Pacers vets pull Roy Hibbert aside - ABC NewsThe Indiana Pacers appear to be fed up with their disappearing big man.
Following a zero-point, zero-rebound performance in a 102-96 Game 1 loss to the Washington Wizards, All-Star center Roy Hibbert was pulled aside by teammates David West and Rasual Butler, according to a report by the team's website.
Though the team's site described West as "fuming" and "as heated as he's ever been," all parties declined to comment on the conversation that took place.
West did however tell reporters that the team plans to "keep encouraging" Hibbert and that Hibbert has to "be a part of the fight."
Pacers star forward Paul George told reporters he wants Hibbert to get more involved.
"We're at the point where we really need Roy and we need him now," George said following Monday's loss.
The Pacers, who stumbled down the stretch of the regular season and had to rally from a 3-2 deficit in the first round, had hoped Hibbert had pulled out of his funk after he had 13 points, seven rebounds and five blocks in their Game 7 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.
However, a game in which Hibbert had more fouls (five) than he had points, rebounds, assists and blocks combined (three) over 18 minutes has the 7-foot-2 center again on the defensive.
"I got to come out and be aggressive," Hibbert said Monday night. "I got to be a different Roy Hibbert than I have been."
The Wizards out-rebounded the Pacers by a 53-36 margin in Game 1, a discrepancy George hopes Hibbert can help resolve.
"[It] comes down to us having heart and rebounding the ball," George said. "We need our big fella to rebound the ball for us."
"I'm going to change some things up for the second game," said Hibbert, who went 0-for-2 from the field. "I'm going to look within myself and go out there and figure it out."
The top-seeded Pacers hope he can figure things out in time for Wednesday's Game 2 at home in Indiana.
However, a game in which Hibbert had more fouls (five) than he had points, rebounds, assists and blocks combined (three) over 18 minutes has the 7-foot-2 center again on the defensive.
The pacers are back. Yall in for the same type of losses the wizard took in the regular season. And we have a new proven small lineup. Wizards just don't match up well hawks were a much worst one
Pacers been bad for months breh matchups won't save them. I gamble on NBA games for a living and the Pacers have been a non playoff team for the past 2 and a half months. I've watched nearly all there games and it's not something they can fix over night. To be honest I don't even know how they started so hot and gotten to the point where they are now everything about them looks like a train wreck. George Hill has always been shaky and fragile but now he's totally given up and lost all his confidence every time he shoots I assume he's going to miss. Roy Hibbert was a by product of the Miami-Indy hype and the fact is he's never been a good center he was just an average center who had good games against the Heat who didn't have a center to guard him. The Pacers thrived because nobody expected much from them the past couple of years and the East was garbage. Now they are expected to get to the conference finals if not the Finals and Paul George is expected to be a superstar night in and night out. Paul George is not a superstar and the Pacers are not a championship level team and Frank Vogel is not the genius people thought he was. You can only front for so long before you get exposed and the Pacers have been exposed. Let me put it this way if the Pacers beat the Wizards this series I will take a permanent ban. Hawks had a decent lead in every single game that's not a fluke the Pacers are just a bad to average team at this point and the Wizards will not play around like the Hawks who were just happy to be there did.
Dude is not scared AT ALL... You can look in his face and its like he's playing Saturday afternoon runs at the park...25/7//7 and 5 steals for Beal tonight
Crazy how this is just his first playoffs
NBA should be able to rescind the all star nominations for hibbert
gilbert arenas going at hibbert on instagram (click)
Don't support us now fakkits! If you haven't before don't pick now to start riding dikk weirdos. You nikkas dikkride the underdog all the time.
And the majority thinks I'm the one trollingAlso, it looks like our bench is going to be a problem for us this series... I'd put in Harrington for Gooden, Al had a good game against the Pacers late in the season, might be able to spread the Pacers out just enough for Andre Miller to get a little room to do something
If it does come to Wizards/ Heat the Wizards got no shot
Lack of playoff experience will doom them against Miami....will be a good learning experience for them moving forward, though.
hope I'm wrong
the Heat