| | LOS ANGELES -- When you are asked to shadow Reggie Miller, and Miller obliges by missing his first six shots, you do not take credit.
No matter how positionally sound your defense was, you do not talk trash.
|  | | Ron Harper's Game 1 defense helped shut down Reggie Miller. |
"You thank God," Ron Harper says.
That, at least, is the way Harper plays it, and who is going to argue after Game 1 of the NBA Finals? Harper, shuffling around on what Phil Jackson affectionately calls a "peg leg," spearheaded the three-man escort service that ushered Miller to the most miserable shooting performance of his life: 16 attempts from the floor, 15 misses, and the first six bricks with Harper hounding him.
Now, agreed, it can get a little tiresome to hear Harper be so humble, Finals after Finals, when asked about his contributions. But you know what? The cautious approach gets results, too. Mr. Humility, a one-time Clipper gunner going out as a Laker defensive stopper, is only three wins away from his fourth championship ring.
And Harper long ago clinched the title of Smartest Laker, on a team that could use a few more basketball IQ points.
"I am not going to say I did a fine defensive job," Harper declared, "when (Miller) missed wide-open shots."
Harper didn't have to say so, on The Day After. Miller and Pacers coach Larry Bird, two pretty fair shooters, both pinpointed the disruptive defensive tone Harper set in LA's 17-point rout -- in which Miller fell 17 points shy of his 24-point playoff average.
"They forced him to his left a lot, to catch it on the floor a little bit farther (out)," Bird said Thursday of Harper, Kobe Bryant and Brian Shaw. "They had a lot to do with it, too."
A lot to do with the fact that Miller, after waiting 13 years to finally reach the Finals, is still waiting to sink his first jumper.
"Every time I made a move," Miller added, "(Harper) was right there."
None of this, of course, is new to Miller or Harper. That was the defensive matchup Jackson relied on most during the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Chicago Bulls squeaked past Indiana in seven games during the last championship run of the Michael Jordan era.
That also figured to be the last ring for Harper, until Jackson called last fall. Jackson was coming out of coaching retirement to stabilize the Lakers, and he wanted Harper to delay his own exit to put in at least one more season of dirty work. One or two more seasons of defense-first grinding on that bad knee, while serving as the coach-to-players conduit in the complex triangle offense.
Harper eventually agreed, and returned to the town where he was once known as "Hollywood." A town where he routinely scored in the 20s, made more money than any shooting guard in the league ($4 million way back in 1993-94) and still announced to the world that it felt like he was serving "jail time."
Now? That 4½-season sentence with the Clippers is a memory. So, too, is his first season in Chicago, when he and his reconstructed knee buckled big-time as the replacement for a temporarily retired Jordan. Harper, in 1994-95, averaged a whopping 6.9 points per game.
Hollywood?
Free-agent bust?
These days, thanks to Bryant, the proper way to address Harper is "Old Head." Because he knows a lot of stuff, compensating for all the spring he has lost.
"It's been wonderful to watch him mature, the metamorphosis from being a high flier," said Lakers and longtime Bulls assistant coach Jim Cleamons. "You won't find a better pro."
How professional? Sufficiently professional to ignore taunts from Portland miscreant Rasheed Wallace about Harper's speech impediment -- during a game. And still just dangerous enough on offense to sink the jumper that won Game 3 against the Blazers, to pump in 18 points in Game 4 against Portland, and to put up eight first-quarter points Wednesday to keep the Pacers honest. In those aforementioned road victories over Portland, Harper outscored the ever-clutch Scottie Pippen, 30-23.
"With whatever you say I am, I'm comfortable with it," Harper said. "You can call me anything in the book. Don't bother me at all."
Nor does he fear Miller's reprisal, which we all know is coming, possibly as soon as Friday night.
"Harp does a great job with what he has," said Indiana's Mark Jackson, another escapee from the Clippers' backcourt. "I'm happy for him. But he could play the same defense (in Game 2) and Reggie might score 40. You don't stop guys like Shaq and Reggie with one guy."
Harper's retort: "I'm just Ron."
Just thanking the heavens.
Wandering The West
Three Western Conference clubs are said to occupy the top four slots on the wish list of Toronto's I'm-outta-here Tracy McGrady. Unexpectedly heading that list is Minnesota, with the T-Wolves apparently prepared to part with Terrell Brandon in a sign-and-trade package for McGrady. That way, at least the Raptors get the quality point guard they lack for giving Kevin Garnett the potential superstar partner he needs to get the Wolves past their first-round funk. The other hot spots: Orlando, Portland and the L.A. Lakers.
Latest on Tim Duncan is that the reigning Finals MVP (at least for another week or two) continues to lean toward staying in San Antonio for at least one more season, no matter how many Spurs employees are hired in Orlando.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been spotted at the Chicago pre-draft camp -- in Clippers coaching gear, no less. Fellow assistant Dennis Johnson remains the favorite to replace the deposed Jim Todd, largely because DJ is the only head-coaching candidate willing to work for two seasons at minimal wages.
Don't listen to us. Hear it from the Lakers' Rick Fox, who reveals what even Phil Jackson thinks of Scottie Pippen's ability to lead a team: "Phil basically told us that Scottie was notorious for backing down and disappearing (in Chicago) if things got a little rough," Fox said. "Early in that series he was giving us these looks like, 'I'm kicking your ass,' and it just ate me up. In Game 7, as soon as I gave him an elbow, his whole demeanor shifted. When the team looked to see what he would do, Scottie had a scared look on his face." Suffice it to say that the relationship between Zen Master Jackson and Scottie The Sidekick, shaky even during the glory days, might never be the same after the L.A.-Portland seven-game war.
And we close with this Did You Know: Portland isn't simply the NBA's Best Team Money Can Buy. With a payroll of $73.9 million, the Blazers have outspent 22 of Major League Baseball's 30 franchises. The Blazers would fall right between the Cleveland Indians' $75.9 million payroll and the Texas Rangers' $70.8 million. That's for a 12-man active roster, remember, compared to baseball's 25.
Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a new contributor to ESPN.com. | |
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