Pacers’ Tinsley feels blessed after shooting

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jamaal Tinsley knows he has to make lifestyle changes, and he feels blessed to have the chance.

That was the Indiana Pacers guard’s mind-set 36 hours after being shot at with an assault weapon in front of a downtown Indianapolis hotel. He was not injured.

“The man upstairs, he gave me another opportunity to see another day. When athletes step out, anything can happen,” the sixth-year player said after Monday’s practice.

Tinsley met with coach Jim O’Brien and team president Larry Bird a day after the guard and several companions were targeted in an early Sunday morning shooting that wounded the team’s equipment manager. The suspected shooters have not been arrested as police continue to investigate.

According to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Paul Thompson, at least three people in Tinsley’s group had guns, all of which were legal. Though police didn’t say Tinsley was carrying a gun, he does have a permit.

The team didn’t punish Tinsley in the latest instance of Pacers players finding trouble — or trouble finding them.

First-year coach O’Brien said Tinsley did nothing wrong, other than making bad decisions, but he knows the damage might already have been done to an image the franchise has worked frantically to rebuild.