|
|
 |
What we know after three games
By Peter May
Special to ESPN.com
After three games of the NBA Finals, here's what we know:
|  | | Need a big performance in a big game? Call on Robert Horry. |
The 76ers are more than a worthy foe for the defending champion Lakers. We have known from the start that they are tough, determined, defensive-minded and opportunistic, sometimes to a fault. They have already done what the fraudulent Trail Blazers, overwhelmed Kings and still-recovering-from-a-whuppin' Spurs failed to do: win a single game. That's all they've won, but we know they could also be up 3-0 with a few tweaks. They have done what they promised: make this a competitive, down-to-the-last possession series.
Larry Brown is just happy to be here, folks. Honest to goodness, it would be great for the Sixers coach to once, just once, talk about how his boys got hosed by the referees at the end of the first quarter of Game 3. (There's no way Shaq's basket should have counted and, come to think of it, Shaq also got away with a goaltending call in Game 2 that was visible to one and all except the three sets of eyes that mattered.) Brown is sincere when he talks about how much he enjoys being on such a stage and how his boys are playing hard and how the Lakers are so good. Enough. But his mother must have told him that if he didn't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.
The Sixers were supposed to be the team in this series that not only lived at the free-throw line, but also prospered at it. Had they done that, they'd be leading 3-0. It's that simple. Allen Iverson, an 81 percent free-throw shooter, bricked four free throws (out of four attempts) in a pitched battle during Game 2 and then boinged three more in Game 3 (although he took 13) in what was another tooth-and-nail special. Dikembe Mutombo, an 80 percenter from the line, missed two biggies at the end of Game 1 (although he was saved in the overtime) and then bricked two more in Game 3 (out of seven attempts.) Raja Bell missed four in Game 2. The Lakers, due primarily to Shaquille O'Neal, were the league's worst free-throw shooting team during the regular season. Philadelphia was 19th. But it's the Lakers (Robert Horry, Rick Fox and, in Game 3, Shaq) who are making the free throws when the game is on the line.
We are witnessing some great games without conventional lineups, which is to say that there is honest-to-goodness coaching going on. It also says there's hope out there for every versatile, long-armed, hungry 6-foot-5 guy. In Game 3, Brown had a center-less, power forward-less lineup on the floor in the fourth quarter in which Bell, who is listed at 6-5, was the tallest Sixer on the floor. Admittedly, this was a lineup that surfaced only after Shaq fouled out, but the Sixers also played four Lilliputians in crunch time of Game 1 and Game 2, anchored by the altitudinous Mutombo. The Lakers were forced to counter with a lineup that had the perimeter-preference Horry being used as power forward. Well, he is 6-10, even if he's not going to make the world forget Karl Malone, Tim Duncan or Chris Webber.
The story of Bell is amazing. It may be unprecedented. We've seen September callups in baseball make a splash in the World Series. We've even seen hockey teams get one of their draft picks signed and in uniform during a playoff series after the lad has completed his season in juniors, college, Europe, wherever. We have never seen anything quite like the Raja Bell story. Consider that he was playing in the IBL in late March with nary an NBA game on his professional resume. He signed a 10-day contract on April 6 and appeared in his first game that very night. (In case you forgot, that's with two weeks left in the regular season.) Now, he's not only on the Sixers' playoff roster, he is Mr. Indispensable in the fourth quarter. It would be hard, if not impossible, to go back through NBA playoff history and find another player who had no NBA experience, was playing in the bush leagues, and came aboard so late in the season, and has thrust himself into a position of relative prominence on the biggest stage of all. As Brown said, "I had no idea the kid could play like this." As Bell said, "If you don't believe in yourself, you'll never be able to do it." This is a kid who swam with Duncan in the Virgin Islands before turning to basketball and then started his college basketball career at Boston University, not to be confused with Indiana. That's also where Rick Pitino got his first head coaching job -- and was astounded to discover that the school's sports information director traveled with the ice hockey team during the winter.
He may be a bit of a space cadet, and we certainly can't condone his towel facial to former coach Danny Ainge, but does Robert Horry have a knack for coming through in big games or what? He was a critical factor in Houston's two titles in the '90s and has come through with several big plays last year and this year for the Lakers. But nothing surpasses his final-minute tour de force in Game 3, in which he scored seven points (a stake-driving three-pointer and four free throws) and grabbed a clutch rebound. Now, if he only had run around Mutombo in the overtime in Game 1, instead of over him, then we'd be talking sweep right now.
After three tight games, we have no easily identifiable MVP. Iverson is playing exactly like he did in the regular season, which makes it even more amazing that he and his team are still around. If this guy were ever to shoot, say, 43 percent from the field, they'd have to call Springfield for a premature induction. You almost wonder why one of his teammates doesn't strangle him, until you understand that he still is their best (some might say only) offensive chance. The lack of even a quasi-reliable No. 2 man hurts the Sixers and we're not talking about George Lynch. They haven't had one all year. Shaq put up some monster numbers in Game 1 and Game 2 and probably is the clubhouse MVP leader. But the Lakers came together without him down the stretch in Game 3 and won the game. Kobe Bryant, another candidate, rebounded nicely from his sub-par performance in Game 1 and, at times, was electrifying in Game 3. But there were also times when he was downright Iversonian with his shooting as well. Still, he made a big hoop in Game 3 and was the source of the Philly double-team which eventually landed the rock in Horry's killer hands.
Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
 |
ALSO SEE
O'Neal, Mutombo add fuel to fiery Finals feud
Sixers' Lynch says he'll play Game 4 on injured foot
Bucher: Through the looking glass
Lakers again show experience needed to win titles
|
 |
 |
