March 11th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
?
Indiana Pacers swing-man Mike Dunleavy, despite his team’s lack of success, is having his best campaign of his 6-year career; despite injuries occurring sporadically throughout the season, he hasn’t missed a game.? And it seems the more he is abused, so to speak, the more productive he becomes; in Tuesday’s contest against the Seattle SuperSonics, he got whacked across the nose and sprained his ankle, so what does Dunleavy do?? He scores 32 points, leading the Pacers to a important 114-107 victory over the Sonics at Conseco Fieldhouse, keeping Indiana barely in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.
Seattle’s Kevin Durant drained a 3-pointer late in the third quarter, reducing the Pacers’ lead to 86-82.? Indiana led in the fourth period 90-87 before going on a small 6-0 run that included baskets by Dunleavy, Flip Murray and Kareem Rush to take a 96-87 advantage with 8:10 to play in the game, a lead they would hang onto for the balance of the contest.? Indiana was led by the aforementioned Dunleavy with 32 points – including 4 treys, 6 rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Danny Granger scored 23 with 7 rebounds and 2 assists.? Troy Murphy added 19 with 9 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.
Seattle was led by Durant with 27 points, 2 rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot, while Jeff Green and reserve Nick Collison scored 15 each with Green grabbing 5 rebounds and??dishing out 3 assists, Chris Wilcox scored 13 points, 5 rebounds. Luke Ridnour came off the bench and scored 12 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, Earl Watson also scored 12 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds in the loss. The Pacers are now 25-39, while the Sonics fall to 16-48.
