Buzz: Pacers not measuring up
By Greg Collins
ESPN.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- In the movie "Hoosiers," Gene Hackman settled down his small-town team the night before the Indiana state championship by measuring the height of the basket, just to prove that no matter the stage, the game was still the same as it was in their dark, cramped gym.
THE INDY STORY
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Quote of the Day
"Kobe likes pain. Right now, you'd have to cut his leg off for him not to play. But then adidas would probably grow another leg for him."
-- John Salley, referring to Kobe Bryant's desire to play in Game 3.
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Pacers storyline of the day
Some of the usual cliches came out about finding confidence at home and needing everyone to play better, but for the most part, the Pacers seemed at ease with being down 2-0. Although few of Indiana's veterans have been in the Finals before, they have played a lot of basketball over the years -- and they know that all the Lakers did was defend their home court. Now it's the Pacers' turn to do the same.
Lakers storyline of the day
Will Kobe play? Can he put any pressure on the foot? Will he ever realize his lifelong dream of performing in the Bolshoi Ballet? OK, maybe not so much on that last one, but Bryant's sprained ankle -- which kept him out of the Game 3 lineup -- dominated discussion at Saturday's shootaround, a day before it was determined that Kobe wouldn't play. At the time, Laker coach Phil Jackson wasn't tipping his hand, saying that Kobe needs to be 85-90 percent for him to play. After shootaround, Bryant posed for the cameras on the scorer's table, giving everyone a clear view of his taped left ankle.
Number of the Day
That's the number of free throws Shaquille O'Neal has missed in the first two games, out of 45 attempts. The most free throws any single Pacer has attempted is Austin Croshere's 19. |
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Austin Power
Indiana's only consistent frontcourt offense has come from reserve forward Austin Croshere, who has shown none of the fear one might expect from a third-year player. While Croshere's success has been a surprise to some, the one critic who counts isn't wide-eyed in awe.
"That's what I've been waiting on all year," said Pacer coach Larry Bird.
Indiana needs Croshere's intensity because he's the only Pacer who has shown the ability to beat his man one-on-one.
Home cooking
The signs in the Indianapolis airport were simple enough -- multiple 7-foot banners of Indiana players in various action poses, emblazoned with the phrase "Home Court."
Not like the Pacers need a reminder where they are. Indiana was an NBA-best 36-5 at home during the regular season and 7-2 in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year. If the Pacers want to avoid being a splatter on Shaq's windshield, that advantage had better kick in Sunday.
"We understand that they really took care of their home floor, which isn't anything astronomical in my opinion," Jalen Rose said. "Now we need to respond to that, and come out intense, hungry, and not wanting to go down 3-0."
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A tape measure is about the last thing the Indiana Pacers want to see. They don't need to be told about the dimensions of Conseco Fieldhouse -- they know them intimately, after going a combined 43-7 in the regular season and playoffs at home. In fact, the only thing a tape measure might do to the Pacers is remind them just how big Shaquille O'Neal is.
The 7-foot-1, 330-pound goliath has ripped the Pacer defense for 83 points and 43 rebounds in two games. Even though Kobe Bryant's playing status for Game 3 was up in the air until just prior to gametime, Indiana knows that to beat the Lakers, it has to slow down the Diesel.
"I don't want Shaq to play," Indiana's Jalen Rose said. "I don't care if Kobe plays or not."
If it were only that easy. Trailing 2-0, Indiana's hopes of getting back into the NBA Finals rest on its ability to double-team O'Neal, something the Pacers felt they did a better job of in Game 2. Rather than let him get easy buckets like in Game 1 (witness his 21 made field goals, on 31 shots), they made him earn them from the free-throw line.
Yet unlike the Portland Trail Blazers, who purposefully sent Shaq to the line 25 times in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, the Pacers said O'Neal's 39 free-throw attempts in Game 2 of the Finals didn't come as part of a plan -- they just wanted to challenge his shots inside. The Pacers didn't resort to Hack-a-Shaq until the final three minutes of Game 2 (he had already attempted 27 free throws), but that's not to say they won't try it again.
"(Hack-a-Shaq) has a future because he can't shoot free throws," said Rose. "It's just a matter of when you do it. (Fouling too much) gives him rhythm and gives him confidence. But if you're ahead and you start to attack, you put a little more on his mind. You put pressure on him to go to the line, when they need points coming from behind.
"If we're up by five or 10 points, I don't think it's that bad a tactic, as opposed to letting a 7-foot guy catch the ball underneath the rim and dunk it anyway."
One reason O'Neal has had room to operate down low is because Indiana center Rik Smits has spent a mere 36 minutes on the floor in the first two games. Smits knows he's overmatched; any production the Pacers get from him is almost an afterthought. Although it would be nice to have Smits on the floor for 25-30 minutes a night, the 7-4 center doesn't have a number in mind that would ensure Pacer success.
"As long as we win, I don't care how much I play," Smits said.
The Pacers said they won't change their game plan if Bryant doesn't play, because they know Los Angeles' triangle offense begins with Shaq. Glen Rice's 21-point outburst did nothing to make Rose worry about the sharpshooter becoming a strong second option on offense.
"The thing about playoff basketball is you're playing the percentages, which is exactly what they're doing," Rose said. "If Kobe has a great night, that means he shoots 50 percent from the field. If Shaq has a great night, he shoots 85 percent from the field. It doesn't matter who they have on the perimeter; Shaq is going to touch the ball every time down and that's the guy we need to worry about."
Rose said that he thinks Rice is a bad fit for the Lakers' triangle offense, and that he's never seen Rice make as many pump-fakes and pass-fakes as he's done this season. That timidness on offense won't matter, according to Rose, because as much as the Pacers would like to force the ball into Rice's hands, no one can dictate who gets the ball in the Laker offense.
"It's not about who we allow them to funnel the ball to," Rose said. "(Shaq) is not a hard target to get the ball in to -- you can't really deny him the ball."
Pacer forward Austin Croshere, who has seen his share of O'Neal in the fourth quarter of both games, said Indiana needs to force Shaq away from the paint -- even by a foot or so -- to make it harder for him to get the shots he wants and crash the boards.
Added Mark Jackson: "The majority of the time, the double teams were very effective. If you take away 39 foul shots, we did a very good job on Shaq. The double teams were hard and made him kick it out. He didn't get the same type of shots that he did in Game 1."
But even if the Pacers have the same success doubling Shaq they felt they did in Game 2, it still means they're committing two defenders to stop one player.
That should give more room for a supporting player like Rice or Ron Harper to step up and help fill the void should Bryant be unable to play.
Unlike the Pacers, the Lakers have the ability to match up one-on-one against every Pacers player, giving them a decided advantage on defense.
"The Lakers have done a good job against Reggie (Miller) and Jalen, playing them one-on-one on the perimeter," Croshere said.
So even without Kobe on the floor, both teams know the measuring stick to use for Game 3 is O'Neal. So far, those numbers have been off the charts. |
