Pacers' Hibbert admits he was wrong to call out teammates publicly

Enough ink has been spilled over the Indiana Pacers' late-season swoon, the 10-13 finish to the season that seems to have knocked them out of the title conversation, if not the East's top seed. There's been speculation and analysis aplenty about why a team that looked like a bona fide juggernaut for two-thirds of the season was suddenly struggling against even the dregs of the Eastern Conference.

But with the real season set to begin on Saturday, the Pacers are looking at a clean slate. In the 38-44 Atlanta Hawks, they have a cupcake of a first-round opponent. They'll have homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. Records no longer matter. The only question now is whether they can embrace a psychological shift, or whether they'll allow their regular-season demons to follow them into the playoffs. 

Center Roy Hibbert, who has taken as much flak as any Pacer for his precipitous second-half decline, has taken the first steps toward putting the regular season behind him. 

"You know, I think that I should've kept my frustrations to myself or just in the locker room," Hibbert said on ESPN's "First Take," referring to the comments he made to reporters after a March 28 loss: "Some selfish dudes in here," he said at the time. "Some selfish dudes."

Hibbert claims to have gained a sense of perspective since then, and learned from his mistake:

I will admit that it wasn't the best thing to do. I'll learn from that, and I was wrong. There are better ways to handle that than going to the media. All in all, I learned. I talked to my teammates; they talked to me. I'm willing to accept the criticism. It wasn't the best thing to do.

Time will tell if this is just noise, or if it's actually the beginning of a mental rehabilitation for the center and his beleaguered team. Because if the Pacers are truly going to turn things around, it's Hibbert, more than any other player, who needs to let his play do the talking. In his last four games, he's shot an appalling 3-for-28 from the floor, for a total of nine points, while averaging fewer than four rebounds per game.