| | The Indiana Pacers' Jalen Rose quieted critics by having a breakout year for the Eastern Conference champion. He appeared recently on Up Close with Gary Miller to discuss his team's chances against the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Jalen spoke not only about what the chance to play on the NBA's grandest stage meant to him but to his coach and some of his teammates as well.
"Larry Bird, this being his last year, playing against the Lakers, or the players on this team that are veterans that have been to this point and haven't gotten over the hump. Having a locker room with no guys with championship rings, we all want it very badly and it's exciting to be here".
Jalen also touched on the perception that the winner of the Western Conference was a shoo-in for the title.
"I'm not a fan or a critic. I'm a ballplayer and we were 2-0 against Portland this year, 1-1 against LA. You've got to take that the way it is."
Here is an edited transcript of Rose's conversation with Miller.
Miller: This is what you dream about, how much of a sense of where you are do you have?
Rose: I have a great awareness of where I am. I mean this is the show. It gets no bigger than this. This is the most exciting time for an athlete, there are many athletes who play in all sports that don't get a chance to play for a championship and that retire that don't even get a chance to even put on a championship ring, so I am very fortunate to be in this position and I definitely know what it is all about.
Miller: You are with a few of those guys: Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, who have had long and very storied careers, who have never gotten to this point. How much does this mean for you to be with them here for this?
Rose: Well, it means a lot for a lot of reasons, not only those guys, but with our team, you can find hundreds of reasons. Larry Bird, this being his last year, playing against the Lakers, or the players on this team that are veterans that have been to this point that haven't got over the hump. Having a locker room with no guys with championship rings, we all want it very badly and it's just exciting to be here.
Miller: What about the match-ups in this series? You are probably going to be guarding Glen Rice a lot, but they are going to switch up quite a bit, because both teams have a lot of versatility. Where do you see the strengths and where do you see the problem spots in where these teams match up?
Rose: Well, the things about playing the Lakers obviously start with Shaq. Shaq is a phenomenon, he is the MVP of the league, he's going to get his, it's just a matter of how hard you work to make him get 'em. Then you throw in Kobe Bryant, who has turned out to be one of the best players in the league, he is young but he definitely knows what it takes to go out there and make things happen. Then Glen Rice has been their X factor when he has played hard and found a way to get his points, they are a tougher team to beat and then they have the guys who come off the bench, a couple guys with experience and Robert Horry, who actually has championship experience, so they are going to be tough and we are excited about the challenge.
Miller: You guys were made overwhelming underdogs in this series. How much are you going to use that for motivation?
Rose: We don't care about that. That comes with the territory. We are not a glamour pick, we are not a team, when people look at us, want to talk about how good we are. People want to look at us and talk about how we're journeymen, and how old we are and how we finally got over the hump. We will take it as it comes, but we are definitely in the show, and we got a chance to win it all.
Miller: Isn't it a motivation, though I know players are a lot about getting their props or respect, as you came to this series, everyone said, "now the Western Conference final, now that was the real final?"
Rose: Well to me, you can't get caught up in that. I'm not a fan or a critic. I'm a ballplayer and we were 2-0 against Portland this year, 1-1 against LA. You've got to take that the way it is. I don't take for granted the fact that we are in the NBA Finals. This is a big moment, a big stage, and it takes a lot to get here, so any critics or doubters we had along the way, if they are still there, let 'em be.
Miller: On Sunday you were a fan you had to wait and see, you watched Portland and the Lakers, a game 7 is always very special. Did you turn away? Were you getting your bags ready for Portland?
Rose: Well I was very relaxed watching the game. It's a lot different being a couch potato than standing out there. I had a good dinner, sat back and watched those boys slug it out. It was a great game. Portland had a severe advantage early, especially through the first three quarters, by gaining the lead on the Lakers home floor. LA looked a little rattled, but then they found a way to get back in the game and take control, and if you are going to make it to this point in the season, that's what you need to do.
Miller: What did you gain from that game? What impression did you get that might help you in the series?
Rose: Well, you have to play four quarters. We are a team that's had it's ups and downs in all of our series, we lost games big, we won games big, and we've come from behind in a lot of games and vice versa. We had a lot of teams come back against us. We understand that we need to play four quarters and the Lakers have shown that if you don't play four quarters against them they can beat you.
Miller: How about for yourself in the Knicks series, a lot of emotion in that series and a lot of fan interaction. You know Spike Lee and Reggie Miller go back a long way. I saw near the end, especially in Game Six, you had a lot to say to the number one Knicks fan.
