Josh McHuh?
INDIANAPOLIS — Before they visit the Washington Wizards tonight, some added insight on one of the Pacers who did in the Jazz on Friday night at Indiana …
Josh McRoberts?
Josh McWho?
Josh McHuh?
An Indianapolis native, the 6-foot-10 big man left Duke after two seasons and wound up getting selected No. 37 overall in the second round of the 2007 NBA Draft.
He played sparingly for the Trail Blazers, spent some time with Idaho of the NBA Development League and got packaged to his hometown Pacers as part of a 2008 draft-day deal that also sent Brandon Rush and Jarrett Jack to Indiana.
Danny Granger did most of the damage Friday night, scoring a career-high 44 points.
But McRoberts — averaging 0.25 blocks, 2.6 rebounds 3.9 points and 11 minutes for the Pacers this season — wound up delivering an unexpected three blocks, six boards and 11 points while logging a whopping 28 minutes in Indiana’s 122-106 win over Utah.
Even Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer isn’t that familiar with his fellow former Dukie.
“I saw him a couple times when he was a young fella,” said Boozer, who didn’t personally get to know McRoberts when the Pacer sub was at the school — and Boozer already was in the NBA.
“He’s good,” Boozer added. “He’s gotten a lot better. I know when he first got in the league with Portland he didn’t get a lot of playing time.”
It was a different McRoberts on Friday, though.
“I don’t know if he was hungry, or what it was,” Boozer said. “But he looked great. He came in and got some steals (two), they (referees) let him play a little bit, let some plays go because he had good stops, made some great offensively, looks more athletic.
“I like him.”
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