Pacers rout Bobcats, tighten hold on 8th (AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—Danny Granger(notes) scored 33 points and the Indiana Pacers
created breathing room from one of their closest competitors for the Eastern
Conference’s final playoff spot with a 111-88 victory over the slumping
Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.

Tyler Hansbrough(notes) added 24 points and Roy Hibbert(notes) had 13 points and 14
rebounds for the Pacers, who moved three games ahead of Charlotte for eighth
place by completing a four-game season sweep.

The Pacers turned a 12-point, second-quarter deficit into a rout behind the
hot-shooting Granger, who scored 25 points in a 16-minute stretch bridging the
second and third periods.

D.J. Augustin(notes) scored 17 points and Kwame Brown(notes) had 16 points and nine
rebounds for the Bobcats, who got 11 points from top scorer Stephen Jackson(notes) as
he labored through a hamstring injury.

Already holding the tiebreaker over Charlotte, Indiana interim coach Frank
Vogel wasn’t shy before the game in comparing the matchup to an “elimination
game if you were up in the playoffs 3-1 or 3-2.”

“We think this would be a knockout blow if we get this win,” Vogel added.

They might just have done that with their sixth straight victory over the
Bobcats.

Charlotte’s roster was gutted by the trade that sent former All-Star Gerald
Wallace(notes) to Portland last month, and couldn’t keep pace with Indiana in its
fourth straight loss and 10th in 12 games.

The Pacers were mired in a six-game losing streak. But behind Hansbrough’s
continued emergence and Granger’s scoring, the Pacers have won two straight and
five of seven.

Indiana, which entered the night also two games ahead of Milwaukee, took
advantage of Charlotte’s limited scoring options with Jackson hobbled.

Jackson, who has been slowed by the injury for the past month, sat out
Saturday’s loss to San Antonio and aggravated the left leg again in Wednesday
morning’s shootaround.

But Jackson returned to the arena in the afternoon and declared himself
ready to go. It just wasn’t pretty watching him try to run.

Despite his limited mobility, Jackson started 4 of 5 from the field as the
Bobcats built a 38-26 lead early in the second quarter. Jackson often retreated
to an exercise bike when he came out to stay loose, but Charlotte struggled to
score without him.

Granger scored 14 points in the second quarter when the Pacers took their
first lead. He was up to 28 points by the time Indiana took control in the
third.

Indiana also survived a scare when point guard Darren Collison(notes) collided with
Augustin in the second quarter and crumpled to the floor clutching his right
knee. Collison returned after halftime and had seven points and four assists,
leading an offense that shot 54 percent from the field.

Since trading Wallace, the Bobcats have needed strong games from promoted
starter Gerald Henderson(notes) and Boris Diaw(notes). Neither did nearly enough.

Henderson never got in a rhythm, missing 10 of 14 shots and committing a
flagrant foul on Granger in the decisive third quarter. Diaw kept passing up
easier shots for more difficult ones for teammates.

Coach Paul Silas immediately yanked Diaw in the third—and never put him
back in—after instead of attempting a shot in the lane he threw an
over-the-head pass that was intercepted and led to Kareem Rush’s(notes) 3-pointer.

Indiana’s 33-19 third quarter also included a nasty fall by Charlotte’s
Tyrus Thomas(notes), who went to the locker room with bruised ribs and didn’t return.

Notes: Bobcats assistant Charles Oakley missed the game as he awaits test
results for a painful back injury that forced him to be carried from the bench
Saturday in San Antonio. “Right now it’s hard for him to walk,” Silas said.
“He’s struggling.” … Pacers and CBS college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg
has the Charlotte-Newark, N.J. flight path down. He was in Charlotte last
weekend for the NCAA tournament, flew to Newark on Monday for the Pacers’ game,
back in Charlotte Wednesday and returns to Newark on Friday for the NCAA East
regional.