The Pacers impressively defeated Boston by a final of 107-100 on Monday. They have defeated Boston, Chicago and New York in its last four home games.

Roy Hibbert scored a game-high 26 points.

"We must continue to work with each other on defense and help each other out and try to shed this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde image," said Hibbert. "We are working on it and everybody is giving it their best shot. We are still growing as a team and must continue to work to help each other out."

The Memphis Grizzlies were prepared to deal O.J. Mayo to the Indiana Pacers at the trade deadline, but the call to the league office was late by three minutes.

Coach Paul Silas said it was a “distinct possibility,’’ following a 111-88 loss to the Indiana Pacers, that Jackson could be shut down for the season. Jackson looked shocked when told that, and said despite the debilitating effects of a left hamstring strain, he’s against it.

“If they shut me down the rest of the season, it’s their decision,’’ said Jackson, the Bobcats’ leading scorer this season. “It won’t be mine.’’

Jackson wants to keep playing, even as the Bobcats’ playoff chances took a major hit with the loss to the Pacers. This was a game they all called a must-win: The Pacers are now three games ahead of the Bobcats for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, and hold a tiebreaker over the Bobcats.

Donnie Walsh still hasn't had a substantive conversation with James Dolan about his future with the Knicks, according to MSG sources.

A return to the Indiana front office remains a possibility for Walsh, though owner Herb Simon will let Larry Bird make his own decision. Simon still adores Walsh and he would have more autonomy than he currently is given with the Knicks.

If Bird exits the Pacers to setup a Walsh return, several sources believe Chris Mullin would be hired as general manager.

Mullin was Golden State's top decision-maker for several seasons.

After Deron Williams’ wrist took another jarring blow Friday night, coach Avery Johnson said the team is going to have to re-evaluate its position on his status.

Williams admitted part of the reason he has been insistent on playing despite the pain in the wrist is the fact that the Nets were in the hunt for a playoff spot.

But with the loss Friday night to the Bucks, and with Indiana beating the Bulls in OT tonight, the Nets find themselves seven games out of the final playoff spot in the East, with 15 games to play.

And given the odds of actually making it to the playoffs, Williams seemed resigned to accepting that shutting things down for the season may be the best move for him now.

Shawne Williams stood in a Memphis courtroom last summer after his latest drug-related transgression and begged for mercy.

"If you really want to play basketball," Judge James Beasley Jr. told the 6-9 Williams, "you're going to have to disassociate yourself with persons of ill-repute."

All that can be said today is Williams obviously got the message.

He appears to have exchanged drugs and criminal activity for a shot at having an NBA career that seemed so promising when he was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 2006.

The Knicks have four players ranked among the NBA's top 34 three-point shooters, and Williams leads them with a .451 percentage from long range.

"I definitely let a lot of people down," Williams said. "I let myself down. I was so young. I wasn't taking it as a profession or a job. If I knew what I know now, then I'd probably still be in Indiana. ...(But) a light switch clicked on and I realized what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be playing ball."

Tyler Hansbrough has played the best basketball of his NBA career in recent weeks, thanks in large part to the confidence interim coach Frank Vogel has instilled in the second-year forward.

He is averaging 20.3 points and 7.1 rebounds on 51.9% shooting in 32 minutes per game in March. Hansbrough’s minutes have steadily increased under Vogel after he was often in-and-out of the rotation under Jim O’Brien.

Despite a first half of the season that was pretty much wasted, his advanced numbers look great for the year. He has an above-average PER (17.1) and 53.3 TS%, an improvement of roughly ten percent over his rookie percentage.

In the month of December, he averaged just nine minutes per appearance and produced minimally. He has rewarded Vogel handsomely for giving him consistent minutes, highlighted by back-to-back dominant performances against the Knicks this week.

Hansbrough has scored 20 or more points in five straight games, including efforts of 29 and 30 in the consecutive wins over New York. In those games, he shot 24-37 from the field (64.8%).

“I think I’ve improved my game a lot since Carolina, to tell you the truth,” Hansbrough said. “I’m a much better shooter than I was at North Carolina.”

Hansbrough’s comments, however, weren’t all positive. He offered scathing comments about O’Brien while praising Vogel’s impact.

“He’s definitely given us a lot of confidence,” the forward told RealGM of Vogel. “He lets us know what’s going on and to be honest with you, he’s a much better communicator. We can say things that we think and we should work on, via versa.”

If you consider those subtle shots at O’Brien, then comes the money shot.

When asked how it feels to be making his mark as of late, he said:

“It feels great, especially after so many people doubted me and I had a coach that didn’t believe in me.”

The Pacers may not have a long-term solution on the bench in Vogel, but at the very least relieving O’Brien of his duties has allowed Hansbrough to produce when many had counted him out.

Knicks President Donnie Walsh received good news on Monday. Walsh's final check-up on his hip was on Monday and he apparently was given the "good to go" by his doctor.

Now the Knicks must decide whether he's "good to stay".

April 30th is the deadline for the Knicks to pick up Walsh's option for the 2011-12 season. But Walsh has some options of his own to consider.

He's spent the last three years living alone in Manhattan while his wife, Judy, has remained at the couple's home in Indianapolis. Does he want to continue this lifestyle? Is he comfortable with everything that comes with the job? At 70 years old, should his role change going forward to perhaps help the franchise transition to his successor?

There's also speculation that if Larry Bird doesn't come back to run the Pacers next season, Walsh may choose to leave New York and return to old job in Indiana.

Mike D'Antoni called the Knicks defeat to the Indiana Pacers on Snday night "a horror film". In their loss, the Knicks displayed all of their worst habits and gave substance to every quiet fear about the Carmelo Anthony-Amar'e Stoudemire offensive pairing.

Anthony came to New York with a reputation for dominating the ball.  Stoudemire has received the same criticism in the past.  Both have shown the ability to adapt, but they were at their self-indulgent worst Sunday.

"We revert back to 'just give me the ball, let me put my head down and go,' " D'Antoni said Monday. "Hopefully we can get that out of our games completely."

The Knicks are just 6-5 since Anthony arrived in New York. The Nuggets are 7-2 since trading Anthony.

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin believes Lance Stephenson made the right choice in declaring early for the draft.

“I thought it was right for both of us,” Cronin said. “I thought he would develop better there because he would feel less pressure because he would already have a paycheck and he would already be in the NBA.

“We had Sean Kilpatrick redshirting and everybody back. There’s no question it was best for us. Less drama. You’ve got to have a team at this level.”

Cronin said he does not regret signing Stephenson, noting that Stephenson’s departure added to the perception he could help other players make it to the NBA.

“Don’t think that that didn’t help us sign Jermaine Sanders and Shaquille Thomas,” Cronin said. “The fallacy of recruiting is that I got a guy to the NBA, like Mick Cronin had anything to do with Lance Stephenson getting to the NBA.”