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Closer Look All that, and the big man can pass the ball, too
Posted: Saturday June 10, 2000 03:00 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com LOS ANGELES -- Shaquille O'Neal had 40 points Friday night in Game 2 and went to the free-throw line an NBA Finals-record 39 times. He pulled down 24 rebounds. But it was a pinpoint pass to Los Angeles Lakers teammate Robert Horry with less than two minutes left in the game that may have been his biggest play of the night. It could end up being the play that finally takes the heart out of the Indiana Pacers. "That's something he and I have done before," said Horry. "Shaq's a great passer. If you cut, and he sees you, he's going to get you the ball." The Lakers, playing without injured star Kobe Bryant, had been battling with the Indiana Pacers all night in a tight game the Pacers had to win to steal home-court advantage. The Lakers led by only three points, at 99-96, with 1:18 left and O'Neal was playing with five fouls. The Lakers had the ball with the clock running down to a little under a minute. They needed a score to put the Pacers away. They went to O'Neal. "He's still the best center to ever play the game, that's what he is," Indiana point guard Mark Jackson said. "Offensively, he's all man." The Pacers immediately double-teamed O'Neal in the lane, but the 7-foot-1 O'Neal turned and spun to take the shot before the double team could get to him. Meanwhile, Horry was cutting along the baseline, from O'Neal's left to right. O'Neal spotted him, dropped the ball to him past four upraised arms, and Horry slipped in a reverse lay-in as he was being fouled by Indiana's Reggie Miller. Horry completed the three-point play, the Lakers went up by six and coasted to a 111-104 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. "That's the part of his game that has really improved," Horry said. "He can really see the floor." As the focal point of L.A.'s triangle offense, most everything goes through O'Neal. He doesn't get all the assists, though he had four Friday night. But many of the Lakers' key baskets came when O'Neal kicked the ball out of the post and the Lakers rotated it into the hands of an open shooter. "If you look at the percentage of plays where Shaq touches the ball," Indiana's Austin Croshere said, "it has to be up near 100 percent." O'Neal picked up his fifth foul with 6:40 left in the game and the Lakers up by eight. He was forced to sit out, but came back in with 5:18 left and the lead down to two points. He immediately popped the ball outside for a 3-pointer by Glen Rice, made a jump-hook in the lane and stuck in an offensive rebound on a Horry miss to get the lead back up to six. The Pacers whittled it down to three by fouling O'Neal -- he made only 18 of his 39 free throws -- and that's when the big pass to Horry sealed it. "He's a handful," Indiana coach Larry Bird said. "He's just a dominating player. It's hard to match up against him." Maybe too hard for the overwhelmed Pacers.
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