The Indiana Pacers are quickly becoming so dysfunctional they seem to be their own source of comedy.
Now comes word struggling All-Star center Roy Hibbert was benched for the entire second half of Sunday night's shocking 107-88 home loss to Atlanta because he spent most of the halftime break watching an episode of King of the Hill instead of zeroing in on the coach's pep talk.
In a game the Pacers already found themselves down by 31 points in at the half, Hibbert seemingly had already checked out and soon coach Frank Vogel would move to make it official.
"Hibbert was watching "King of the Hill" promo while teammates focused in. Very, very poor body language from one of the "leaders," tweeted Indystar.com Pacers writer Candace Buckner.
Hibbert was watching "King of the Hill" promo while teammates focused in. Very, very poor body language from one of the "leaders" of this tm
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) April 6, 2014
In the aftermath of the debacle, Hibbert quickly dressed and muttered something along the lines of having nothing to say to reporters before abruptly leaving the locker room. But, in a game where he played just nine minutes and went without a point or rebound,the stench still remained. The Pacers have now lost eight of their last 11 games and seven of their last nine. After leading the two-time defending champion Miami Heat as the Eastern Conference's top overall seed, they also now trail the Heat by two full games in the loss column.
Meanwhile, Hibbert's replacement, Ian Mahinmi, finished with 10 points and afterwards coach Frank Vogel sought to shield him from all the criticism.
"I considered resting Roy before tonight's game because he looks worn down; he's a 7-2 player that's played every game this year, which is very rare," Vogel said. "He looks to me to be worn down. He's giving good effort, but he looks to me to be worn down."
Either way, no one in the Pacers locker room seemed to be laughing much by the end of the night.
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