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On Site Knicks, Pacers battle for strategic edge
Posted: Wednesday May 24, 2000 01:15 AM
By Marty Burns, Sports Illustrated INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Pacers forward Jalen Rose slipped a CD into his portable disc player and slipped on a set of headphones before Game 1 of his team's Eastern Conference Finals series against the Knicks. "It's a mixture," Rose said. "Hip-hop and rap. Can't be listening to Al Green before a series like this." Actually, to hear Rose just a few minutes prior, one might have thought a little smooth jazz or classical music would be his choice. For it was Rose who was calling this year's black-and-blue, Hicks vs. Knicks blood feud of a series a "chess match." "It is a chess match," Rose said. "It starts in the first game, but it carries throughout the series. It's not just Xs and Os, either. The coaches try everything. It involves the media, the players, one guy having a good game against another, all of that." Gee, wonder if tickets for Karpov and Kasparov went for $5,000, as they reportedly were outside Conseco Fieldhouse on Tuesday evening? Or if Spassky forced Fischer into a baseline table as Pacers guard Mark Jackson did to Knicks guard Latrell Sprewell late in the first half of Game 1? Anyway, in honor of Rose, we present a few examples of the "chess match" that will occur between these two familiar combatants:
New York, on the other hand, is convinced that opposing coaches plant this seed to get favorable calls in a devious form of reverse psychology. Before the series, the Pacers were still talking about Larry Johnson's controversial four-point play that cost them Game 5 a year ago. Meanwhile, Jeff Van Gundy said Pacers guard Reggie Miller is a champion flopper. "Last time we played them, he hit the floor 14 times," the Knicks coach said.
He then followed his usual pattern by calling several plays for him early, including a patented slip screen in the lane for an easy layup. Smits had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, as the Pacers raced to a 35-17 lead. On the opposite bench, Van Gundy used his positive thinking for forward Marcus Camby, who struggled to break free against the Heat. "I think he's going to be more effective," Van Gundy said, noting that his slender forward would find more room to operate against Indiana's more offensive-minded second unit.
Although Camby rejected him on one wild drive through the lane, Croshere managed to finish with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Camby had four points and eight boards. Bird also adjusted quickly on the fly after Patrick Ewing took Dale Davis into the low post and scored consecutive buckets in the second quarter. The next time Ewing caught the ball, Mark Jackson double-teamed. With the Knicks and Pacers having met in the postseason six times in the past eight years, one might think they already know everything there is to know about each other. Clearly, however, there are many adjustments still to come in this chess match. And when will we know which moves were Kasparov-like and which were more like, say, Sam Malone's in that classic episode of "Cheers"? "When it's over," Rose said with a laugh. "When it's all over."
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