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Life lesson Carter tries to live down his hype, keep up his chin
Posted: Monday April 24, 2000 12:49 AM
By Marty Burns, Sports Illustrated NEW YORK -- Vince Carter was sporting a dark brown suit, crisp white shirt, black-and-gold tie -- and one pitiful hangdog expression -- as he walked through the visitor's locker room at Madison Square Garden after his team's Game 1 loss Sunday to the Knicks. Veterans Antonio Davis and Muggsy Bogues, still getting dressed in front of their stalls, got one look at the disconsolate Carter's face and took exception. "Hey, young fella, get your head up," Davis gently scolded. "That's right. Don't let 'em see you that way," echoed guard Muggsy Bogues. Carter's talents are so immense, his game so spectacular, it's sometimes easy to forget he's only 23 years old -- even if his veteran teammates don't. The Knicks reminded the rest of us Sunday, hounding the second-year star into a dismal 3-of-20 shooting performance that was as sour-smelling as, well, vin-egar. In his first playoff appearance -- under the bright lights of the MSG stage -- Carter played more like John Starks than Michael Jordan. He missed his first 12 shots, clanging jumpers from all over, and didn't make a field goal until the fourth quarter. He even sailed one pass clear over Spike Lee's head into the third row. The good news for Carter and Toronto heading into Game 2 is that even with an off night by the Raptors' go-to guy, they still were in position to steal the game. In addition, they think Carter, who played better as the game progressed, was starting to figure out what the Knicks were doing to make his life miserable:
"Early on they put pressure on him, and he was a little too anxious," Davis said of Carter. "He just went a little too fast." The Raptors could have tried to free up Carter by running a teammate over to set screens on Sprewell, but opted not to because it would have brought another defender into the area. "Then they're basically trapping Vince and forcing him to give up the ball," Bogues explains. "We don't want that to happen."
"Jeff [Van Gundy] attacked us a different way," Butch Carter said. "He used Ewing on the double teams a lot more, which they hadn't done. And they were pushing [Vince] right, so they knew where he was going. We've just got to make some adjustments." In the subdued Raptors locker room after the game, veterans Davis, Bogues and Charles Oakley were confident two days would be plenty of time to make the necessary fixes. In short, they said Carter simply needed to slow down -- and trust his teammates a bit more. "We want Vince to shoot the ball," Davis said. "But if they're going to double- and triple-team him, we want to get him in situations where he can find the open guy. Vince will figure it out. He's smart. Believe me, he'll figure it out." Carter certainly seemed to grasp the message Davis and Bogues were sending him with their words as he passed them in the locker room after the game: This was no time for a loss of confidence. He immediately dropped the hangdog expression. As he exited the door, his chin was up and his eyes were cast forward. Consider it another playoff lesson learned.
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