Hansbrough coming around

The Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night and possibly found their backup power forward in the process.

But their 101-98 victory at Conseco Fieldhouse and the strong play of Tyler Hansbrough were overshadowed by some costly injuries.

Forward Danny Granger and backup guard T.J. Ford suffered ankle and hamstring injuries, respectively. They appear serious enough that both players could spend time in street clothes.

Granger sprained his left ankle late in the first half when he landed awkwardly after a drive to the basket. He stayed downcourt as play continued at the other end, then limped to the locker room as soon as play stopped.
"It swelled right up," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said about their best offensive player. "I don't know how long it's going to take for him to get healed. Clearly, we need him to be healthy. But we can't do anything about that until we find out how severely sprained it is."

Ford re-injured the same right hamstring that has kept him limited through training camp when he outran Hornets All-Star point guard Chris Paul for a loose ball in the backcourt. Ford came up grimacing but stayed in the game until the following possession.

"It tightened and locked up," Ford said. "Guess I've got to go back to the drawing board. I felt good in the past week of practice. Hopefully it's a small setback. I don't know how long I'll be out. We haven't discussed that yet."

O'Brien's plan was to give Ford an extended look Friday to see if he should be Darren Collison's backup over A.J. Price.

Price will continue to have the edge since the Pacers don't know what they can expect out of the veteran Ford.