Hedo Turkoglu traveled with the team to Indiana, but is unlikely to play.

BY PAUL JONES
sportsnet.ca

Hedo Turkoglu traveled with the Raptors to Indianapolis, but he will not play on Tuesday as the final touches have yet to be made on his protective face mask.

Turkoglu was receiving treatment during media access time on Tuesday morning and still has some visible bruising above and below his right eye. The first-year forward did make an appearance just prior to the morning practice session.

When asked about wearing the protective face gear, Turkoglu noted how it is uncomfortable and that there are blind spots. So why travel to Indy if he wasn't going to play? The guru of masks resides in the Midwest.

With Turkoglu out of the lineup and the Raptors already missing DeMar DeRozan with an ankle sprain, it is a bonus to have the bench playing well. The play of the reserves is something Triano attributed to the early season juggling of the lineup, and having all players gain some familiarity with different situations.

"Thank goodness we balanced them for as long as we did," said Triano, in reference to getting all his perimeter players some floor time early in the season. "Now guys aren't being thrown into situations that are completely not normal. I'm glad that we had enough minutes for those guys earlier so they are comfortable on the floor."

Triano did reflect back on the last time Toronto played at Conseco Field House, when it watched a 23-point lead slip through the fingers. Triano added it wasn't as bad as it looked because of the way the Pacers play. He pointed to their line up and how difficult they are to guard at one end when the play with a small line and shoot three pointers, and then having the patience and recognition to take advantage of mismatches at the other end.

"Everybody got all excited about that game," remarked Triano. "We were on a back to back and they had great energy in the second half. Everybody thinks it's the worst thing that ever happened but the next night they come back from down 24 and beat the Phoenix Suns."

Beyond Tuesday, the Raptors face teams with a combined winning percentage of .276: Indiana, New Jersey, Sacramento and Philadelphia.

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Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien will not be on the bench Tuesday as his mother-in-law passed away and he will tending to family matters. In the interim, assistant coach, Lester Conner will direct the team.

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For basketball fans, if you haven't been to Conseco Field House it's one of the spots that you should try and get to and watch a game. People in Indiana take their hoops seriously and the building is not just a place where the team plays, but it is a shrine to hoops in the heartland of America. Throughout the arena, there are glass trophy cases with memorabilia dedicated to Pacer teams and greats from the past as well as some of the all-time great basketball players. Of course there is a dedicated one for Pacers president Larry Bird, but there are others with artifacts chronicling the career of Oscar Robertson, John Wooden, Isiah Thomas, Larry Brown, Bobby "Slick" Leonard, and Indiana State high school championships. Have you seen the movie Hoosiers?

There are large frames up on the wall with pictures of Pacers past and present: Derrick McKey, Reggie Miller, George McGinnis, Roger Brown (OK some of you youngsters are going to have to look this stuff up .. .says the man behind the keyboard showing his age). Heck, they even have original copies of memos from the league office with dollar figures when fines were doled out to certain players and coaches.

As a basketball fan, you hope that the Pacers are eventually able to turn the team's fortunes. The fans are still not showing up to watch games, which is a combination of a number of things. Losing is the primary deterrent but for a time period, Indiana players were producing bad publicity off the court as well. To listen to Pacer great Reggie Miller, the team has never really recovered from the debacle that took place at the Palace of Auburn Hills and the brawl with the Detroit Pistons.