Rose: Well, that is the nature of the beast. I have got a lot of respect for Spike Lee as a filmmaker and as a producer. He is somebody that, when I went to All-America camp, he gave a motivational speech that was real touching to the class, so I respect Spike a lot. But in the nature of competing, we were the enemy, and that's what happens on the road, so there will be verbal jabbing and what not, but the bottom line is we were going in there to get a victory and it was us against New York and we found a way to conquer.
Miller: All the injuries they had, some people think you should have taken them out a lot earlier than you did. They actually played better without Patrick Ewing, and there was some observation that if they had taken out Ewing sooner than they did at the end of Game Six, that maybe they had a better chance.
Rose: Yeah, but you don't get to the conference finals by being a team that's going to fold easily. They are a team that has a lot of veterans, they are a deep team, and they find ways to get it done. Van Gundy is a great coach, and they have a lot of players that can play, so he's going to push buttons in order to get that team to win, and that's what he was trying to do in the Pacers series. It just so happens for us that we were able to get over the hump and Reggie Miller had a phenomenal Game 6 in the second half, and he carried us over the top.
Miller: You were the NBA's most improved player. Did you take that as a blessing or did you say, hey, "I wasn't that bad before?"
Rose: Well, it works both ways, I didn't act like it was the MVP, but anything that is moving forward, you've got to take the progress and be thankful for it. I worked a long time to be recognized as one of the best players around, and I'm still on the road and excited that in my first year starting for the Pacers, I'm playing in the Finals. It has been a great year for me I can't complain about anything.
Miller: You talked about Reggie and what a big game he had in Game Six. He's a guy who loves to shoot, loves to get his touches, so do you. This is the first time since '89 that anyone other than Reggie has lead the team in scoring besides Reggie Miller. How did you see him accept the fact that he wasn't the only option for the Pacers?
Rose: Well, the thing that most people don't know is Reggie and I have a great relationship. We got along when I was coming off the bench, we got along when I wasn't playing, really when Larry Brown was the coach, and that just escalated into a friendship and a workmanship that he respects me as a player and a teammate, and I give him the same props. So as my game started to elevate and as my game started to get better, he wasn't jealous of the fact that I was coming on. He welcomed that in order for our team to get better, and I think that's the difference between being a player that's a great player but on a losing team than a great player that's on a championship team. You've got a lot of other players that step up and grow into themselves as players, because a lot of time the best player isn't the player that makes the best play all of the time at the end of the game. You use the guy that gets the most attention, you need to defer to guys and that's what he did, not only for myself, but for a lot of our teammates. That's why I think we are at this point.
Miller: How much are you and your teammates going to help out with stopping Shaq?
Rose: All we can. I mean, Shaq is a load, Shaq is the MVP. Shap is a phenomenon actually, the Lakers aren't a phenomenon, Shaq is a phenomenon. He is a guy that will demand total attention by the entire team, and obviously he is going to be the type of player that at some point in time, that no matter what you do, will still get his. You just have to make everybody else work to get theirs'. And as long as we make everybody else work for their's, we feel we have what it takes to win a championship.
Miller: How much did you see Travis Best evolve this year, and how critical is he going to be in this series? You won Most Improved from year to year. It appears that Travis Best has improved the most throughout the course of the season.
Rose: Well, Travis has been the key for us. If he doesn't make the three-point shot against Milwaukee, who knows where we would be right now. Without his contribution as well as the other guys on our bench, they have been big for us, they keep us up when we are down. If we get off to a bad start, he leads that second unit into an energy standpoint and gets them back playing in the game and gets us going again. He's going to be big in this series. We need him to produce as well as Austin Croshere. He led us in scoring in Game 1 against the Knicks. Travis led us in scoring the last game, so we need those guys to come and play. We need Sam Perkins to hit his couple of threes, Derrick McKey is a great defensive player, and when guys come to play, we are as tough as they come to beat and we understand that.
Miller: Do you have a sense that this is it for this group?
Rose: Well, I don't think that this is it, but it is as close as it comes. Anytime where you come into the season where half of the team are free agents, the coach says from day one that this is going to be his last year, that works both ways. Everyone is jumping off ship worrying about themselves, everyone pulls together and fights for the title. Fortunately we are on the positive side now. If we can make this happen, who knows what's going to happen for next year.
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