Lesson learned for Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves: Don't get Danny Granger angry.With the Pacers and T-Wolves on the rise, both are starting to gain attention from the rest of the league. Last night, both got in an aggressive battle, and it went as far as to Granger and Love having a scuffle towards the end of the third quarter. After that, Granger started lighting it up and could not be stopped, scoring 36 as Indiana knocked off Minny in a 109-99 bout to improve to 15-6.
Granger scored 29 of those 36 points all in the second half. After the game, Love expressed his dislike for the Pacers, saying they try to be tough and all this other nonsense. Next time these two see each other, it's going to be a good one to watch. A rivalry has started.
"I've said all along I've never liked the Pacers," Love said. "I guarantee the next time we play them it will be just as physical."
Granger was also 5-of-8 from behind-the-arc and also grabbed seven boards in the game. Darren Collison became a solid floor general, getting 20 points, nine assists, and six rebounds. Along with that, Roy Hibbert showed up with 15 points and nine rebounds. David West and Paul George also helped, having twelve and ten points respectively.
Kevin Love played great, with 21 points and 17 rebounds. He's was getting a lot of calls his away, but just couldn't hit all of his shots. going six-of-16 from the field. Luke Ridinour had 16 points. Right after that hard, aggressive foul on Granger with about 23 seconds remaining in the third, both exchanged words, which led to Granger being heavily...well...angry. And with that, Granger became unstoppable.
However, Granger and Love are still friends...I think.
"Kevin Love is a friend of mine so I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose," Granger said of his Team USA teammate. "I think in the heat of the moment he gave me a hard foul. I got clotheslined and that's how I reacted. It kind of lit a fire under me. I kind of got going a little bit."
However, Granger did tweet at Love last night after Kevin made those comments about them saying basically something along the lines of, "Yeah they think they're so tough when they're not. They probably take pills to try to be tough." Granger responded that the Pacers don't try to be, they just play hard and play tough when they need to.
Granger got a technical, but went on a roll. Indy went towards a 22-12 run to finish it off. It looked like it was all over after Granger scored a four-point play to give Indy a 94-77 lead.
"Danny took over," said Roy Hibbert. "When you get the Grange mad, that's what you get, you know?"
Indiana will face Dallas next tomorrow. Looks to be a good one, and as for the Pacers, a solid win guys. Keep up the good work, especially Granger; he's been on fire this past week after struggling at the start of the season.
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