him. If everybody is busting hump back on D, though, that passing lane isn't there nor is the momentum which swung to the Bulls along with Noah on the rim.

I'm sure there are many more little things that went wrong late that may have tipped things in the Pacers' favor, but they're all lessons learned the hard way.

Read more about the Indiana Pacers and the NBA at Indy Cornrows.

"You don't worry about me shooting, to be honest with you," Tyler Hansbrough said with a chuckle. "I'm going to get my shots up."

One locker over, Danny Granger intervened, shaking his head vigorously side-to-side. "No, no, no...don't worry that. Don't worry about Tyler getting his shots up."

The light-hearted banter was the fruit of a big win for the Indiana Pacers despite an off night at the offensive end. While Hansbrough passed up a few shots he normally takes, he still made his presence felt in the win.

Defense, of all things, put the Pacers in position to secure a playoff spot. With five games to play, their magic number is now four games meaning any combination of Pacers wins and Charlotte losses equaling four will put the Pacers back in the playoffs after four post-seasons on the outside.

That defense was great from start to finish, literally. On a very active first possession of the game for the Bucks, ended in a shot-clock violation. Then after an up and down game left the Bucks with the ball and a chance to win at the buzzer, the Pacers forced the Bucks to rely on Drew Gooden 25 feet from the hoop. The shot was contested and the resulting clank sealed the win and may in turn seal the Pacers spot in the playoffs.

"I'm very proud of our defensive effort," Frank Vogel said following the game. "It was a great effort by our guys. We have a confident bunch defensively. They know when it's on the line they can get stops and they proved it tonight."

Among the defensive improvements, Hansbrough's effort stood out. He's made a stir this season at the offensive end, but late rotations from the weakside defense in aid of his teammates, most notably Roy Hibbert have been a sore spot for the coaching staff. But tonight his play earned a special mention by Vogel following the game.

Against Milwaukee, Hansbrough helped guard the yard and keep the lane clogged. So while Hansbrough admitted he was a little out of his comfort zone on offense,  passing up some shots he normally takes, he was still able to make an impact at the defensive end. Vogel was asked to elaborate on where Hansbrough's improvement showed up.

"Weakside,'" Vogel stated simply. "We pointed out to him in film session. You know, he's a passionate player, an energetic player he wants to keep his man off the glass. So too frequently in the last few games, he's been more worried about keeping his man off the glass than stepping up and protecting the paint. He was just sensational in his help defense, early on and really the whole game. He really grew leaps and bounds in one game."

Hansbrough was happy to come through last night but didn't sound satisfied.

"I'm trying to get my rotations down," Hansbrough said. "If a guy comes out and Roy hasn't gotten back to his man then I try to help him out. It's something that I notice on the tape and have to learn."

Hansbrough continues to develop all facets of his game, and while his defense has lagged behind his offense, maybe it is starting to catch up. After all, it wasn't long ago that his mid-range jumper was sketchy, but now he's questioned when he doesn't shoot it as much.

Who knows? Before long maybe we won't have to worry about Hansbrough providing solid help-side to take a charge or create a turnover just like Granger assures us now that we don't need to worry about the forward getting his shots.

Read more about the Indiana Pacers and the NBA at Indy Cornrows.

"I don't think I'm ever going to be a numbers guys," Josh McRoberts said when asked about his impact on the Indiana Pacers win over the Boston Celtics last night. "If you just look at stat lines, you're probably not going to be too impressed with me."

True enough. Scoring 6 points with 3 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal in over 27 minutes appears without context to be a minimal contribution to a big win for the Pacers.

However, if you actually watched the game last night, you'd note that the +24 number, for the team's positive production with McRoberts on the court last night, was not some fluke. McRoberts facilitated the offensive flow for the Pacers, keeping the Celtics' stingy defense honest which helped create openings for his teammates to score.

"Guys knocked down some shots tonight that were open. The way Boston plays, they're so tough, hedging on screens, up in the point guards and wings, just playing great defense."

Two weeks ago, the Pacers struggled to find any open looks against the C's in Boston, let alone knock down the shots. Tyler Hansbrough went into that game on a hot streak, but the Celtics were able to keep Hansbrough out of his pick n' pop comfort zone which in turn bogged down the rest of the offense. McRoberts and the Pacers learned from their struggles in Boston and took advantage of the play-making ability McRoberts brings to the table to show the Celtics something different out of the pick n' roll.

"Forcing a rotation out of that pick n' roll where I have the ball and try to create with it, then they have to rotate helps," McRoberts explained. "We could see how we needed to attack their defense (after the loss in Boston), I mean they play great defense. Trying to make a quick pass out of the pick n' roll to try to attack and make them rotate is what you want and that's an adjustment we made from the last game."

McRoberts even kept the defense honest by taking the ball to the hole in the fourth quarter when Boston had everything else covered up. Winning the little things always adds up for the Pacers. For instance, Paul George had a tough night, but did manage two hustle plays to keep two separate possessions alive for the Pacers. Both of those possessions ended in three-point plays.

