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Best offense Knicks still rely on defense to carry them
Posted: Thursday May 25, 2000 03:33 AM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Assessing their loss, the New York Knicks have figured this much out: Stay away from the number 100. Of all the individual faults the Knicks could find from their loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, the bottom line was the final score: 102-88. If the Pacers are allowed to score that many points, failure is certain. "That's not our game; that's their game," Knicks forward Latrell Sprewell said. "Any game that's in the 100s is playing into their hands, so we want the scores down." Call it what you may: Uglyball, Rileyball, UnwatchaBall, the Knicks won't care. It's their philosophy. They feel they cannot win if the score gets that high. "It's OK if we score more, but what he [Sprewell] is saying is right. If it becomes a shootout where they get open shots, they're beating us," New York coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We know our game, and our game is we're a much better defensive team than we are an offensive team." No opponent had even reached 90 against the Knicks in the playoffs, yet the Pacers went cruising past that marker with more than six minutes left. Hitting wide-open 3-pointers, scoring in transition and getting plenty of offense from big men Rik Smits and Dale Davis, the Pacers dominated Game 1 in their most lopsided playoff victory over the Knicks since 1995. Game 2 is Thursday night before the series shifts to New York for Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday. "I think Thursday is going to be a much more physical, much more defensive-oriented game," Indiana guard Reggie Miller said. "We know they're going to come out and get into the game as quickly as we did in Game 1." Indiana scored 35 points in the first quarter and held an 18-point lead after 12 minutes, and the Knicks were never able to get the deficit lower than two. When the Pacers steadily pulled away early in the fourth quarter, the Knicks had no fight left. Van Gundy spent time Tuesday questioning whether his team had learned its lesson from the Miami series -- how crucial a factor rebounding is. The Pacers outrebounded the Knicks 43-35. Two of the matchups that went decisively in Indiana's favor came in the power-forward and sixth-man categories. Davis had 14 points and 16 rebounds to Larry Johnson's three points and five rebounds, and Austin Croshere had 22 points to Marcus Camby's four. "They definitely put a lot of emphasis on me, but I still have to find a way to get it going," Camby said. Throwing out this curious line: "Strategy is overrated at this time of the year," Van Gundy will wait to see how his team responds in Game 2 before doing anything drastic. "We made a big mistake last night with our mental start to that game," said Van Gundy, who paused several seconds when asked if he planned any lineup changes. "You never say never, but at this point I'm comfortable with who we played." In the second round against the Heat, the Knicks recovered from a loss to win Game 2 at Miami and even the series. New York was 2-1 on Indiana's home court during last year's conference finals in beating the Pacers in six games, but went 0-3 at Indianapolis in 1998 when the Pacers beat the Knicks in five. The Pacers said they don't expect much to be different from the Knicks, except for a change in intensity. "Adjustments have to be made, and they have a great coach who is going to make adjustments, but the bottom line is us playing with force. There are no Pearl Harbors here," Pacers guard Mark Jackson said. "There's going to be no surprises." Aside from correcting their rebounding problems, the Knicks said they needed to prevent fast breaks and be quicker on their defensive rotations to keep Indiana from swinging the ball to an open 3-point shooter. The Pacers, who led the NBA in 3-point and free-throw accuracy, went 10-for-15 from long range and 12-for-12 from the foul line in Game 1. Miller, whose 19 points were six below his postseason average, said the Pacers could not afford a letdown after playing such a perfect opening game. He also doesn't care much for the Knicks trying to play down the rivalry angle. "I'm the only one who wants to say both teams don't like one another," Miller said. "Everybody's talking about respect, but they don't like us and we don't like them. Because of that, you shouldn't let your guard down, and I don't think we will."
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