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Pacers' Locker Room Indiana crestfallen after good effort comes up short
Posted: Thursday June 15, 2000 02:08 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers did just about everything right Wednesday night. They shot extremely well. They rebounded. They got a big game from their missing center, Rik Smits. Yes, the Pacers did just about everything they wanted to do in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Except win. And now, after a punch in the head like their 120-118 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, it'll be interesting to see if the Pacers, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, can get back up for Game 5. "It's a tough one to take. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't," said a bummed Jalen Rose in a bummed Indiana locker room after the game. "But you don't get to this point of the year without the resiliency to bounce back." The Pacers played perhaps their best game of the Finals, maybe their best of the postseason, yet still came up a basket short. They shot 50 percent from the floor, only to see the Lakers shoot 51.6 percent. They finally got L.A. superstar Shaquille O'Neal (36 points, 21 rebounds) to foul out, only to see the Lakers' other superstar, Kobe Bryant, take over. And still, after all that, they had a chance to tie the game -- even to win it -- with 5.9 seconds left. Indiana's own bonafide superstar, Reggie Miller, got a fairly good look at a 3-pointer on the right wing, a shot that would have won the game. Miller, up to that point, had made six of his eight 3-poinht attempts. But the shot hit the front of the rim, bounced over the backboard, and the Lakers moved to the brink of their first NBA title since 1988. "It felt good," said Miller, who had 35 points. "I think what distracted me was when Robert Horry was running at me. I had to shoot it higher over his hand. When you do that, you've probably got to shoot it a little bit longer, which I didn't." The play was set up for Miller to get the ball, and he had the time to drive to the basket if that was open or pass if another teammate popped free. Instead, he chose to launch the 3-pointer because it was open, even with Horry running at him. The miss put the Pacers, in their first NBA Finals in the team's 24-year history, near extinction. "It was tough. I thought we gave a great effort," said Smits, who had 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting. "A couple of stops and a couple of rebounds, and it could have easily gone the other way." Game 5 is scheduled for Friday night at Conseco Fieldhouse. A win by Indiana in that game would force the series back to L.A. for Game 6 and, if necessary, Game 7. "It's painful," said Pacers point guard Mark Jackson. "But it ain't over." Maybe not. But in a crestfallen Indy locker room Wednesday night, it looked like it ain't far from it.
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