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Setting the pace Pacers prove skeptics wrong
Posted: Thursday April 20, 2000 09:16 PM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- They were too old and too slow. They had a lame-duck coach and a gimpy center. They traded away their top reserve. All the reasons the Indiana Pacers were written off at the beginning of the season were demolished in an impressive run to the best record in the Eastern Conference. Now, with the first round of playoffs starting on Sunday against Milwaukee, absolutely no one is counting the Pacers out. "When they play with energy and like they're having fun and with a lot of confidence, they're a great basketball team," coach Larry Bird said. The Pacers went 36-5 in their new Conseco Fieldhouse -- matching the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers for the league's top record at home -- and they compiled an overall mark of 56-26. The only better record in their 24-year NBA history was 58-24 in Bird's first season two years ago, when they reached the Eastern Conference finals. Indiana lost in the conference championship series again following the lockout-shortened season last year. It was then that center Rik Smits, still bothered by chronic foot pain, first considered retirement. The Pacers then traded veteran Antonio Davis to Toronto for the draft rights to 18-year-old high schooler Jonathan Bender. With Bird's declaration he would step down as coach after the 1999-00 season and a starting lineup of all 30-somethings, no one expected much from the Pacers. Several publications picked them as low as fifth even in the Central Division. But Smits' feet felt better, Bird made Jalen Rose a starter at small forward in place of Chris Mullin, little-used Austin Croshere took over much of the playing time and points from the departed Davis, and the rest of the bench led by Travis Best turned in solid performances game after game. Even a few shooting slumps by Reggie Miller didn't matter. "Last year, it seemed like teams were able to shut me and Reggie down, points-wise, and we had to rely on somebody else to step it up," Smits said. "Now there's three guys -- actually, four, when we have Austin and Dale (Davis) on given nights. "I think we have more weapons than we did last year," Smits said. Rose finished with an 18.2-point average, edging Miller for the team scoring lead by a tenth of a point. It's the first time since 1988-89 that someone besides Miller has been the top scorer for Indiana. "The thing about being a success is you need somebody to give you the opportunity, not only for the minutes but the opportunity to play for a team that's the best team in the conference," said Rose, a reserve his first three years with the Pacers. "That's the most exciting thing, to be around Larry and these guys, because that's what we all want to do. For us to not win the title would be disappointing to everybody," Rose said. The best-of-5 first-round series with Milwaukee begins Sunday night in Conseco Fieldhouse. Game 2 will be next Thursday, with the third game in Milwaukee on April 29, a fourth game if necessary at Milwaukee on May 1 and a fifth game if necessary at Indiana on May 4. The Pacers swept the Bucks 3-0 in the first round last year, and the two teams split their four regular-season games this year. An opportunity once more to win the championship is what's driving the Pacers, Rose said. "That's what this really is all about," he said. "There's only two teams that's going to win their conference. ... Everybody else is the same. There's only going to be one team to win the championship. There's going to be a runner-up, and everybody else is the same. Hopefully we can be in the boat where we're the team that's winning the championship."
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