Pacers hope home court works for them
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- All season long, Conseco Fieldhouse has embraced
the Indiana Pacers, made them feel nice and comfortable, right at
home in their handsome new arena.
Now they need it to come through for them one more time -- at
least.
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Pacers try to avoid repeat
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INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers are right where they were
a year ago against the Knicks -- even after four games in
the Eastern Conference finals with the homecourt advantage.
This time they hope for a better ending.
New York won Game 5 here last year 101-94 and then closed out
the best-of-seven series by winning Game 6 in Madison Square Garden
90-82.
The home team has won all eight games between the teams this
season, a trend the Pacers hope to continue Wednesday night at
Conseco Fieldhouse, where Indiana recorded a league-best 36-5 mark
during the regular season.
In the playoffs, Indiana is 7-2 at home after defeating New York
twice here before losing twice on the road to even the series.
This is Indiana's third consecutive trip to the conference
finals and its fifth in seven years. New York ousted the Pacers in
seven games in 1994 and Orlando eliminated the Pacers in seven
games the following year. Chicago beat Indiana in seven games in
1998.
"Just because we lose two games, that doesn't mean we're not
determined," Pacers swingman Jalen Rose said Tuesday. "We know
what it takes to get here. We just don't know what it's like to get
over this hump and that's what we're trying to accomplish."
--Associated Press
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The Pacers were back home again in Indiana today, bruised from
two straight losses in New York that allowed the Knicks back into
their NBA Eastern Conference championship playoff. The
best-of-seven series is tied 2-2 after the Knicks held on for a
91-89 victory Monday night.
And the Pacers believe Conseco will get them through this crisis
in Wednesday night's Game 5.
"It's just a matter of winning Game 5 and putting the pressure
on in Game 6," Jalen Rose said. "We're the best team, in the NBA on our home floor. I know that for a fact."
Well, almost.
The Pacers won a franchise-record 36 games at home this season,
including 25 straight, and their 38-5 home record tied the Los
Angeles Lakers for best in the league.
So what does that mean for Game 5 of this series? Not much,
unless they play the first half the way the did the second in Game
4.
The Pacers dug a 17-point hole by sleepwalking through most of
the first 24 minutes in Game 4. Coach Larry Bird has seen this act
before.
"It was all defense," he said. "We didn't play defense in the
first quarter. We had our usual start that we have every once in a
while. They were hitting shots and they were just ripping us apart.
Second half, we decided to defend. We forgot to rebound.
"We have had problems all year in the first quarter. We feel if
we can keep it even in the first quarter that we're probably going
to win the ballgame. A lot of times we bury a hole for ourselves.
Sometimes we get out and sometimes we don't."
This time they almost did, shaving the Knicks' lead to one point
in the fourth quarter. Rose, who managed just three points in the
first half, finished with 18 and was a major factor in the
comeback, along with Reggie Miller, who led the Pacers with 24.
Miller said the second-half recovery hardly mattered to him. The
bottom line, he said, was the Pacers lost.
"It's hard for me to take anything from a loss," he said. "We
played harder, got up into them in the third and fourth quarters.
We've got to start that way. We need a defensive effort for 48
minutes, not just a half."
The comeback was scary for New York and inspiring for Indiana.
Now the Pacers will try to build on it in Game 5 at home.
"They still have to come to our place," center Rik Smits said. "We play well there. We all know that. We are more comfortable at
home, not overly confident. We've got to take care of home court.
We will take care of it and go on."
"We played all year long to have home-court advantage," Mark
Jackson said. "We don't want to be too overconfident because we
still have to get the job done, but the bottom line is they have to
beat us in that building to move on. We look forward to Wednesday.
We will be glad to be back home."
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