When you get big nights from Roy Hibbert, Darren Collison and A.J. Price, you don't want those little things to tip the game the other way. Last night everything tipped in favor of the Pacers and McRoberts played a big part in making it happen even if you can't tell from the box score.

Read more about the Indiana Pacers and the NBA at Indy Cornrows.

Once again, the Indiana Pacers struggled to start the game, but rode the hot hand of Danny Granger to erase an early 12-point deficit and eventually run away from the Charlotte Bobcats for a huge 111-88 win.

The win completed a 4-0 sweep of the season series for the Pacers while putting them three games ahead of Charlotte for the eight playoff spot in the East. Charlotte may now go into shut down mode along with their leading man, Stephen Jackson.

Jack gutted his way through tonight's game with a strained hamstring because of the stakes involved and was able to get off to a strong start while limping around. His 9 points first-quarter points helped put Charlotte in control of the game early. But after sitting down, he was never able to get going again in what might be his last game of the season. On the broadcast it was mentioned that Jack said if Charlotte lost this game he would probably shut it down for the season to let his hammy heal.

The way the Pacers started the game, though it was hard to believe they would throw a 35-point swing at the Bobcats. Unlike the bad start in New Jersey, the Pacers weren't sloppy, in fact they only had four first half turnovers. Instead the offense was just goopy with a serious lack of ball or player movement, lots of one-on-one play and forced shots. At the other end there weren't many answers either, as the Pacers relied on a holding Charlotte to one point over the final three minutes of the first quarter to "hold" them to 28 points. Certainly could've been worse.

Things started to click in the second quarter and when Danny Granger re-entered the game he simply took over. His 14 points in the final nine minutes of the half threw all of the momentum on the Pacers' side and set up the second-half outburst that saw the Pacers outscore the Bobcats, 57-37.

While Granger picked up where he left off after the break, Tyler Hansbrough started cashing in his scoring opportunities as well. Then Brandon Rush joined the pair, finding his stroke and knocking down three 3-pointers to cap a 13-4 run that put the Pacers up 15 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Charlotte never recovered.

Granger ended the night with 33 points on 11 of 19 shooting from the floor for what would be his most efficient and timely offensive game of the season considering the importance of this game. Hansbrough had an efficient night himself, drawing a mixed reaction with every play he was involved in from the mixed crowd of North Carolina and Duke fans, finishing with 24 points on just 10 shots. The pair combined to make 17-20 free throws while **** the life out of the Bobcats and Time Warner Cable Arena.

Simply a big win in a big game for the Pacers. Granger played like he could really smell the playoffs and his team followed his lead. The scent of the playoffs should be plenty strong now for the Pacers now and supply plenty of motivation to finish the season.

A few more thoughts and observations:

- The Pacers only had 13 turnovers including a few well after the game was decided. More importantly, Darren Collison (0) and A.J. Price (1) only had one turnover between them.

- Collison provided a scare late in the second quarter when he went down in a heap holding his knee. He limped back to the locker room but it was only a bruise, so he was able to return for the second half. He finished with 7 points and 4 assists, missing a few mid-range shots he's been hitting. The key is he didn't make the negative offensive plays and let his teammates do the heavy offensive lifting.

- Roy Hibbert only took seven shots but finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He also blocked a couple of shots and dropped off four assists. One bad foul limited his time in the second half. He had a block on Kwame Brown in front of him on a platter, but instead of keeping his arm straight up to deny the shot, Roy swung through to swat it and hammered down on Brown forcing a whistle. As Chris Denari said, that was a rookie Roy move.

- Speaking of rookie woes, Paul George just had one of those nights. When in doubt the whistle goes against him and he was hampered with foul trouble all night. The night ended on a bright spot though as a pair of finishes at the rim put the Pacers up 23 points with a little over five minutes to play. The dunk on the second finish served as an appropriate knock out punch. In garbage time, Lance Stephenson found PG for an alley-oop finish which was mighty nice.

- Speaking of mighty nice alley oop finishes (I promise I'll stop), Josh McRoberts had THE highlight play when he corralled a high pass from A.J. Price with one hand, cupped it and stuffed it, then paused on the landing to let everyone soak it in. Sweet.

- D.J. Augustin and Shaun Livingston were a handful for the Pacer point guards, combining for 32 points. Livingston used his size to score over both guards.

- Things were going so well for the Pacers that when Dahntay Jones set himself up for a monster dunk only to be met at the summit by Tyrus Thomas, the clean block was whistled a foul.

- Oh, and Sacramento beat Milwaukee, 97-90. Wow! That gives the Pacers a 3-game lead on both Milwaukee and Charlotte. It also should help focus the Pacers on Friday night since that same Sacramento team will be in town to play the Pacers.

Read more about the Indiana Pacers and the NBA at Indy Cornrows.