X factor: No help for Shaq dooms Lakers
By Greg Collins
ESPN.com
|  | | Shaq was in traffic much of the night, but his teammates never bailed him out. |
INDIANAPOLIS -- There's no doubting the huge shadow Shaquille O'Neal casts. But when other Lakers are forced to step out of that shadow and produce, that's when the holes in the L.A. offense start to show.
With Kobe Bryant sidelined with a sprained ankle, that supporting cast was never needed more than in Game 3. But when Glen Rice and Ron Harper, who combined for 42 points in Game 2, mustered a meager 21 in Indiana's 100-91 victory on Sunday, the epitaph had been written: No support for Shaq, no Laker victory.
The Pacers knew their NBA Finals lives depended on forcing someone other than Shaq to take shots. They did that, and because of that cut L.A's lead in the series to 2-1.
"We don't want to let Shaq win a championship single-handedly," Pacer point guard Mark Jackson said.
Admittedly, O'Neal's numbers took a dip in Game 3, down to a still-respectable 33 points and 13 rebounds. The Lakers know that expecting Shaq to put up 40 and 20 every night is putting too much on his shoulders.
"We sometimes try to ride (Shaq's) back a little too much," Robert Horry said.
That burden started to show when O'Neal clanged five of six free throws in the fourth quarter. Four of those misfires came in the final 3:48, when the Lakers had cut the Pacer lead to single digits.
Overall, O'Neal was 3 for 13 from the line. Some may argue that it wasn't the lack of a supporting cast that cost the Lakers, it was O'Neal's deficiency at the line. But knowing Shaq's penchant for laying serious brickwork at the line, no Laker game plan should depend on him making his free throws.
What the plan called for was someone else to step up. It didn't happen, and suddenly the Lakers are mortal again.
Brian Shaw was largely ineffective starting in place of Bryant. Combine his 3-for-10 night to the lackluster performance the Lakers got out of Rice and Harper, and you have three players who barely added up to the production usually given by a healthy Bryant.
Indiana knew it couldn't let any one of those players get hot.
"We can't allow those guys to total 40-plus points," Jalen Rose said.
Indiana's defense, while still throwing the expected double teams at Shaq, also played with more intensity on the perimeter. That made entry passes harder to make, and dared the Laker perimeter players to take the ball to the basket.
Travis Best, who finally gave the Pacers some production with 14 points, said Indiana wanted to make a conscious effort to get out on the Lakers' perimeter players.
"We didn't want to give them any easy looks," he said.
Those were the looks players like Rice got in Game 2. That all changed in Game 3.
"Glen didn't get many looks," Derek Fisher said. "He continued to try to find his way in this offense. We didn't figure out a way to get him going."
Laker coach Phil Jackson noted how Indiana bodied up on Rice when he tried to come off screens, and when he did catch the ball usually he had no room to get off a shot. That meant he was forced to drive to the hoop for offense -- not the 10-year veteran's strong suit.
As talented an offensive player as Rice can be, his deficiencies on defense mandated some serious bench time in the fourth quarter. After playing nine minutes in the third quarter -- when Reggie Miller and Rose combined for 17 points -- Rice played just one minute in the fourth. In his place, Jackson went to Rick Fox for defense.
No one would worry about a substitution like that if Bryant were healthy. But what the Lakers lost -- the threat of offense from Rice -- they couldn't make up from other players. The Pacers know that advantage might not be there again this series.
"I'm sure come Wednesday with Kobe playing, it will be a different game," Miller said. |
